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Two Unusually Powerful Ways to Strengthen Music Memory
by Grace Miles on August 27th, 2012 | 5 Comments
Its probably happened to all of us
youre performing and your mind goes blank, your memory slips.
Uh-oh.
Mostly were about dealing with slips, but Ive got ways to prevent slips in the first place.
Ill share two unusually powerful ways to prevent memory slips, but Ill stress one fact:
You can apply tactic after tactic (and theyll work), but youll just repeat the same mistakes again
and again if you dont understand the theory or system behind the tactics.
The following steps will help you almost guarantee that a piece is securely memorized, once youve
gotten the notes and musical ideas in your head.
(Or waste hours playing the same passages over and over again please do yourself a favour and
save your body some time + frustration!)
And it works with pieces of any level.
(I used a photo of a track because we think of music as a journey, but really, you can run around the
track in circles forever because there isnt a set finish line.)
Step 1: Play on a Closed Keyboard
Sit at your piano and run through your program a couple times with the keyboard cover closed. It
might take a few tries before you can play from memory without the keys, but its worth it.
Why this works:

Youre probably thinking, But Grace, this sounds ridiculous. How is this going to help me?
It strengthens your muscle memory. When you take the keys away, youre effectively forcing
yourself to rely on nothing but muscle memory to play the piece.
Youre also imagining the sounds as you play, so that it comes out exactly the way you want it on
the piano.
And being at the piano means that this is what your performance will be, with the notes and
real sounds, as youre recreating the situation.
Of course, when a keyboard isnt available, playing on any flat surface will suffice, although its best
to be at a piano.
Step 2: Rewrite the Music (almost) from Memory
a) Write out the music onto manuscript paper and see how far you get before you need to peek
at the score. (Most people dont get very far at all.) Finish rewriting the entire piece, peeking at the
score if you need to.
The key is to hear the sounds in your head as you write.
Advanced pianists: Your pieces might be longer and more complicated, but if you can spare 5
minutes out of your playing time to write, then the results will impress you. In fact, the more
complicated the piece, the more effectively this will work.
b) Pattern interrupt: Take 5 minutes away from everything; your paper, music, piano, anything
with a screen.
We spend lots of time consuming information, and it exhausts us. When we break this pattern, we
can generate good ideas and find new perspectives. This will improve your memory.
c) Next, rewrite the music from memory again, but consciously try not to look at the score. Keep
the sound in your head or sing if you need to, as long as you can hear the music.
Why this works:
Because you hear the sounds in your head when you write, your mind will follow the score when
you play, to produce those same sounds.
As we memorize a piece, we become detached from the visual notes; this exercise reconnects us
with the notes so that you canalmost follow the score in your head as you play. And when you do
feel uncertain, the scores stored in your head.
This type of memory works a little differently for everyone; some people can actually follow the
score as they play, but others connect the notes they play with the image of the score as the music
unfolds, so that theyre never uncertain of whats coming next.
And when youre concentrated on this moment, theres no time for self-deprecating thoughts, and
even less chance of a slip-up.
Think of this as adding an extra layer of icing to the cake; you, as a pianist, have so many flavours
to process at the piano, that your mind has no capacity to process anything else.

This means that you direct your full attention to your playing, earning that extra mile.
Now Id love to know: how do you memorize music? Leave a comment below to join the
conversation.
If you like this post, do share it with a friend. : )
If youre interested in teaching piano, check out my 5 Tools for Turning Skills into Steady
Income.
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Read the Comments or Add Yours

Suzy says:
August 28, 2012 at 9:56 am
Great post I especially like idea #2. I never thought about actually rewriting the music out on
paper!
Relying on your other senses can help a lot. We recently touched on this on our blog as well check
it out here: http://takelessons.com/blog/2012/07/the-6th-sense-of-playing-the-piano/
REPLY

Nicole says:
August 28, 2012 at 10:32 am
These are absolutely genius ideas! I tried this system yesterday with Pathetique and Liszts Un
Sospiro, and I cant believe that I gained so much confidence and saved so much prep time by not
playing a single note.
Personally, memorizing means that music gradually gets imprinted into my memory once I start
learning a piece. When Im fully familiar with the piece, a part of it is already memorized, so I
spend time working on the sections that arent already memorized. Of course, this is can become
tedious by the time I perform, Ive already drilled the music into myself, fulfilling the traditional
musician stereotype.
I had a past teacher who liked to tell students to memorize the bare notes of any given piece first,
then adding in the intricate musicalities into memory later. This might work for some, but I find it
hard (and weary) to change my playing once Ive taken a liking to one interpretation.
Ill be following this system from now on, and Ill happily pass this onto my students. Thanks for
sharing these valuable tips your writing here is worth much more than lots of the paid content
around the internet.
HI, IM GRACE

I make interesting things happen. I play piano and I like to use psychology in music and daily life,
which I talk about on this blog. Read more...

I'm

huge

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-Chris Foley, RCM Senior Examiner

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3 Easy Steps to Memorize Music
by Grace Miles on December 31st, 2011 | One Comment
Have trouble memorizing music? Youre not alone and youre not a lost cause. Memorizing music
can be easy.
Here are the three steps for easy memorization. (Also read 6 Surefire Ways to Memorize Anything.)
1. Memorize from the Start
Begin learning the piece with one goal: memorizing it.
Changing your mindset from learning to memorizing instructs your mind to remember rather
than read the music and youll be able to memorize much more quickly when you start the work
on day 1.
This change of mindset also pushes your playing forward because youll be more conscious about
your practicing.
Work with the details from the beginning articulation, phrasing, etc. Dont wait until the end,
when youll need to relearn the piece. Start early, start properly.
2. Correct Errors Early On
When you make a mistake, fix it right away.
There is an 85% chance that youll make the same mistake again if you dont fix it right away once
your fingers learn a mistake, its going to be hard to correct.
Even if your brain and your ears recognize the mistake, your fingers dont. Correct it so it doesnt
come back again.

An effective way to correct a recurring mistake in your playing is to divide the section up when you
practice, and play one beat plus one note at a time to completely reset your understanding of the
piece.
3. Rest Your Brain
Give your brain a break. Memorizing is tiring; when you get too frustrated, then leave it alone for
the day.
When you sleep at night, youll enter REM many studies have suggested that your memories are
solidified and stored for future use during REM, which is why youll find the same piece much
easier to memorize when you play it again the next day. Its also easier when you have a fresh start
with experience already beneath you.
Going into REM doesnt mean youll magically memorize music it means the work youve done
during the day is being solidified and filed away somewhere for you to use again.
Make sure you work, but dont wear yourself out youre more efficient when youre fresh and
energized!
Make sure you put in lots of effort and give yourself lots of time for memorizing!
(The actual memorizing is up to you I can only tell you how to make it quick, easy, and painless!)
Speak Up
How do you memorize music? Share your thoughts in your comment below!
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6 Surefire Ways to Memorize Anything | Artiden says:

December 31, 2011 at 8:53 pm
[] Memorize anything properly with these surefire memorization techniques! (Dont forget to

read

Easy

Steps

for

Memorizing

Music.)

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