How to Memorize Music Quickly and Effectively - Josh Wright Piano TV
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
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Using distinct check points/starting places, as well as dividing the piece into sections, one is able to memorize more quickly and efficiently using the techniques in this video. www.joshwrightpiano.com
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Memorizing back to front is my favourite technique for learning new pieces by far. When I first learned about it it felt like I had unlocked a superpower. I like your idea of marking off sections... I kind of go bar by bar, but I'm still learning pretty short pieces, like Bach inventions and short Beethoven sonata movements.
Nice. Could you describe more in details how you've been practicing it?
It works really well
4:25 is where it starts btw
Thanks
Thanx!
Thank you very much
@Veronica Chacty thx
Being a professional musician myself (from Germany)I must say I am delighted to follow your lectures. Thank you so much. You are a great musician and teacher.
He is soooo good. I'm trying to learn a 4 page piece and I can barely do that while this guy is playing a 17-18 page piece a week
same, been playing for one year already, still have a hard time learning
"thAT wAS slOPpy."
well it was actually sloppy but I wouldn't be able to play that - sloppy or not
I wish I can play sloppy like him
Great grandma was a concert pianist. Started playing piano when I was three and formal lessons in 3rd grade (2007 I think?) always have had the natural ability to memorize. It’s not the sheet music itself that I memorize, but the spacial relationship between my hands and the notes along with the sound of the piece.
I have the same thing kinda
Really interesting, i think everyone has there own special methods
Are we talking about muscle memory or cerebral memory if that makes sense. I seem to use muscle memory and if I stray it breaks apart really quick and then you need a new starting point.
i wish i can memorize 1 song and have it stick in my head so next time i see a piano i can just play it...without music sheet
why do all piano players always have stairs in their house?
Robert Plant pitched in on this response: "climbing the stairway to heaven"... by the way, those riffs aren't allowed in guitar stores, just saying.
that's a guitar song and yeah, I know their not. Haha!
Two story houses are fancier
wealth
So that the piano is in the hall way rather than the room where everyone else is trying to watch the TV....:)
this is how I memorize pieces... he's got it right on
Wendell Pulsipher Thanks Wendell!
+Adventure Time sorry could you reword that? I don't understand quite what you mean. Your first thought is an incomplete idea. (Sorry, I have aspergers and I'm not good at interpreting partial thoughts or inferring what someone "meant" to say).
+Adventure Time +Josh Wright 's comments about learning backwards, if I remember correctly, also mentions that that process can start from anywhere, really. For example, when I took up Mozart's Sonata in B flat K 333, after dividing up each movement into separate sections, I would take the parts that are most difficult for me and, once they were memorized, tack on preceding and subsequent sections. If you get a chance to look at the music for that one, one of my most difficult parts was measures 28-35 of the third movement. The optimal way for me to memorize that would be to master mm. 32-35 and then tack on mm. 28-31 and once my hands were comfortable and controlled in that, either go back as far as I am comfortable going and see if I can play well up to mm. 35 or just continue in a similar fashion, depending on how much I think I can "bite off" at once.
For me it's all a matter of taking the hardest parts and, as Josh said, working backwards from there. I find that for most pianists, transitions are the hardest thing to master, so combining sections in this way and focusing on the difficult transitions and connecting them is usually the brunt of my focus. I hope I explained that okay.
There are a few tips for how to learn piano
Try practicing for 1 hour a day, or even 1/2 an hour if you can't find time.
Do extra practice whenever you can. For example, on weekends you could do more than an hour, maybe 2 or 3, or even more. This is useful because it pulls you out of the routine of piano playing, and lets you practice more and perfects the pieces you play.
(I read about these and more on Denelle Piano Lesson website )
@@graciellalee2477 Oh, you mean to get better you should practise? No s***, Sherlock.
When he starts playing, I was like dayyyyummm !
😄
Thanks Josh I needed to memorize a song in two days and it's 4 pages long, your technique helps me a lot thanks!
Memorising is VERY important! Simply playing with the music all the time gets you nowhere fast. The entire piece can learnt much faster if it’s memorised. Then you can concentrate on the interpretation, dynamics, phrasing etc.
