Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Why is memorization important?

I'm wondering if it is necessary for me to memorize any pieces (well of course it's not absolutely necessary as I am just playing for my own enjoyment, but still...).

I've always been a decent sightreader. Back when I took lessons the first time, as a kid, my teachers never emphasized memorization and I never did it on my own. I feel very anxious without music in front of me, can't remember where to even start a piece. Probably because I've never had to do it so that skill is underdeveloped.

But I have always wondered why pianists usually memorize their pieces. Is it to be free of sheet music? Does it make you a better player?

I can't sight read, so memorization for me becomes a requirement. It also frees up more time to keep an eye on my fingers (they have a mind of their own at times).

I don't think it makes one a better pianist or not. To each their own..

A controversial subject. Views are diverse, and rightly so, because the truths and answers are probably different for different people.

For me (as a non-professional but a very serious amateur), the answer is basically those last 2 things you said:

-- to be free of sheet music
-- it makes me a better player

That's basically it. But to elaborate on that....

I find that it's not till I'm free of the sheet music and have the piece totally "in me" that I really feel it and conceptualize it to my fullest extent. There is a definite leap that occurs, really like into a different world, and it doesn't occur right away after memorizing, but it only happens after memorizing. Can I imagine that other people are able to achieve the same thing without memorizing? I guess, although it's a stretch to imagine that they would really "have it" as much as they could have it if they memorized. But how would I know.....

And for performing, there's another aspect which sometimes gets minimized (or, I guess, denied by some): The presence of the sheet music and the performer's focus on it take away from the performer's contact with the audience. How important is this? Well, it's not as important as how well you play, but I think it matters, and that it matters a lot. Others will differ about this and some might say it's not a factor at all.

I'm with BenPiano. I can read musical notation, but can NOT sight read what's in front of me anything that's level 3 and above, but yet, can memorize a piece that's about level 5 (Fur Elise).

I theorize that Concert Pianists are naturally good memorizers.

I know for a fact, from reading other blogs, that most teachers emphasize sight-reading and don't really want their students to memorize their pieces.

I envy good sight-readers actually, and I think with regular practice, anybody can become a good sight reader. Practice, is the operative word - and I NEVER practice sight reading.

The great majority are, but some aren't. Or at least they don't feel comfortable performing without the score.

Here is one of my favorites from Beethoven. I see what Mark means by "having the piece in you."

Look at this guy's emotion. He couldn't play like this with sheets in front of him (in my opinion)...I could be wrong..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2nG1bt7IBM

Great great example -- and I think you're totally right.

I'll give my view as someone who is very dependent on sheet music and never memorized a bit of music in her life until I started taking lessons this year.

I didn't quite understand the point of it, either, until after I did it a few times. But after a while, I found that when playing a memorized piece, I could work on interpreting the music more, rather than worrying about playing the right notes or losing my place in the written music. It feels like you have a more direct connection to the music, without having to go through the intermediary of the paper. It also helped me better recognize some of the patterns in the music, because I was actually looking at the keyboard and how my fingers moved on it, instead of at the written notes.

Don't read this to mean that I enjoy the actual process of memorizing. It is very hard for me to do, and I don't like doing the memorization. But after I have a piece memorized, I'm usually much happier with it.

Don't know if this makes sense, but why don't you just try it on a couple pieces, and see if it makes a difference for you?

I definitely think that memorization skills and preferences varies from person to person. If you are a strong sight reader, that's great! However, I do think memorization is important, especially in advanced pieces. It allows you to focus on other aspects like musicality, dynamics, etc. Memorization allows you to focus less on the notes and more on the sound that comes out of the piano.

Personally, I'm not a great sight reader and work to memorize everything.

I wrote a few articles on memorization on my blog: http://www.elisemoreau.com/category/memorizing-music/

I used to never memorize, and then one day a piece just sort of memorized itself, and I've memorized ever since. For me, memorizing means I've gotten to know the piece more thoroughly than I do if I'm reading the notes - I remember landmarks in terms of key changes, or particular voicings of a chord, or left-hand counter melodies - I hear a piece better. I was always a good sight reader, and, again for me, it hindered my playing musically - I could get the notes right fairly soon, but everything went right through my eyes and out my fingers but didn't involve my ears.

It's also true that I don't memorize except the music that really speaks to me, which in my case isn't classical - it's old swing tunes, and old-time, and Irish and Scottish traditional tunes.

I play with a band, too, for dances, and for me I can pay attention to the other band members, and hear them and what they're doing, and the dancers, if I'm not glued to the sheet music, which isn't a consideration for other kinds of music. But it's really more fun for me.

It's also fun to just be able to sit down and play, wherever i am, whether there's sheet music or not.

But the biggest pay-off, for me, is knowing the music in a whole different way than I do if I'm just reading music. Some people can play musically with sheet music, but I'm really much better off without it, altho that skill is feeding back into my reading.

But I don't think there's an absolute better or not better about memorizing for everyone.

Cathy

I only recently started fully memorizing pieces after about 1.5 years of lessons. I'm finding that now that I can play a full piece (I've only memorized one or two page pieces so far) I am much more likely to sit and play for a couple of minutes here and there throughout the day. I'm also findig it much easier to think about dynamics and phrasing. A couple of my family members have pianos and I have acces to pianos in the music department where I work so it's really nice to have a few pieces that I can sit and play from memory.

(Good, you decided not to 'ignore' me after all.)

If you really connect with that piece, it just naturally becomes part of you. I bet all the concert pianists find a particular meaning with every piece they perform. That is why sometimes, younger advanced players can play well, have it memorized, but often times can't bring out the maturity of a piece say by Chopin or Rachmaninoff. Music is an emotional art and message reflecting personal experiences. These classical composers touched the souls of those that listened deeply.

In the end I memorize so I can listen to myself play, and only by listening, I can catch where the musicality elements are and should be.

Yes......I'm glad to see that so many people are agreeing and adding more aspects of what can happen when you memorize. I expected much more to come from the opposite point of view, because that's what I've mostly heard over the years: people arguing that it doesn't make any difference. I feel sure that it does, but when you're biased about something, you can't really trust your own conclusion.

Sorry, but orchestras, conductors, and chamber groups often perform with music in front of them. I've seen a concert pianist in full public performance with music in front of him. If using music means you can't really "feel" and "emote" during your playing, then there's a lot less wonderful music in the world than I thought.

I didn't say that, did I?

I said not as much as they might if they played from memory.
I also allowed that I wasn't sure.

Orchestras yes, but soloist hardly ever. I've never seen a violinist perform a concerto with a stand and music in front him.

You're so right. I've argued against the "if you haven't memorised the music you don't really know it" line a number of times (I mostly play ensemble - chamber music, duo sonatas, vocal music with piano accompaniment).

The other point is that just because you have the music in front of you doesn't mean you're dependent on every single written note. It's often the equivalent of a speaker's cue cards, but when playing ensemble music and something goes wrong you need to be able to find the others and having the music is usually the most efficient way - well, in a classical piece, anyway!

Concertos maybe. What about all the other things violinists play - certainly it's very common to play sonatas with the score.

I think this was the bit that gave that impression: