Time Codes: 00:00 Intro 01:07 Is memorization a last stage of learning the piece? 03:37 Step 0 04:25 Step 1 05:18 Step 2 05:51 Step 3 07:32 Concepts to know 09:08 Example: Muzio Clementi: Sonatina in C major, op. 36 no. 3 09:50 Great advice from Heinrich Neuhaus 14:23 Another important note 17:04 Conclusion
I liked this video, since it is relevant. I've only been thinking music for a little over 2 years, since I started late in my 65th year. I joked all my life that I was born with two left ears. In mandatory choir class, every director told me to move my lips and not make a sound. Music theory was fairly easy for me, but ear training and memorization are challenges. This week my teacher asked me to close the book and play the piece I had been playing, and I couldn't. She gave me an assignment to play a piece from memory, so I;m on a journey. Merci.
Yes! Please try it, this should intensify your actual work on the piece, since you'll be encouraged to analize it in much greater detail and do it very consiously. Then polishing the piece will be very fun too, because you will focus more on the music itself, the sound, phrasing etc!
Your voice is beautiful. I could hear you with the sound on low. Your experience given here is so valuable. I have played for years without doing the work of really applying the theory or learning most of what you described as the basis for your ability to draw on that foundation. I started learning these basic skills and training with the intention to understand music and to be able to know my notes, the keyboard, the theory, and the scales, a few years ago. It is a slow process the older you get. Your words and insight give me motivation and a path forward to learn new pieces. Which I have been struggling to do since I chose to work on learning completed original pieces of music, except for my Christmas music. I know them so well and enjoy playing the simpler versions and do struggle to relearn them in more complicated and original form. I can well imagine you are a wonderful to have as a mentor and a piano instructor. You have amazing talent. Thanks for sharing some of your what you have learned and used to help memorize music. It is information that I have no other access to.
Bonus Tip: Identify and locate cadences in the phrases so you can get a good idea how that particular section/phrase resolves. Do some harmonic analysis in that section/phrase as well. Block phrases that form an overall part of a chord
A great teaching... Enjoy learning. Yet when you teach, your voice is so low, that we have to put the volume higher, then suddenly the piano comes very, very loud... The ideal would be, the voice a little higher, so that when the piano comes, it'd be no great difference.
What about the pianists who improvise where one plays spontameouly and rarely do they think about fingering patterns. The ear plays a predominant role on that process. To repeat what is in score numerous times is not enough as the ear must be engaged and the very intention of endeavoring to memorize. Yes analysis and theory help. We have all kinds of techniques including memorization away from the keyboard. 🎉❤😂
I can memorize Clementi sonatinas as much as I want, but I can't memorize Scriabin or modern music, because the structure sometimes is not so obvious, or tonal. I have no problem with Chopin, he's one of the easiest to memorize, nor Beethoven, or Mozart. But Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff is out of the question. I can play only reading, and it's a pain ... I'd love to memorize. ❤
Thank you so much for your comment ! Here are my thoughts. 1. The more complex the music is the harder it is to memorize. 2. It will much easier for us to memorize tonal music vs. a-tonal simply because we rely on hearing familiar harmonies. 3. If the piece is clearly challenging for you to simply play , you need to allow yourself much longer time before you start memorizing it. Pre memorization stage could be up to a month or more if needed. You should be able to play it more or less comfortably with the score before you attempt to memorize it. 4. If you are determined to memorize the piece, create a good plan and memorize one or two phases a day. The music could be a-tonal or somewhat so, but there should be some structure (phases, sentences, sections ) that you can identify . 5. Remember you will memorize if you analyze. If besides basic harmonies that may not exist , what else is there ? Look at the intervals, base line, Melodic contoure. Are there any patterns or repetition of the material ? In general give yourself more time , create a good plan and approach memorization step by step. And if you are able , try to do your memorization work in the morning hours. Good luck and enjoy the great repertoire!
Privet. Knowing the why as well as the what is also very important for those little "moments" when you have to resort to approximation by improvisation. I've heard these "moments" even from acclaimed platform performers... Spasibo i derzhite's Aleksandra.
Hi Alexandra. Everything you said makes perfect sense. Great content! I'm considering taking a sabbatical to return to the piano. In which state do you work?
Thanks! I'm working in Washington State. Right now I am taking only online students for my coaching 6-month program Piano Excellence for Life :) pianoexcellenceforlife.com/
"muscle memory" is a wrong concept being spread: muscle *do not* have memory (except that they adapt their physiology to the task, which is a kind of memory or adaptation); eventually there are conscious and unconscious proprioception for body positioning.
oh i saw a comment from you the other day on a feux-follets video. interestingly enough about how you said to work it fast, rachmaninoff himself apparently did intensely slow practice for pieces like chopin 25/6 (at least as the story about him goes)
@@anotherdepressedmusician Haha, a follower ! There was a journalist who spied on Rachmaninoff once and heard him play very slowly; then the word about it spread. But the things is 1) nobody describes what is the work that they do (in their mind), fast or slow, which is not fully described in what we hear 2) practicing slowly is not exclusive with practicing fast and Rachmaninoff very likely also practiced fast (he plays also unusually fast, and spends every day an insane amount of time on technique, maybe like Liszt), and I practice also slowly, but the work (the object of attention and the consequences) is very different in both cases (slow and fast). So, in the end, practice is one thing and work is another; one can practice slowly and do no work, and practice fast and do a lot of efficient work (and the inverse too). There are a few known teachers who claim the same thing as I do, in particular with the image of the horse: practicing the walk a lot will never help with the gallop since the movements are different.