👍👍👍👍👍 😃
This is crazy good!! How the heck you get your fingers to move that fast?! Obviously I’m a beginner…. But, this is amazing! 😯♥️🙏🏾
This lecture doesn't actually address memorizing. Just how to approach and organize the memorizing, which itself remains a secret.
💥 Josh, I'm now dedicated to improve my sight reading technique, but when I sight read a piece, or even after playing it reading, nothing stays on my brain afterwards. When I read it again, it's like always the first time. It looks like my brain consumes all resources to sight reading and disables memory. In order to memorize something, I need to play it very slowly, paying attention, and splitting the piece in sections. I E. Either I read the piece, but can't memorize, or I have to work completely different for memorizing. I'm 57 now. When I was very young, I had a poor reading, but excellent memory. Now, I improved a lot my music reading, but doing that, I can't memorize for example, Scriabin or modern music. But I feel easy to memorize Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven or Mozart, because their music makes sense to my brain. What advice could you give to me, please, in order that I improve my reading and this reading helps on memorization ? Thank you very much. 🎉❤
Admit it Josh...you only made this video to show us your not inconsiderable piano skills.
Hey Josh, can you make a video on the importance of mistakes and how to recover from them in performances?- thanks a lot
Manuel Crespo I’ve been told to play through mistakes. Most people won’t notice and if they do they will give you credit for not stopping
@pinkie35 Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate your support. Please email me if you would like me to add you to my mailing list for future concerts
thanks for sharing, so basically its the same procedure to learn a new piece, from the end to the beginning.
I love how you play such amazing things and then call it "sloppy".
Jean Reotutar he's a modest man
hahahaha
That's what you call true musicians, or those who know the differrence
So humble of Josh! I am impressed!!😀😀
It's just A-minor scale brotah, it WAS sloppy few hours of practice from him and he'd be back to his original way of playing, not sloppy like here
breaking the music into parts is every teacher's favorite tip, and it does work.
Dude you're amazing! You need a LOT more people to watch this! You're obviously an amazing classical pianist, but I wonder, do you play anything else but classical? I can imagine that you would be able to do ANYTHING if you chose to! I am forever grateful for all of your vids! Thanks for taking your time!
But Josh, how do you learn TO PLAY the notes of a section first, BEFORE memorizing? Surely you do not mean to imply that you memorize AS you also learn to play a section.
Dale Rider play SLOW
He is assuming you already know your notes from beginning to the end!!
I was like WOW HES FAST! Then I remembered I was listening at 1.5 speed. Listened again at normal speed. He’s STILL FAST!
Yeahh... ahahahahhaa
I've been subscribed to you for awhile, but only started binge watching your videos. You are an amazing teacher. The youtube world is lucky to have someone of your caliber give advice like this. Why anyone would dislike this video is beyond me!! Working in small sections is a great technique. Also analyzing the progressions, etc is incredibly useful to see the bigger picture. Looking forward to watching more of your videos as I'm starting to revisit advanced repertoire again, and take it more seriously.
Wonderful tip! I already use it to help my English students to memorize some lines we are working on. I never thought it could improve my piano skills! Thanks from Brazil, Josh!
I understand the overall strategy, but how do you memorize each small section?
you practice all day long
Olivier Verhaeghe
Lol. That is probably true.
im taking the level 9 cm test in 2 weeks and i havent memorized my pieces yet -_-
Sophia C. I'm taking level 7 cm test and I still need to memorize a whole song. Good luck to u!
How’d it go
@@ethanwang803 She dead. F
Sophia, did you pass?😔
@@MysticiCorporisChristi damn it really sucks when you see someone alive and well and then minutes later you realize their dead.
Twelve years later, cant thank you enough for this
Instrument playing is torturing. You spend days and months to perfect 5 minutes of playing and most of the time nobody gives a damn.
YuliaFortis FACTS
YuliaFortis yep
But it is rewarding. And there are people who even enjoy the process of learning a piece. In my case, I feel frustrated, and some times enjoy the process. And if nobody gives a damn, who cares? You are learning piano for yourself or for other people? And yes, there are certain people that not understand you, the music conects you with others musicians or piano students that can understand what you feel, because they are or were in the same situation
yes surely but just think that one day u can play a song from a piano sheet just after few hours of trying.
