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I have just made a huge achievement - I have (more or less) memorised a page of the Rachmaninov prelude no.4 op.23 in D major and I have not tried to memorise anything in years. The problem is the other 3 pages are much harder and it took me 10 days to learn the first page! Does memorising get easier the more pieces you try to remember? Someone, please give me some encouragement!! And does anyone like this prelude - I think it's beautiful....

Not sure about the memorizing, as I've never had to work at memorizing.

But I will agree that Op. 23/4 is a beautiful piece!

Yes, it is indeed very beautiful and very Rachmaninovian! Get Cliburn's recording if you can...

Katey, I keep thinking that you're pique.. you two have the same avatar.

Argh I know what you mean. I'm still working on memorizing this Brahms intermezzo. It's lovely, but it's just dense! Pain to memorize! Good luck to you!

Thanks Quidam! Which intermezzo is it?

Memorisation is different for everyone. People can remember things instantly and have never had a problem with it... and others just can't get it sunk into their head, no matter how long they've played it.

The brain is a fascinating thing, something which we will never understand in 1000 years.

I believe it's either one of two things that help people memorise pieces.

1) You hands themselves have been proven to memorise movement... It's like a calculator... You don't need to look at the calculator when you type the numbers because you know the format in which they are (position wise). You know 5 will be in between 2 and 8, 4 next to 5 etc.... Some people can memorise by physical movement. They might not be able to know how the tune goes... but as soon as they put their hands in the right start... Then can play just like that.

2) The actual brain itself can actually memorise the entire piece of music, notes, articulation, dynamics etc.... This can be harder to master for someone who isn't very good at memorisation, but it helps you feel more confident than method 1 above, becuase you can think about whats coming up instead of just 'trusting' in your hands.

Hmm.. interesting - I definitely learn by remembering what it sounds like in my head mostly, and then a bit with the patterns my fingers are making.

Also - AndrewG - just listened to Cliburn's version of the Rach prelude, its lovely, thanks for recommending it

A really useful way to aid memorization, in addition to repetition, is to look for patterns in the music. For example, beginning on page 2 of 4:

LH is simple! D-A-F#-D (inversion of D Major triad) and the same going down, except the F# is a G on the way down. This pattern repeats in the next measure.

For the following measure, the left hand is the same, except this time the F# and the G switch positions in the measure, and the top note is a C# instead of a D. The following measure starts the same, but the top C# drops to Cn and then D.

The RH isn't that complicated either: Roll the F#-D-F#. Then continue the pattern to hit the high D, which descends by 3 notes, then rises 2 and does a twist. (The other note in there is the E, which comes pitch-wise inbetween the D and F# you rolled initially.)

The next measure is very similar, beginning the same way, except... instead of doing that 2-note rise with the twist, you leap down a 3rd and do the twist. There is that D at the bottom, instead of an E.

By looking at patterns like these, the music becomes much easier to remember. You don't have to remember all of the patterns word for word, but if you understand what is going on, memorization (or learning, rather) will come much easier.

that is FANTASTIC thank you - I will have a go - as I said, I am doing it with my ears at the moment and I struggle to remember every note.

"Some people seem to be gifted with a kind of mental glibness. They make their mental photographs with a kind of cinematographic rapidity; and the impress is likely to disappear quite as rapidly. If you find that you memorize slowly, do not let it bother you." - Josef Lhevinne

If you're making progress, then you shouldn't worry too much. By the way, memorizing by phrase would probably help more than memorizing every note.

yes watertree and pianojerome give good advice. I use those methods for memorizing as well and it really does help. For the record, I'm not one of those lucky people that can just remember a piece right off the bat. Also, once you've memorized more pieces it starts to go a little faster. You sort of get into a pattern for how you learn... O yes, and you asked which intermezzo I'm working on. It's the opus 118, no. 2. It's so lovely!

Oh I don't know that one, I learnt an opus 117 one not very long ago and loved it

When my son took lessons, he was a great memorizer. His secret....he was a poor reader! As the old expression goes, necessity is the mother of invention. I am the opposite, I read pretty well, so I end up using the sheetmusic too much, as a crutch, if you will. My teacher says to "get off the page". You got to close the book to force yourself to memorize!

I have memorised basically everything I've ever learnt - but my sightreading skills really aren't up to scratch for the level of playing I am at, though my music reading is competent.

The first thing I do when I'm learning a piece is to memorise it, so I can throw away the book before working on the technique. This way you don't have to constantly be looking up and down at a page; if you make a mistake you can correct it without having to refer to the page.

I'm (trying!) to learn the Rach3 cadenza. I've memorized two pages (HS of course!) in maybe 3 days. So now I can just focus on the technique, and getting it up to speed, and putting the hands together.

I find memorizing to be quite easy. I think this is because my theory is quite strong; when I'm playing a bar lets say, most of the time I'm aware of the particular chord (i.e. d minor 1st inversion etc.), and this way my hands can fall into the position more easily.

That's a suggestion; if you've difficulty learning a section, try to figure out the basic chord progressions. I think it might make things easier. It's not for a whole piece that you can do this, but if you try to use your theory part of your brain, I think it can work together with how one would otherwise memorise a piece.

Hi Katey,

I love the prelude no.4 op.23 and I also decided to try memorise it. I've been memorising a few pieces lately and the performance really benefits from not having to read, if you know what I mean. Since I've played the organ a lot my reading is very good and am used to giving a decent performance in a short time then moving on to other stuff, so getting to know pieces really deeply is a privilege now that I don't have a regular organist's post!

Anyhow, I found this very difficult to memorise, and my teacher tells me that Rachmaninov is notoriously so. However, my best tip at the mo is to learn to play it really well with the music first, then put the music away and just see how you get on. Persevere: it's amazing how much you will remember, and have a few goes. Try again the next day without looking at the music; I'm sure you'll do fine!

That said, I think the main reason I tried to memorise this piece was that all the big leaps made it difficult to play whilst concentrating hard on the written notes!
Good luck,

Richard

PS I see you are from London; compared to most of the forum, we are neighbours :-)

PPS And in answer to the title of your post, I reckon memorising is a skill that gets easier with time, yes.

... and with practice. The more you memorize the easier it becomes to memorize, I believe.

Regards,

Hi Richard - thats interesting that Rach is difficult to remember. I find it difficult to remember the left hand particularly because it is jumping from octave to octave - so which D is it? which A is it and so on! I also totally agree it is a piece that is easier to play from memory because of the jumps! I still have not mastered this with the music, am still struggling with the last page. It is a beautiful piece though

I think if you are observant and have learned things in great detail based upon observation, memorizing is not really an issue, it bases upon understanding and repetation, of course, when you are playing, you are running through the understanding and observation as you play.