This is the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) article for
rec.music.makers.piano on playing piano from memory.
This FAQ is intended to present questions frequently asked in
rec.music.makers.piano regarding playing a piano music from
memory. It covers some reasons for memorizing, and also some
pointers on how to go about memorizing piano pieces. This
FAQ is posted every month. Updates, additions, suggestions
and corrections are always welcome: send e-mail to
tompkins@cnct.com.
This FAQ is periodically posted to rec.music.makers.piano,
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Playing from Memory FAQ
You may run a search on the topics using the #) pattern where
"#" is the topic number.
CONTENTS:
1) INTRODUCTION
2) WHY MEMORIZE?
2.1) TRADITION AND TODAY
2.2) BENEFITS
2.3) DRAWBACKS
3) HOW TO MEMORIZE?
3.1) CHOOSING WHAT TO MEMORIZE
3.2) THE ROLE OF LISTENING
3.3) AT WHAT POINT IN LEARNING A PIECE SHOULD MEMORIZING
BEGIN?
3.4) IDENTIFYING MEMORIZABLE UNITS
3.5) MEMORIZING AND INTEGRATING THE UNITS
3.6) WORKING BACKWARDS
3.7) THE PRACTICAL USE OF THEORY
3.8) VISUAL MEMORY
3.9) MEMORIZING AWAY FROM THE PIANO
3.10) INTRODUCING DIFFICULTIES
3.11) TESTING YOUR MEMORY
4) RETAINING WHAT YOU HAVE MEMORIZED
4.1) STRESS AND FORGETTING
4.2) SOME PRACTICAL STEPS
4.3) MAINTAIN THE OTHER MEMORIES
5) SOME FURTHER READING
6) APPENDIX - SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL NOTES
7) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
__________________________________________________________________
FAQ ON PLAYING FROM MEMORY
by Phil Tompkins
1) INTRODUCTION
From time to time people on rec.music.makers.piano have
raised the question of how to memorize. Discussions of this
question inevitably evoked the prior question of whether to
memorize at all. This FAQ addresses these two questions.
In preparing this document I am indebted to a number of
contributers to r.m.m.p. I have also drawn on some of the
literature about playing the piano. In addition, since
memory is a topic that psychologists investigate, I looked
briefly into what they had to say that would be relevant.
I do not claim to have all the answers, but I hope to have at
least presented the major considerations. There is no single
set of answers which applies to everyone. Different people
have different methods of memorizing, not to mention
different views on whether to memorize at all. I tried to
take these differences into account so as to come up with a
document which will be of general use. I have also tried to
clearly indicate what are my own opinions.
This FAQ has been re-written based on comments, corrections,
and additional information received in reponse to draft
versions posted on r.m.m.p. I will gladly incorporate
further information into new versions should I continue to
receive responses.
______________________________________________________________
2) WHY MEMORIZE?
2.1) TRADITION AND TODAY
For at least the last 100 years it has been a tradition for
professional pianists to perform solo works from memory.
(There have been some notable exceptions - the famous turn-
of-the Century French pianist Raoul Pugno, Dame Myra Hess,
and Bela Bartok performed with scores. Svyatoslav Richter
has done the same "in respect for the composer", as he put it
in an interview.) Today, playing from memory is one of the
abilities a professional is expected to have. However, the
tradition is often abandoned in concerts where new
compositions or contemporary pieces which are difficult to
memorize are played.
In the past, piano teachers observed the tradition by
requiring memorization for student recitals regardless of
whether or not the students would become professionals.
Nowadays, in deference to individual variations in abilities
and requirements, some teachers make memorizing optional.
2.2) BENEFITS
There are a number of benefits to playing from memory:
* Many pianists, amateurs as well as professionals, can give
their best attention to making music only after memorizing
what they play.
* You can play anywhere there is a piano without having to
bring printed music along.
* You do not have to worry about turning pages.
* You can spend more time looking at where your fingers are
on the keyboard, if you need to, and thereby be better
able to land on the right note(s) while executing a leap.
* You can better work on other aspects of playing which may
need visual monitoring or other attention, such as
maintaining proper posture or hand positions.
* You can play with your eyes closed, or even in the dark.
* Since memorizing is often a difficult task, you will
receive a sense of accomplishment from being able to play
from memory.