That my goal. Download the sheet and enjoy the music that i produce from the sheet.
if u're doing it for other people then u're doing it wrong
Da fuk I have like 4, 3 page songs and I wouldn’t be able to remember them in two months
There goes all my free time😢
He is not talking about memorization at all! Make no sense....
Hi, I have tiny hands! say in the key of C, I can't depress the c note & the e above it . It is too much of a spread. I have played drums for 5o years & am good at rhythm. I can't see how I can keep it fluid with such a fundamentally poor reach.?
Charles Mcnary Hi Charles - are you meaning you can't reach a 10th? If so, many people cannot reach a tenth. A lot of people with smaller hands than me are much better pianists than I am, so skill doesn't have to do with hand size. Best of luck in your studies!
+Josh Wright uhhhhh I'm 10 and watching this (I'm using my moms acount. Ima boyY)so omg you have to play 10ths when I'm older? I can play a 9th
Hey ^^ I'm working on my performers degree and I can barely reach an octave. I usually use speed to my advantage, try breaking the chord and jumping from one not to another really quickly, if it's clean enough, it won't sound too different :)
Pretty terrific!
Now I'm wondering if I can actually memorize script lines backwards!
I understand the last page. Would the 2nd last page tgen be the next practice point asxzn dntity onbits own with small sections etc....Do I understand this correctly? Amazing video!
I've had great success using this method. Thanks, Josh.
Thank you for the great information Josh. I subscribed. Cheers
03:38 Learn in reverse order: Yup. That's the ONLY way that works for me!!
This is called backward chaining! It's a common technique used in behaviour therapy!
Nice observation. Can you explain how/why it works better than the usual forward way...?
@@sunshinein9546 backward chaining has a distinct advantage: It directly links the independent completion of a task to the immediate reward or reinforcement
www.caseymccann.com/blog/2011/10/11/start-at-the-end.html
@@fermatamusicpianostudio528 Thanks, I got it. I found this explanation as well www.dansr.com/wick/resources/back-to-front-learning
Knowing the form and repetitions, how they differ e.g. exposition & recapitulation in Sonata form….or variations in Rondos… ?!
years after you will look back at this comment and think
What the fuck was the coronavirus
I love the idea.. ! When you're done with the end portions initially. You're more motivated to finish the piece & not abandon it in the middle. :)
I was working on pavane for a dead princess and hadn't even gotten down the first page in 3 days and I tried this technique and I got the first page down in under an hour! Thanks so much!
Jacob De Geus dead princess?
Jacob De Geus or is that the piece
@@Max-yp1iw it's the piece
Jacob De Geus whos the composer
@@Max-yp1iw ravel
This is very helpful. I've been feeling discouraged because I can't seem to memorise things quickly enough. I'm definitely going to experiment with the back to front method.
Ha! I used to use this technique for guitar but in my young mind felt that it was cheating somehow. I never told my teacher what I was doing to learn in case he got mad with me. But it certainly works. Much older now and trying to learn piano.
I'm 55 and it's working great for me at the piano!! 🙂
It is very hard for me to memorize pieces. This is because, as my piano teacher always reminds me, I read notes very well, so I never have the need to memorize at all. Strange how people are gifted in one way and yet lack in another.
Delete the "because" in your sentence. Assume it's not true.
I was a brilliant reader too, and I thought I'd never be able to play without the score.
Then I learned how, 25 years later, and now I do it literally all the time! (I always memorize at least something of what I'm playing).
You MUST do it the right way! You do not get to choose you to do it. Repetition DOES NOT work. There is no such thing as muscle memory (Classical musicians believe there is but they also nearly always have teachers who get them to focus on all sorts of stuff, and it's that that enables them to play without the score, not repetition).
When you work with a piece, you must always be understanding it, learning something new about it. Even if you're really tired or don't have much time, you can learn that it goes from Eb to C minor to Eb. Then, as you get on with your day, you think, "But how does it get there?". Then your brain gets thirsty for knowledge, and away you go!
