Do you memorise music?

kal26 · Post by **kal26** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:47 am

I am learning a concerto for a concert in the spring and have to decide whether to memorise or not to memorise!

What do you do? If you do memorise, how do you cope with the paranoia that you might forget it?! And how do you go about learning so much music? What techniques do you use?

Alternatively, if you don't memorise, how do you make sure that the audience is still engaged and that you aren't losing them hidden behind your music stand?

What does anyone think?!

etgohomeok · Post by **etgohomeok** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:30 pm

I do find that memorizing helps get hard parts in songs. I would like to hear people's tips on memorizing pieces methodically too though, as I don't really know how to do it.

Phineas · Post by **Phineas** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:28 pm

Pieces that you memorize, will be the ones you perform the best.

The best way to memorize a song is to listen to it as mch as you play it.

vinie · Post by **vinie** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:59 pm

memorising make's it more easy.

Whenever I play something solo(that doesn't happen much) or something promonent, I memorise it.

It reduces the chance of mistake's, and you have to think les.

sonatine · Post by **sonatine** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 9:30 am

i would defiantly memorize it. work on memorizing small segments at a time and then piece them together. download the piece on to your ipod and listen to it as much as you can, even if you aren't consciously listening. it really helps to get the piece into your mind.

fii · Post by **fii** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:33 am

i'll definitely choose to memorize it. based on my experience, by memorizing a song, you can play more expressively. because you do not have to focus on "reading notes" anymore.

to be able to memorize well, you should listen to a recording over and over. i, personally, never meet too many difficulties in memorizing song. maybe because i'm more an ear-player. my hearing is way much better than my sight-reading...

nasxxx · Post by **nasxxx** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:45 am

Have to admit I do have a bad memory, when it comes to things like this... unless I have the actuall sheet music infront of me i'm lost. I do tend to practice practice practice hard pieces to become familar but could never play a full song from memory without any scores, wish I could thou, even the scales I need sheet music for. Might have to take up some memory exercises to get the old brain cells working properally.