Memorization may provide the only means by which certain
passages can be played. Passages of very rapid notes,
because of their speed, can only be performed automatically,
that is, from memory. This is because the feedback
mechanisms of the brain do not work fast enough to provide
control at a detail level over movements of great speed. The
details of executing very rapid passages must be worked out
in advance, after which, through practice, they must become
"pre-programmed". Playing such rapid passages does not
require memorizing an entire piece, or even memorizing when
or on what notes these passages begin. However, once begun,
these passages are completed from memory. If an entire piece
consists mostly of rapid passages, not memorizing the whole
piece may turn out to be a hinderance.
2.3) DRAWBACKS
Playing from memory may not suit everyone, and it has a few
disadvantages:
* It is possible to forget while performing.
* Anxiety about possibly forgetting may mar a performance.
* Memorizing takes time. Weighing the benefits, you might
decide to spend this time in other ways (e.g., learning,
playing, and therefore becoming able to perform and
communicate, more music).
* Students who are not ready to memorize or who can memorize
only with great difficulty may become discouraged.
* Reverberations of bad experiences playing from memory at
an early age in student recitals may be felt for years
afterward.
Some people feel more secure with a score in front of them
even when the piece has been memorized. Although they may
seldom look at the score, it is always available as a prompt
or for use in the event of a memory slip.
For amateur pianists, memorizing is an option, and each
person will have to determine what is best for her/himself.
The ability to memorize is not the same as the ability to
make good music, although the former may facilitate the
latter.
______________________________________________________________
3) HOW TO MEMORIZE?
3.1) CHOOSING WHAT TO MEMORIZE
Playing a piece of music is a rather complex task. Thus it
is understandable that learning to play from memory may pose
difficulties. In fact, some pieces are just too complex for
most people to memorize.
For someone who has played little or not at all from memory
and who wants to develop this ability, selecting what to
memorize is an important choice. For an initial effort it is
probably best to choose a piece which is appealing and easy
to play.
3.2) THE ROLE OF LISTENING
If a recording or live performance is available, I think it
may be useful to start out by just listening to the piece. A
mental idea of what the piece ought to sound like will be
needed to shape the sounds produced by physical activity into
a musical interpretation. This musical idea will of course
evolve, even on the fly.
(Some people caution against listening too much to a piece
before learning to play it, believing that to do so may
influence you to adopt the interpretation you hear, thereby
hindering the development of one your own. This question has
come up on r.m.m.p. According to most who addressed it, no
such harm will come from listening.)
3.3) AT WHAT POINT IN LEARNING A PIECE SHOULD MEMORIZING
BEGIN?
Some teachers advocate beginning to memorize a piece when you
begin to study it. I tend to think this works best under the
guidance of a teacher. On your own you may face too complex
a task. And you may end up memorizing such things as
mistakes or sub-optimum fingering.
Not only will it be simpler to memorize a piece which you
have already learned using the score, but also by the time
you have learned to play the piece fairly well this way, you
have already come much of the way toward memorizing it. You
now can play without focusing on as many of the details in
the score as you did when you began learning the notes, and
you have formed some sense of the piece's structure. And if
you began to study the piece without listening to it, you now
have a memory of what the piece sounds like.
3.4) IDENTIFYING MEMORIZABLE UNITS
As with all skills, repetition is required to establish long-
term memory of a piece. For some people, just playing a
piece over and over again is sufficient for memorizing it.
However, the quantity of material that the mind can take in
and master at once is limited, and for most of us an entire
piece is too much to deal with in this manner. The normal
procedure is to first break the whole piece down into
manageable parts, or memorizable units.
In doing this you can proceed hierarchically top-downward.
This gives you a structural overview of the piece. The major
divisions may already be indicated in the score as movements,
and sections at the next lower level by repeat marks. Pencil
in the boundaries of further sections and sub-sections based
on the beginnings, transitions and endings of thematic
material. Proceed further downward using phrases and
"breathing" points, until you have marked off note groups
which you can memorize without much difficulty.
These bottom-level groups may be the size of a measure or
even smaller. They may not correspond to measures at all,
but rather may begin in one measure and end in the next.
Their boundaries should not be arbitrary, but rather should
correspond to the contours of the music.
In addition to mastering note groups in the horizontal
dimension, it may help to memorize each hand or even each
voice separately. Doing so will force you to be more
conscious of what each hand is playing. Working on one hand
at a time is usually necessary for memorizing such pieces as
fugues, in which each hand has a lot to do independently of
the other.
3.5) MEMORIZING AND INTEGRATING THE UNITS
Once the memorizable units have been identified, you can
proceed one by one to master them and then integrate them
into the whole of what you have memorized so far.