Always learn backwards, in sections and sub-sections. It works great! When you perform, you are always heading towards a bit you know even better than the one you're playing. It feels great!
So far it's gotten easier and easier for me. I'm 55 atm.
Never ever ever play from the start "To see if you can play it from memory". That's setting yourself up for certain failure. Instead, play from the beginning to find out what you don't know. There's ALWAYS something. So you ALWAYS succeed!! 🙂
Slow down if necessary, here and there as required, to avoid any mistakes. It doesn't damage the rhythm in the long term assuming you have a good sense of rhythm. I've seen concert pianists do this. It works really well. Mistakes are bad. They can mess up your memory. Best avoided. Learn once. Learn right. Don't change your fingering (or if you can't work out a good fingering initially then don't focus on your temporary fingering and then you won't inadvertently learn it. A good fingering will magically appear in due course once the piece is in your head. Then learn that!).
Go ahead and succeed!! 🙂
@@JSB2500 I love what you said about playing from the beginning to see what you don’t know rather than to see if you can play it through for memory! Thanks. This is so helpful!
Ironically, I had a choir director that would teach us classical pieces to singg JUST like this and I never thought to do that while learning pieces to play. Great idea!
i dont understand what he meant by "X" every 2 measures. am i going back words every 2 measures or just major sections at once thats like 12-15 measures.
I'm reluctant to rely on memorizing as it's so risky, at least for me. I would like to know enough about chords that I don't have to memorize but know which chords go with the melody, and that seems to be hard to do.
Improv is hard to do, there's lots of videos on it though
3 years later, I still go back to your videos for learning and memory tips.
This was great, thanks, I've been looking for "tricks to memorizing" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Yiyevi Ponevi Approach - (search on google ) ? Ive heard some amazing things about it and my work buddy got cool results with it.
Yes that's how study and memorize my piano pieces, reverse study, start from the end.. Good Advice :-)
Hi Josh, came across your video and found it very useful so thank you for that. I'm having trouble memorizing contemporary pieces, how would you go about it? I'm currently trying to learn Bolcom's poltergeist rag and it's really hard for me so any tip would be great. Thanks or your time.
Do you use the same technique on poly rhythm? I mean on really small sections..
11 years ago, wow. Watching in May 2021
Sloppy ending? Oh that I were so sloppy! 😂
Do you think it can be beneficial to memorize the most difficult sections first, regardless of order, so that the task becomes progressively easier?
yeah but how do you remember the section before?
Thanks a lot Mr. Josh. I thought I would leave playing the piano once and for all, just because I couldn't memorize a 7 page piece which is Tchaikovsky's Christmas (December from the Seasons Op.37a), but you averted it!
Really, really good stuff. Don't stop making videos! I watched like 10 of them straight and it wasn't until I saw the notification on this one that I realized I didn't hit the Like button on any of them. I bet I'm not the only one, so keep them coming. And thanks.
Me:" Why should I take this guy seriously?"
3:50
Me:" ... Continue."
Hi Josh! I am Cecília from São Paulo, Brasil! Thank you for the memorizing tips. I will put them in practice right away, since this is a big issue to me. I am 71 years old and after 42 years I am back with piano lessons at The Beethoven Conservatory here in São Paulo. Looking forward for more tips!
This video was very, VERY helpful. Thank you SO much.
hi,do you remember the pieces by alphabets or do,reh,me?
Do u count ur piece as u memorize?
Oh my those fingers
I liked it, the thumb is not blue though 😅
That's how I memorized my song for voice lessons!!!
Is that a Bosendofer
22 year old Josh !
we study this methode in middle level of music school.
This is quite useful
Josh, great story and lesson, thank you. I play guitar but it all translates and I can't wait to give it a shot.
Please less talk, get on with demonstration
It seemed it took this man some time to make his point, but he did. If I am understanding correctly; is he advising to practice sections in reverse of how they are written on paper? I need to contact this guy.
I believe that's what he's saying. You always have an ending point when you do that. You can and will put it all together eventually. At least that's what I gathered.
