When You Play A Piece From Memory, Without Sheet Music, How Do You Remember What To Play?

5 Responses to “When You Play A Piece From Memory, Without Sheet Music, How Do You Remember What To Play?”

1. Thief says:

   November 22, 2009 at 10:45 pm

   First of all, I look over the piece. I break it into logical chunks. I look at how the piece is written, and how the chunks logically relate to one another.
   Then I start to work learning the piece. I start with the last phrase on the end, and work that until it’s perfect slowly, then gradually bring it up to tempo. When that’s accomplished, I add the next phrase back to it, work at the slow tempo needed to master it until the end (including the phrase I already learnt), and then work the whole thing back up to tempo. Then I add the next phrase back, and so on. When I studied brain processes at school, this was called “chaining”, adding a task onto the front of an already-completed task, and it’s proven to be significantly more effective than learning from beginning to end.
   Another thing I found with this method is the more you get into the piece when you play it, the easier it becomes. So as soon as I am through with the first phrase, I get more confident because the piece gets only easier from there.
   If it’s a really difficult piece I pick it apart and analyse it for a better idea of what’s going on theoretically, but I doubt you’re asking about a piece on that level.
2. geekchic says:

   November 22, 2009 at 10:57 pm

   Hi
   I’ve done performances and exams for nearly 10 years now and I’ve found the best way to remember music is to properly learn it. It sounds obvious but it takes a lot of time and sounds harder than it is!
   1. You should always start by dividing up the piece into manageable bars and tailoring it to the timeframe in which you have to learn it by. So if your piece is say 32 bars and you have 10 weeks before your performance, then divide it up into 4 bar sections. Learn a section a week and then leave two weeks for actually solidly knowing the piece and fine-tuning it.
   2. If you’re learning a piano piece, then I suggest you should learn the bassline first. Play it really slowly and if visualising the sheet music doesn’t work for you, then remember how your fingers feel/look when you play. Try to remember the shape of your hand maybe? Really listen to what the bassline sounds like. It more than likely is outlining a certain chord so perhaps try to remember the chord as they will (more than likely) tend to repeat. TRY TO FIND A PATTERN!!!
   3. Learn the melodic line. It really depends on what instrument you are playing as well. For me, memorising a piece on the piano, memorising it on the trombone and memorising a piece on the saxophone is completely different! Again, really listen to what it sounds like. Maybe even create a shape in your mind of what it sounds like.
   4. Be confident in yourself. Go back to your instrument the next day reassuring yourself that you did memorise effectively the day before. Test yourself out by not looking at the sheet music but have it there just as a memory-jogger if you do forget a note.
   5. Remember that if you forget one note when you’re testing yourself, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed! You have a week to remember a section after all!
   6. Don’t take shortcuts in learning the music! Pay attention to every single little detail and be really pedantic with yourself. You don’t want to be practising a mistake and not realise it. You also don’t want to be practising bad habits.
   7. Last but not least, always remember that the slower you go at first, the better and more effective you will learn it for later on!!! Surprisingly it actually takes a shorter time to learn — especially if you have a short deadline!
   Oh yes and definitely keep positive! It can be frustrating but it’s all about good and effective practising technique. Think of it more as playing rather than practising because you’ll probably have more fun thinking of it that way!!!
   Hope that information helps and hope you’ll be able to do it by memory soon!
   p.s. REALLY trust yourself that you can do it without music! Usually you already know the music but the actual score becomes such a safety blanket!
   And what instrument do you play?
3. lynnielo says:

   November 22, 2009 at 11:56 pm

   My personal method for doing this is primarily auditory. I learn a lot of music by ear, by actively listening to a recording of the piece over and over, over a period of hours, days or weeks, until I have the piece memorized to the point where I can whistle, hum or sing (”la, la, la”) it from memory.
   Once I have a very clear idea in my head of what the piece sounds like, or how I want it to sound, finding it on my instrument and figuring out the best way to play it is pretty easy. Then I play it over and over until I have it under my fingers (muscle memory), breaking it down into smaller sections or phrases as necessary to work on the more difficult bits and get them smooth, then putting it back together.
   Even if I learn a tune from sheet music, I’m listening to it as I play it over and over and memorizing the sound of the piece at the same time that I’m committing it to muscle memory.
4. RachelS1 says:

   November 23, 2009 at 12:23 am

   There are quite a few good suggestions from the other posters. Ultimately. you’ll find the style which works best for you. But also consider this:
   1. Memorize one phrase at a time, by playing and then singing it.
   2. Once you can sing the phase from memory, it will be easy to learn it on any instrument.
   3. String the phrases together and add more style, then you are done !
5. draft_bo says:

   November 23, 2009 at 1:05 am

   Memorize the last line if you are a vocalist. A few measures if an instrumentalist.
   Now back up one line or phrase
   You are always going to the familiar.
   Just keep adding more lines or phrases until you have it all together.
   Start learning short pieces and then look for longer ones.
   Good Luck