The number of repetitions required to commit each musical
unit to long-term memory will vary for each individual and
among the units themselves. Do not try to proceed too fast,
for newly forming memories may be crowded out by subsequent
ones if the former have not yet solidified. If today you
cannot remember what you worked on yesterday, go back and
work on those parts some more.
It is more effective to memorize in frequent brief practice
sessions than in fewer longer ones. Last minute prolonged
cram sessions work fine for remembering over the short term,
but long-term retention is poor. However, if you have four
months to learn a four movement sonata, it is better to
acquire a shaky memory of the whole thing the first month and
improve your memory in the remaining time than it is to learn
a movement a month.
3.6) WORKING BACKWARDS
The famous 19th Century teacher Leschetizky taught
memorization by having his students learn pieces a part at a
time starting at the end. They would first memorize, e.g.,
the last measure, then the next to last, then play them
together (in order), etc.
Learning in reverse probably increases your ability to begin
somewhere in the middle of a piece if you need to do so. The
time you need to do this is when you have had a memory lapse
while performing and you must recover and carry on.
Another advantage of learning in reverse is that, since many
pieces are more difficult toward the end, you spend more time
practicing the more difficult parts. Always starting over
from the beginning while integrating all the parts you have
learned up to now results in devoting the most time to
practicing the easiest parts!
An alternate approach is taken by Charles Cooke in his book
"Playing the Piano for Pleasure." Cooke advocates learning
the most difficult passages first, even spending so much time
on them that they become the easiest parts to play.
3.7) THE PRACTICAL USE OF THEORY
Leschetizky placed great emphasis on theoretical analysis of
a piece as part of memorizing, as do many teachers today. I
presume to question whether this is absolutely necessary to
memorizing, but it does contribute much. What you learn from
a study of music theory is a set of technical concepts with
which to talk about and analyze music. These have two
important uses in memorizing:
First, identifying the components of a piece draws attention
to all the details of the piece; the increased attention to
detail helps the memorizing process. This means that the
analysis should be done in parallel with or slightly in
advance of memorizing.
Second, learning is facilitated by what psychologists call
"verbal mediation", that is, actively using the description
of what you are to do as a learning tool. Learning to
operate the manual gear shift of a car is facilitated by
using the words "left foot", "clutch pedal", "neutral", etc.
(Imagine how you would learn without using these words.) As
part of the learning process you may even repeat to yourself
the verbal instructions for shifting gears as you perform the
corresponding operations. You can do something similar while
memorizing music. For example, you may say to yourself, "The
piece begins on G, followed by an arpeggio starting on C",
perhaps in a greatly abbreviated manner. Later, once the
skill has become automatic, the words recede into the
background.
A technical analysis of a piece would include breaking it
down into formal parts as described above in 3.4 plus
identifying elements and structures of the following types:
* harmonic (keys and key changes, chords and chord
progressions)
* melodic (themes and voices; turning points; beginning and
goal notes)
* rhythmic (meter, tempo)
Also, note repeating patterns and variations of or deviations
from the patterns.
3.8) VISUAL MEMORY
Visual memories of scores are retained in varying degrees by
different people. I do not know how prevalent the so-called
"photographic" memory is, nor how people who allegedly have
this ability use it while playing from memory. (Do they play
from the score in the "mind's eye" while playing without it
physically?) For most of us visual memory tends to be an
ability to recollect where things are in the score when we
refer to it after the piece has been partially or fully
memorized. For people who recall more vivid images of the
score, conceivably these images could serve as cues while
playing from memory. Markings made on the score which relate
to playing from memory may be recalled in this manner also.
3.9) MEMORIZING AWAY FROM THE PIANO
Time away from the piano can be used to become more familiar
with the score and analyze it from a theoretical aspect. It
can also be used for a form of practice, such as imagining or
singing the music or/while playing the "air" piano. Some
people even learn to reconstruct the score itself from
memory.
3.10) INTRODUCING DIFFICULTIES
A number of psychological studies of learning indicate that
learning in the presence of difficulties, rather than in a
smooth step-by-step approach, results in better long-term
retention, although to do so prolongs the learning process
(Metcalfe and Shimamura). In the learning of tasks such
difficulties include
* Learning several tasks or task portions at once.
* Varying the sequence of practice from one task or task
portion to another unpredictably.
* Having to do the same thing in a variety of different
ways.
* Varying the conditions under which the learning takes
place.