Randy Clark Hi Randy - that's right. Don't memorize note-by-note backwards, but always be working to an ending point. You'll gain confidence and momentum this way. If you just memorize going forward (which certainly works in many cases) it can sometimes feel overwhelming, which is why I use this method when passages become particularly difficult or discouraging for me.
Josh Wright So you are saying to play in reverse order, but doing it while not commiting it to memory? If this is what you are saying, I will try it. I want to be an accomplished player (like you). Whenever a pianist plays notes repeatedly, it inadvertently gets commited to memory. My real name is Bryan by the way.
No, then you would playing a completely different piece - you would change the structure. You just have little sections in normal note order and then you end somewhere and work to the beginning eventually.
For me i memorize the piece like a story
Brilliant
thanks
Good but rather low on content your half way through the video before he starts. Also many aspects not covered. The Tedx talk provides much more focus discussing 5 important aspects; harmonic analysis; muscle memory (including fingering); rhythm; melodic line and tempo/expression signs. Also although Josh mentions blocking he doesn't mention cross patterns - which is very relevant the the example he is playing again this example is used in the Tedx talk. Clearly he is a very gifted player but possibly doesn't appreciate all the props us mere mortals might need to help us!
OMG SHIGATSU WA KIMI NO USO I LOVE WINTER WIND
Potatoes and Tomatoes
We do it - not because it's easy. We do it because it's hard. (11 years later - Christmas Eve - 2:48 PM - North Queensland, Australia)
Personally not a good memorizer. Even a 4-page would take a few weeks. The last piece played and recorded was a piano arrangement of Bach Contrapuntus #1 in D minor BWV1080. Learned it 2 years ago and since relearned it twice. The fingerings gets a bit tricky since this is a fugue.
Did a home recording around the new year from memory and once in church. Last week played it in public at a "Play Me, I'm Yours" piano in my city. Personally prefer suites & sonatas over longer pieces.
very good - interesting that you found it much more difficult for polyphonic music - do you think an alternative memorization approach might work there such as playing each part separately and then two parts in different combinations etc.
Thanks so much for the video. I am going to try this. Listening to you play though, I realize we have one thing in common.....we have the same piano bench. Thank you
I am so comfortable playing pieces with music in front of me I really had problems memorizing pieces. This video is going to help me I know. Thank You!!!
Thanks Josh. Very helpful. (Niles, Michigan)
Thanks! You're awesome!
Please give me lessons!!!!!
Wow great me too I have inspired by your tutorials 😍😍😍
Thank You!!! :D
Thanks so much for this video. I was actually having trouble memorizing a very simple piece. I won't even mention it here because I am pretty sure you would laugh. I say this because I have only taken piano for almost a year. The strange thing is that I was able to memorize a complicated hymn last year and a William Gillock piece that is above my level. This piece I am working on however is very simple and below my level but I rush through it and fail to memorize properly. Will try this now!
I'd rather be able to sight read well than memorize quickly.
Me too, sight reading is much more powerful music tool 'cause you can play anything immediately, maybe not perfectly but I'm jealous of people who can sight read.
I don't think it's possible to sight read the piece he's demonstrating.
Oh i will try this, thank you for this advice. it takes me a lot time to memorise any piece. I can't control the time I need for it. Now I'm in trouble. I have to memorise "apres un lecture du Dante" from Liszt to the next 6 of February. This day I have to play it in a rehearsal and then the 9 of February in an exam... I'm scared and worry :S we will see what happen...
Wow that a great video and tips tanks so mucha Josh
Thank you for sharing this method! I find that I too have trouble memorizing like your students when I start from the beginning of the piece. Once I get to the middle of the piece I will fall apart if I mess up because I do not have a check point to go to. I am going to try this today and get memorizing! Thank you!
I have a question-do you ever work mentally without playing to memorize? I used to imagine my violin pieces (in sections) , then play the section and usually, by the time I could do that, I had it memorized; but I'm finding this much harder to do on the piano because you have to "imagine" so many notes and harmonies!
awesome, thanks
great videos Josh, i would like to be your student
E S P E C T A C U L A R !!!!!!!!!!!! You are non plus ultra pianist/teacher/guy.