When and How to Memorise Music
The Problem with Memorisation
If you have ever played a piece of music on the piano by reading sheet music, you will likely have experience of memorising the music. For most of us, this happens accidentally as you repeat sections of the music over and over again. There is, however, one small problem with this…accessing your memory is quick and it doesn’t require the extra step of having to work out the notes on the page. So, for many learning pianists; eyes tend to wander downwards towards what’s happening on the piano.
This isn’t actually inherently a problem, most concert pianists will spend much of their time looking at their hands as they perform without sheet music. The problem is; if you are new to learning the piano or you have a particular weakness for reading sheet music, memorising music often steals away our opportunity to get better at reading sheet music as you opt for the mental shortcut.
So, how can you use memorisation effectively so that it benefits you?
2. Is Accidental Memorisation Ever OK?
For most pianists, accidentally memorising pieces of music is a natural part of the process…and I actually use it as a cue to tell me that I’ve practiced a piece of music to a sufficient depth. This is because, often memorisation happens quite quickly if you are analysing the structure, chords and details that make up a piece of music rather than playing it through from start to finish lots of times.
However, for those that struggle with reading music, it’s important to notice when memorisation is happening and deliberately try to follow the notes on the page. Doing this will allow you to continue to associate the notes on the stave with the notes you are playing. Learning to read sheet music is a two step process; reading the notes and finding the notes. Keeping your eyes on the page will help to keep this a two step process regardless of whether you are primarily using your memory to find the notes or reading to find the notes. Following the notes on the page will also allow you to notice extra details that might not have made it into your memory, such as dynamics, articulation or any speed changes.
Memory can be a valuable addition to the ways in which you accumulate a piece of music, but you don’t want it to replace reading. After all, your memory can fail you…but the notes will always be there to read.
3. Recitals, Exams and Reinforcement
So when would you need to memorise a piece and what’s the best way of doing it if a piece of music is long?
As I have previously mentioned, using your memory as a backup and to reinforce your reading is perfectly normal. However, there are some other situations in which it is required for you to memorise pieces of music. Throughout my time at music college, all pianists had to perform their 45-60 minute recitals entirely from memory at the end of each year and this is standard practice for any piano recital.
Generally, it is going to be performances that require memorisation and practice is when reading is going to be required and relied upon. - so how do you memorise?
Firstly, you need to learn the piece of music on a macro level first and then get more and more granular. By this I mean; start with the overarching structure of the piece of music. Often the first memory cue you have when performing from memory is which section of the piece you are in. For example, a piano sonata has 3 sections; exposition, development and recapitulation. Within these sections there are usually certain things that happen. In the exposition the piece normally starts with a theme in the “home” key and then the second part of the exposition typically moves to “the dominant” (the scale starting on note 5 of the original scale).
If I know I’m in the second half of the exposition, this gives me several extra memory cues. I know I’m playing the second theme, I know the key and I know how the section I am playing relates to the rest of the piece.
From here, memorisation is about relying on your reading until you are able to add the details to your memory layer by layer. I often focus on the dynamics as a way of memorising exactly what happens within the sections of a piece of music and I often think about what story the dynamics are trying to tell. Music is a form of storytelling anyway, but interestingly having a story to tell drastically improves your ability to remember.
You may have heard of a “memory palace”, which is a concept whereby you memorise a series of things by associating them in your head with a path in a location that you are incredibly familiar with. Well, the structure of music already has this built in - if you can form a narrative for the piece of music, then you will be able to use that narrative to help you tell the story. The dynamics are a great way of doing this!
The final thing that I would use to help memorisation is using landmarks within the piece of music to work towards. This is usually tough sections that have required a little bit more practice. If a piece has sections that you needed to work on a little bit more than the rest, then these sections will likely be much more familiar to you. Knowing where these sections are within the music can help you memorise the path between one section to another.
Matthew Cawood
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