Applying the notion of doing the same thing in a variety of
ways to memorizing a piano piece might mean playing with
different rhythms or phrasing, or possibly transposing the
piece.
The method of learning through introducing difficulties is
used in some piano memorization classes. After memorizing
each hand separately, students may be given the task of
reversing the hands, that is, playing each hand's part with
the other hand, first separately, and later with the hands
together.
As another exercise, a piece may be divided into blocks of
about 10-15 measures in length. Each block is numbered.
After memorizing the blocks, students are asked to play the
blocks by the numbers in random order.
I would say that exercises of this type probably work best
when used by an experienced teacher. In particular, an
efficient balance must be achieved between learning through
variations and learning a piece as it will finally be
performed. Playing one hand's part with the other hand may
help to fix the long term memory of the notes, but does not
result in a firm memory of the optimum fingering. This
approach may have implications for the discussion in 3.3
about whether to begin memorizing a piece when you first
learn to play the right notes.
3.11) TESTING YOUR MEMORY
The use of difficulties as described above in 3.10 can be a
basis for testing how well you have memorized. Here are a
few more possible tests. (You may think of others.) Note
that none of these is an absolute indicator, but they may be
useful gauges depending on your particular abilities.
* Can you sing or hum all the right notes?
* Can you play the piece v-e-r-y slowly?
* Can you make all the right finger motions while pretending
to play the piece on a table top?
The ultimate test is how you play the piece in a performance
situation. The presence of an audience may cause you to play
a piece which you have worked on for four months as if you
have worked on it for only two.
_____________________________________________________________
4) RETAINING WHAT YOU HAVE MEMORIZED
4.1) STRESS AND FORGETTING
Stress is an enemy of memory. It tends to make the limbic
part of the brain, which controls the fight or flight
responses, predominate over the other functions. The stress
of a new situation, such as a different piano or venue, an
unanticipated distraction, worry about possibly forgetting,
and, most of all, the presence of an audience or of examiners
all make remembering difficult and even cause memory lapses.
Going directly from isolated practice at home to the recital
stage introduces most of these causes of stress all at once.
How can such stresses and/or their effects be minimized?
4.2) SOME PRACTICAL STEPS
Here are some measures one can take against stress:
* Continue practicing pieces you have already memorized and
believe you know well, so as to produce what psychologists
call "overlearning".
* Prepare for the possibility of forgetting, by learning
numerous re-start points within a piece and having someone
interrupt you at random so you can practice recovery.
* Play often before different groups of people.
* Practice in the presence of distractions or people who
make you nervous.
* Before a performance, practice in the place where the
performance will occur, using the same piano.
If forgetting turns out to be due not to inadequate
memorizing but rather to performance anxiety, then it is the
latter that needs to be addressed. That is a different
topic.
4.3) MAINTAIN THE OTHER MEMORIES
After a piece has become automatic, you can lose your
theoretical memory of it just like you can forget how to
explain how you tie your shoelaces. When you are playing up
to speed, there is not enough time to think in words about
all of what you are playing. Slow practice is one way to
allow you to bring back and consciously apply your
theoretical knowledge. Maintaining your ability to think of
the piece in terms of the identity of its notes and
structures will in turn assist you in recovering from a
memory lapse.
Likewise, if you use your visual memory of the score to
provide cues, then, as your automatic memory becomes solid
and your playing has become independent of the score, you may
need to maintain your visual memory.
_____________________________________________________________
5) SOME FURTHER READING
Bernstein, Seymour, "With Your Own Two Hands: Self-Discovery
Through Music". New York, G. Schirmer, 1981.
Contains a long chapter on memorizing, including a very
thorough discussion and detailed example of the use of
analysis.
Cooke, Charles, "Playing the Piano for Pleasure." New York,
Simon and Schuster, 1941.
Another proponent of analysis. Recommends giving the
greatest attention to "fracture" points, so as to make them
the strongest parts.
Gardner, Howard, "Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences". New York, Basic Books, 1985.
Musical and body-kinesthetic abilities, which are both
involved in memorizing, are presented as distinct types of
intelligence. Implications for education are considered.
Also, the Suzuki method is discussed.
Howard, Pierce J., "The Owner's Manual for the Brain".
Austin, Leornica Press, 1994.
Contains some practical applications of brain research.
Matthay, Tobias, "On Memorizing and Playing From Memory, and
On the Laws of Practice Generally". London, Oxford
University Press, 1926.
A classic on this subject by a prominent pianist of the time.
