Hi all,
I caught this thread, and thought I would chip in!
The discussion about working away from the piano always seems to turn around the assumption that it is a substitute for physical practicing. I see it differently - there are things that must be practiced at the keyboard, and there are things that must be practiced away from the keyboard (and yet other things that must be practiced away from the instrument and the music, but that will be for another thread, on emotional practicing!)

Everyone can learn something away from the piano. That learning is different from the learning that comes from listening to the sounds, from feeling the fingers on the keyboard. All are necessary.
FOr my DPS workshops, the exercise is meant to stimulate the brain, obviously, but it is mostly to set up the pianist for an experience AFTER the learning, when you first hear the work. Having spent time trying to hear it in your head, no matter more primitive that might be, the expectations and desires are completely different than if you sat down with the score at the piano and started to sight-read.
It is the emotional experience that, in the end, is the key to working away from the keyboard.

One of the major lessons from the exercise is to see how much (and not "if") you can learn without ever "practicing", which helps you build confidence, which then gives you motivation, which then leads to more energy and time spent willingly, more concentration, more retention in an emotionally heightened state, leading to better physical control, better memory and calmer nerves - all necessary for better playing.

SO I encourage everyone, no matter what level, no matter what difficulty level of the piece, to at least experience the effects of learning away from the keyboard.

Much of what I have discovered is counter-intuitive, at least as far as piano-playing is generally taught today (and for the past 50 years). Learning by reading is not so helpful, but learning by doing, and especially learning by doing in front of others is extremely helpful.

Frederic

Frederic: You made an excellent point - no method can truly substitute for another. It's not possible to prepare a performance without playing the music. It IS possible to memorize with no playing, but that's only one part of what needs to be done.

I just think there are a great many people who attempt to make physical practice a substitute for all other kinds. And many are difficult to convince that practice away from the instrument is practice at all.

Memorizing away from the keyboard is an essential way of working out problems such as mental blocks and confusing sections that sound the similar to somewhere else in a piece. What memorizing away from the piano does is force your mind to do the work of associating notes on the page with what you are playing. I've been doing this for the past few months as I am memorizing the Mozart's Fantasy K.475 in c, Poulenc's Movement Perpetuels, and Chopin's Nocturne No. 1.

Perhaps I am lucky as I have photographic memory to a certain extent. When I memorize music, I see the whole page laid out in front of me complete with pencil marks written out and everything else including the page numbers. This is part of the battle won I am sure, but then there's still the reinforcing needed of this image to keep it fresh and easily recalled when needed. I also can hear the music in my head when I read it. This is for any music regardless if I've even played it before. I developed this from sight reading and accompaniment work where I had to learn something really quickly in order to be ready in less than an hour or two.

Anway this is where the memorization away from the piano is very helpful. I look at the score, close my eyes, and play air piano all the while trying to keep the score in my mind. The air piano helps reinforce the finger muscle memory and the feeling of the chord shapes associated with the notation. I don't attempt to play the whole piece, but instead focus on little sections, perhaps a phrase or two at a time. The time away from the piano is also spent analyzing the score for chord progressions, and special things that make the memorization easier such as repeated patterns, and easy things such as obvious scales, arpeggios, etc.

Granted this process takes time just like memorizing at the piano, but this is an adjunct to what we're doing at the instrument only its done in a comfy chair in the living room with a cat curled up in my lap, and with a plate of cookies and a cup of tea on the table next to me.

John

great post John! Even as only an intermediate pianist I like to look at scores away from the piano. Because the pieces I learn are relatively short and my memory is better than my fingers at present I'm not doing deliberate score memorising though.

I am continuing to work on reading scores in my head. I've always been better at this than actual sight reading (adult restarter, fingers need to catch up). The other night I made myself read a whole book of easy pieces in bed (easy classical and baroque), making sure to hear every part of left and right hand I had to really work to keep up the focus. I did this after I first read this thread .

Have done some other deliberate score reading as well. It's funny, but just a few sessions have sharpened my skills already. If a piece gets a bit difficult in places I let my mind go over the melody first for that bar, and then add the harmony. If i'm really stuck to hear a bar fully (without taking too much time) I will gloss over it.

But the best part of john's post is this bit

Now that's my kind of practice.