Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Beethoven Op 2, No 1, 1st Mvt. Memory Issue

I'm having trouble memorizing from measure 75 to measure 82. Anyone can give some tips on how to memorize these measures? My trouble comes from two reasons I think:

(1) Can't hear the melody. Not easy to identify with my current tempo (quarter notes at 150-170 bpm). It's not a slow tempo, but I just still can't hear it.
(2) Can't find logical pattern.

Of course my muscle memory is slow as well, it's not kicked in for these measures.

I would look at this harmonically. First of all, he's got syncopation and suspensions there which can obscure which chords are actually being played. It's clear there is a sequence, so get rid of the suspensions and figure out the harmonic progression.

Just to note that this idea comes right out of what comes before it (I don't have exact measure numbers as I just pulled it up on IMSLP), but maybe understanding that he's taken the LH descending melody from right before that and condensed it/simplified it to a descending 3rd followed by 8va down, step up, 8va up, 3rd down, 8va down, step up, etc.

The RH can be figured out from the harmonic analysis.

Thanks Morodiene. This is a very stubborn part for me. Harmonic analysis doesn't help much. I have memorized the left hand. But still can't absorb the right hand and the combination of RH and LH including when the "Sf" parts kick in for both hands.

I can't copy and paste the measure or attach a file.

Don't be stubborn!!
This part is very easy to analyze harmonically and will make it trivial to memorize. All you have are triads. Ab triad, Db triad, Eb, Bbm and C. That's it. if you can remember that, you're pretty much left to worry about the Sf and pedalling.
If you are memorizing, then 150 quarter is very fast. I would slow is way way down to 60 quarter. That should build your muscle memory if and help make sure your fingers are consistent. Everything falls more or less nice under the hand so if you can play at 60 1/4, you'll be able to play at 4 times that without really working on speed.
have fun!!

This is a good point. I try to memorize under tempo and then at tempo to give myself time to think at first. Then it becomes muscle memory, but if you rely upon muscle memory completely you're probably going to have holes in there that will show up at the worst times

I'm completely reduced to muscle memory for this part for now. Playing slow, seems close. Somehow venting on internet helps. :-)

Thank you both. :-)

This was a formula one of my teachers once taught me for memorization called the Sacred Four, for the 4 times you play the piece or section you are trying to memorize:

1) Play very slowly with the sheet music, paying attention to every detail

2) Play at tempo with the sheet music, paying attention to every detail

3) Play very slowly without the sheet music, paying attention to every detail (this step can sometimes be difficult the first few times, so it's OK to have the music in front of you but only look at it when necessary, or have it off to the side)

4) Play at tempo without the sheet music, paying attention to every detail

Try this for a few days in the section you mentioned - I think it will help

Can you sing it by memory?

I can't sing by memory. I can't identify the melody clearly to begin with. Can't hear the melody, don't know what's going on...but think if I get to a certain tempo I might be able to make sense of it.

Sometimes I seem got it, sometimes loose it. Have to play slow for many times to get it in my muscles.

Raindrops, the pattern begins in M63, last beat. It's a two bar phrase, the second theme introduced at M20. The third iteration moves into the bass.

At the end of M73 it becomes just a skeleton echo with the treble taking syncopated offsets an octave higher. Masterful! If you remove the quaver/eighth accompaniment and move the RH into the same octave as the bass (or play the bass an octave higher) you'll hear it more clearly.

The final iteration begins with the sforzato C at the end of M77 and extends to the conclusion in M81 where the dominant preparation begins for the recap at M101.

The discipline to do it that many times is impressive, but muscle memory will let you down if you don't also understand what you're doing. (Not to mention you won't sound good.)

For m. 63 last quarter note through m. 73 there is a single-note melodic line. It is in the RH until the last beat of m. 67 when it moves to the LH.
For those ten measures, practice the melody alone, so that you can hear it, and commit it to memory. Try to hear the two-measure ideas that begin on the last quarter notes of m. 63, 65, 67, and 69. Do just two measures a day if you have to. While you're memorizing them, play them with as much expressiveness as you can muster. I always think of these as tumbling down a steep slope and swooping around the bottom on the sf, like a skateboard or ski jump ramp, or a plane diving toward the ground then suddenly pulling up at the last moment. The more you feel it doing something, the easier it will be to remember.

The rest of the passage is not melody-driven; it's a sequence of harmonies with a descending bass line moving to C major. Blocking the chords might help. For example, play all the notes in the RH m. 73 at the same time as a whole note chord G-Db-Bb. Then m. 74 as a whole note chord Ab-Eb-C-Ab. And so on. Try to notice which notes move and in what direction. When you get to memorizing this part, just memorize one chord change a day if you need to. Once you have the chord changes memorized try going back to playing as written. Then memorize the LH bass line by itself. Or you could also memorize the bass line first and then the chords.

I wonder if the problem is that the melody is in the bass underneath a busy RH?

Maybe try playing the LH part up an octave by itself a few times, then add the RH (also an 8va up) very softly, then bring that down to the correct octave and see if that helps.

I'm happy to report to everyone who helped, I just played from memory 5 times in a roll! although very slow tempo. Think I got the pattern somehow, although still not hearing the melody yet. Alas, isn't it difficult for me!

I'm not sure we are looking at the same music though. I feel yours maybe two measures ahead/behind mine? This has the same measure marking as mine. http://conquest.imslp.info/files/im...88-PMLP01446-Beethoven_Op_2_No_1_-_I.pdf

Thank you for your patient advice. I didn't know RH was the same as LH!

Now I just hope I can get these measures the same tempo as the rest, and get some music out of it!