Metcalfe, Janet, and Shimamura, Arthur P., "Metacognition".
Cambridge, Massachusetts, M.I.T. Press, 1994.
Contains references to research on the learning of motor
skills.
Miller, George A., "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus
Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information."
Psychological Review 63 (1956): 81-97.
Newman, William S., "The Pianist's Problems". New York, Da
Capo Press, 1984.
Rolla, Gregory M. "Your inner music: creative analysis and
music memory". Wilmette, Illiois, Chiron Publications,
1993.
Seroff, Victor, "Common Sense in Piano Study". New York,
Funk & Wagnalls, 1970.
Wilson, Frank R., "Tone Deaf & All Thumbs?". New York,
Vintage Books, 1986.
The author, a professor of neurology who began piano lessons
as an adult, explains the workings of the brain as we make
and listen to music.
_____________________________________________________________
6) APPENDIX - SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL NOTES
Since memory is an object of study by psychologists and
neurologists, I spent a little time trying to find out what
they discovered that would help us to play the piano from
memory. I did find a few practical suggestions (see "Posing
Difficulties" above). In general, much of what they say
tends to confirm the methods that have evolved through the
practical experience of pianists and piano teachers. However
they provide a different way of understanding some of the
phenomena. Here are a few psychological points.
Nearly all our voluntary movements involve motor skills.
These motor skills are not reflexes, at least not in the
sense that swollowing is, nor are they exercised without
using the mind. The muscles are all connected to the brain
by nerves, and as such are extensions of the brain. It is
not accurate to say that rapid passage work is in the muscles
or in the fingers. It is executed, unconsciously for the
most part, under control of the brain's motor cortex, basal
ganglia and cerebellum, and is monitored and modified in
flight based on conscious or unconscious feedback provided by
the senses to the brain. (Some musical passages are executed
too fast to be modified at the note level by feedback. In
those cases, feedback is used to modify the on-going contour
of the passage at the note group level.)
Complex skills are built upon previously learned component
skills:
"The child first combined reaching and looking into
grasping; the grasping of single objects evolves into the
passing of objects from one hand to the other; the use of
sets of objects for daily tasks is transformed into the
building of simple structures..." (Gardner, p. 221).
There are analogies in playing an instrument, which is quite
a complex task indeed. All one's previously acquired musical
experience and skills are involved in learning a piece as
well as in playing a piece from memory. This experience
includes such things as facility in playing scales and
memories of such things as where notes are on the keyboard
and what notes make up a particular chord. What you learn
becomes a tool for further learning.
The "site" of the interaction of conscious behavior and
learned unconscious behavior is referred to as "working
memory". This is where music is processed as we are
memorizing it and as we attend to playing it. There is a
limit to not only the speed of the conscious mind, but also
to the quantity of things with which it can deal.
Psychologist George Miller in his landmark paper "The Magical
Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two" placed this limit at about
seven discretely different things. This explains why we need
to learn in small units, and also why we need to make lots of
our actions automatic. It also supports one of the benefits
of memorizing. The more we make playing the notes automatic,
the more we can focus on interpretation and making good
music.
_____________________________________________________________
7) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the following people, who have provided
information for this FAQ or who through their posts to
r.m.m.p. caused me to think about memorizing: James Douthit,
Achim Gratz, Alexander Hanysz, Anne Marie Himmelheber, Guy
Klose, Martha Beth Lewis, Leslie Liu, Toshiro K. Ohsumi,
Janice Rathmann, Bert Rowson, Dee Stark, Carl Tait, John
Yeung, and Peter Zakel. Although for various reasons I chose
to acknowledge contributions en masse in this section rather
than indicate specifically who contributed what, I must say
that I could not have completed this FAQ without you folks,
nor would it even have occurred to me to begin it.
_____________________________________________________________
end Playing from Memory FAQ
Copyright 1995 by Phil Tompkins, submitted by Isako Hoshino
with permission from the author. All rights reserved. This
document may be reproduced provided that this copyright
notice is not removed. It may not be modified without the
author's permission. It may not, either in whole or in part,
be sold or included in anything which is for sale.
This article is provided "as is" without express or implied
warranties. While every effort has been taken to ensure the
accuracy of the information contained in this article, the
author or the FAQ maintainer assumes no responsibility for
errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of
the information contained herein.
Author: Phil Tompkins
Internet: tompkins@cnct.com
FAQ Maintainer: Isako Hoshino
Internet: isako@mit.edu
US mail:MIT Room 13-3082, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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