Memorization skills

Polishing Your Memorization Skills

Memorization skills: A key area of study for performers. To some pianists, memorization comes easily. For others, it is something we have to work at. Usually when you start learning a piece, invariably some memorization starts to happen whether we specifically intend to do it or not. However, if you want to learn a piece by memory for long-term enjoyment or for a specific goal, there are a few strategies that most performers have learned to rely on.

I had a conversation with David Chang, memory expert, performer, and teacher, about using memorization skills on pieces we want to perform. I met David through the 40 Piece Challenge, where teachers challenged themselves to learn 40 new pieces in a school year. David took the challenge further and did a 100 Piece Challenge in 2016 and a 150 Piece Challenge in 2017. He also took it upon himself to memorize all the pieces. His memorizing techniques allowed him at some points to maintain almost 5 hours of performable classical music in his memory. After this achievement, I wanted to talk with David about some of his invaluable strategies on memorization, speed, discipline, time management, and goal setting skills. Interview time!

Memorization Skills: Mental Practicing

DAVID: Do as much mental practicing as possible. Every piece that will be performed should be mentally practiced at least once daily. Be able to do both rough and detailed mental practicing by incorporating the sight, sound, and touch of playing every single note of the entire piece or section. Detailed mental practicing is simply mental practice with the sheet music available to use as a reference when needed. Just like with physical practice, mentally practiced sections can be broken down into smaller sections, practiced slower, practiced separate hands, and so on. Because one is trying one’s very best to imagine clearly and because one has the opportunity to use problem solving strategies with the music in front of them, detailed mental practice definitely takes more time. If the piece is new and/or if there is a serious performance soon, it is ideal to do detailed mental practice through the entire piece at least once a day. This means that even if it has been broken into smaller sets, one has done one’s utmost to imagine clearly every note and detail of the whole piece.

Rough mental practicing is simply playing back the entire piece in my mind to the best of my ability without reference to the sheet music. After the whole piece is played mentally, if there are areas that I really don’t remember, I can then check the score and do some detailed mental practice for those specific areas. Rough mental practice is not as thorough, but it takes much less time and is excellent for maintaining pieces. Rough mental practice is also versatile: I often do rough mental practice while on my morning run, walking around, waiting in line, or waiting for public transportation.

ELENA: Both these ways of memorizing: one highly specific, and one more generalized are important to understanding the pieces you are going to perform. Even when a piece is “memorized”, I will find myself revisiting the score to make sure that little details are not lost in the performance. I suggest to students that even after a piece is memorized, they need to review the piece with the score in front of them to make sure things like articulation, dynamics, and phrasing are not being ignored. In the more general sense, you should make a mental road map of the whole piece. Understanding the basic form and structure of a musical piece and knowing what sections lead where is helpful in gaining a solid foundation for memory work.

Memorization skills: What happens next?

DAVID: Practice always consciously being aware of what is going to happen next in the music. Do this both in normal practicing and in the practicing of performance.

ELENA: I talk to my students about the “flow” of a routine and compare it to learning a routine in gymnastics, or learning a football drill. We first learn the individual steps and sort out what we need to accomplish physically. Good coaches and teachers can break everything down step-by-step. Then, we need to learn the sequence of these moves and flow naturally from one into the other. In order to keep the performance flow smooth, we need to know what is coming next!

Memorization Skills: The metronome–a necessary evil?

DAVID: Use metronome practice or other kinds of technical practice daily to keep muscle memory strong.

ELENA: Metronome practice imposes an external influence on our playing. It points out our inconsistencies in memory and in rhythm and ensures that the flow is continuous where necessary. The metronome doesn’t lie–which is probably why we want to pitch it across the room sometimes!

Memorization Skills: Shuffle Play

DAVID: Practice performing the most difficult areas of the piece(s) in random order.

ELENA: Students are always confused when I break pieces into sections and have them start with the most difficult parts first. It breaks the mental idea that we HAVE to play a song from the beginning. Students that practice in a linear fashion get to know the beginnings of songs really well–because they are repeating that the most times. Practicing difficult sections is a smart way to spend your practice time.

DAVID: Practice starting from random areas of the piece by picturing each of those areas beforehand. Designate special memory spots if desired. Here, it might be important to emphasize that being able to start from random areas is EVEN STRONGER than designated memory spots. Truly strong mental practice gives one the ability to start from ANY spot from memory. 

ELENA: A former teacher used to assign “memory parachutes” — 2 per page, or as necessary. These are pre-planned points where you can easily restart a piece if you run into difficulty. The beginning of a phrase, or the beginning of a section. Pick places where it is easy to dive back into the thread of the piece.

Memorization Skills: Where is this going?

DAVID: Play back-to-back from memory areas that are similar, but not exactly the same. Be sure to know what order they are in by repeating appropriate mental reminders each time these sections are played (both mentally and physically).

ELENA: Some older styles of music that are form or structure driven will often have repetitive sections. Before playing, sit down and analyze these sections–find out what is the same, what is different. Nothing is worse than “taking the wrong off-ramp” and ending the song too early because you took the wrong turn!

Memorization Skills: Repetition

DAVID: Sit down and perform the beginning of the piece or pieces (or a very difficult section). Practice it a bit if desired until it’s reasonably good. Wait until later (whether it’s five minutes or hours later is up to you). Sit down and perform the beginning again! Repeat this a lot.

ELENA: I love that David says “repeat this a lot“! Repetition is the key to practice, and also the key to memorization. When students are preparing for performance in exams or recitals, one of the things we practice is being able to sit down at any random time and just start the piece. You get used to “playing it cold” without any warmup and you get used to choosing the correct speed. It also gives you practice in “snapping” into performance mode without too much preamble.

Memorization Skills: Record yourself!

DAVID: Perform (and record) the piece or pieces for yourself daily (while always being consciously aware of what’s next, of course).

ELENA: Performance mode is different from everyday practice mode. For one thing, a performance is from beginning to end and it doesn’t allow you time to stop and correct or re-practice things. Recording and watching your performances is an opportunity to learn and correct.

Memorization Skills: Involve others in your progress

DAVID: Perform for others as often as possible – at least one different person each week.

ELENA: Having an audience gives you a feel for what it will be like when you actually perform. It’s nice to be able to have a low-key performance where you can see how your nerves are going to react and where you can test out whether your memorization strategies are sound. Performing consistently for others takes some of the nervous edge off. You do it enough times, your body will learn to adapt to the fight or flight reflex that is so common.

Memorization Skills: Other instruments

DAVID: Perform on as many different pianos as possible.

ELENA: Most pianists don’t have the luxury of being able to cart their favourite piano around with them for performances. The nature of being a pianist requires us to be able to perform on whatever instrument we are given. The more pianos we play on, the better and faster our abilities to adapt to the idiosyncracies of each instrument.

Memorization Skills: Performance Opportunities

DAVID: Sign up for community service or other low-pressure performance opportunities for further practice.

ELENA: Good advice. Some people say that piano is a lonely instrument. Hours of practicing spent alone for the most part. Signing up for these kinds of opportunities also reminds ourselves to share our gift and hard work.

Memorization Skills: How well do you know your music? And other performance tricks…

DAVID: Ideally, memorize all of the music separate hands both mentally and physically. I find that the idea of memorizing separate hands, then both hands is most helpful when first learning a piece and shortly before an important event / performance.

ELENA: I have a twist on this instruction. My teacher used to have me play hands together all the time. But if I was working on memorization, I would spend some time reading the hands separately as David suggests. However, I would play both hands together–one hand plays on my lap or a table, and the other hand plays on the keyboard. That way, you are still rehearsing hands together, but hearing only one hand or one voice. It strengthens the memory experience because you are now hearing a line that you normally wouldn’t when you play hands together. This technique is especially helpful for left hand lines that are normally buried by the melody.

Memorization Skills: What is our purpose for performing?

DAVID: Personally, I reflect a lot on my purpose and the message of the music in order to inspire myself and keep myself focused and calm. I also meditate and go through various pre-performance rituals. All of this is to remind me of what is truly important in order to calm my nerves and hopefully help my memory be more solid. I will suggest various things for students to reflect upon and think about before they perform.

ELENA: I got the chance to see a lot of performers and their pre-performance rituals when I worked as a page turner for a concert series. It was interesting to see how people incorporated different ways to keep themselves focused and calm. For sure, knowing the purpose and message of your music is a good way to keep the nerves at bay. Knowing that people are there to hear and enjoy music is something that I tell myself to stay calm. Another is to enjoy each moment as it comes, without worry for what may or may not happen.

DAVID: Along with physical practicing and mental practicing, a third component of my teaching is emotional practicing. It is simply these two ideas: a) Our thoughts do not really have any intrinsic existence and b) Anything that is practiced is made permanent or habitual. In the case of nerves, every time that I start to feel nervous during performance, I think: Nervousness is merely a thought and does not actually have actual intrinsic existence. I acknowledge my nervousness, but I will now let it go because it isn’t helping me. I also think things like: I have prepared very well and the piece has gone well many times, so there is no reason to be nervous. Furthermore, I cannot let my nervousness get in the way of my responsibility to the music and the audience. By thinking these thoughts daily, these thoughts become habitual and emotional strength is trained. But this takes time and persistence to build. It is very difficult to do emotional practicing consistently in the moment, particularly at first. In the beginning, the thoughts will seem empty and without meaning, but over time (with good practicing) their power genuinely grows. So, I also instruct students on emotional practicing and explore these philosophical ideas with them.

ELENA: I have worked with myself and others on combating nervousness and conquering nerves. David makes some crucial points here: a) nervousness doesn’t help us, b) we have a responsibility to the music and the audience, and c) it takes time and persistence to build this confidence. While we might never get rid of our nerves completely (and nor do we want to!), these key reminders will give us greater control over our ability to be musical and confident in presenting our music ideas to others. I try to teach my students that the audience is on your side during your musical journey, that they want you to succeed, and that your individuality needs to come across in your music-making. No one else has your unique point of view.

Memorization Skills: Concluding thoughts…

One of the key phrases I have heard taught is “Success is where preparedness meets opportunity”. The most secure performances are those that are the product of hard work and many hours of both physical and mental practice. Applying some, many, or all of these memorization skills is the key to having solid performances.

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