Hmmmm…. I don’t necessarily agree with the depth of memorization. It’s not necessary (for me) to know every note and interval. I think of memory as a suspension bridge. We have the big towers that hold up sections of the bridge 🌉 and we have spans of bridge that hang. The hanging spans are our muscle memory. The giant sturdy towers are the start points at the beginning of our sectionals of course too few towers means we will fall into the water as the bridge sections are too small and too frequent towers is uneconomical and taxing. Basically, have frequent start points and then have sufficient muscle memory between them. For reference, I have 2 kapustin Etudes, 1 Rachmaninov etude, gargoyles 4, Prokofiev toccata, ready to go right now from memory.
Wow your repertoire is so impressive!! Good for you! Very interesting analogy with bridges- I've never heard that before! But I agree that there will be not necessarily a need for every single element to be discussed. It's just an example of how to proceed in general as we memorize- again, it's all individual- I find it very helpful though, it helps to bring consciousness into the process! Thank you for commenting, and again, wow Gargoyles N 4!!! Bravo!
You need to keep the loudness level maximum acc to youtube standard, it is an essential reason for any channel growth. This is too low, almost inaudible.
@@alexandra.tsirkel u can improve mastering of the audio with some compression and mastering plug-ins in the video making tools. Keep the audio your priority
If it's a Schoenberg piece transposition would be superfluous. Transposition is good and would transpose an Etude of Chopin to make sure you know it like Opus 25 # 11 ? The real problem is the ear and one has to hear what one plays and have a theoretical understanding of what is there. I heard Rachmaninoff parsed every bar of a piece and spent an inordinate time on each bar before moving on. All of this is time consuming.
Time Codes:
00:00 Intro
01:07 Is memorization a last stage of learning the piece?
03:37 Step 0
04:25 Step 1
05:18 Step 2
05:51 Step 3
07:32 Concepts to know
09:08 Example: Muzio Clementi: Sonatina in C major, op. 36 no. 3
09:50 Great advice from Heinrich Neuhaus
14:23 Another important note
17:04 Conclusion
I liked this video, since it is relevant. I've only been thinking music for a little over 2 years, since I started late in my 65th year. I joked all my life that I was born with two left ears. In mandatory choir class, every director told me to move my lips and not make a sound. Music theory was fairly easy for me, but ear training and memorization are challenges. This week my teacher asked me to close the book and play the piece I had been playing, and I couldn't. She gave me an assignment to play a piece from memory, so I;m on a journey.
Merci.
Wow! What a great video ! Thank you kindly ! You are great !❤
This makes so much sense. To gets the notes memorized before polishing the piece. Thank you so much. Very helpful.
Yes! Please try it, this should intensify your actual work on the piece, since you'll be encouraged to analize it in much greater detail and do it very consiously. Then polishing the piece will be very fun too, because you will focus more on the music itself, the sound, phrasing etc!
Nice practical comments and advice. Thank you!
Thank you for your feedback!
Easily the best memorization advice I ever heard. Thanks !
Thanks for your feedback!
Your voice is beautiful. I could hear you with the sound on low. Your experience given here is so valuable. I have played for years without doing the work of really applying the theory or learning most of what you described as the basis for your ability to draw on that foundation. I started learning these basic skills and training with the intention to understand music and to be able to know my notes, the keyboard, the theory, and the scales, a few years ago.
It is a slow process the older you get. Your words and insight give me motivation and a path forward to learn new pieces. Which I have been struggling to do since I chose to work on learning completed original pieces of music, except for my Christmas music. I know them so well and enjoy playing the simpler versions and do struggle to relearn them in more complicated and original form.
I can well imagine you are a wonderful to have as a mentor and a piano instructor. You have amazing talent. Thanks for sharing some of your what you have learned and used to help memorize music. It is information that I have no other access to.
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Bonus Tip: Identify and locate cadences in the phrases so you can get a good idea how that particular section/phrase resolves. Do some harmonic analysis in that section/phrase as well. Block phrases that form an overall part of a chord
very nice information--thank you for sharing this!
I'm using this method for my classical guitar progress.
Excellent advice, beautiful English. Please keep it going.
Thank you very much for you feedback!
Great tips. Thank you
Loved this so much! ❤
I subscribed. You are terrific. Thank you Alexandra.
Thank you!
Thank you! Thank you!
Welcome!
A great teaching... Enjoy learning.
Yet when you teach, your voice is so low, that we have to put the volume higher, then suddenly the piano comes very, very loud...
The ideal would be, the voice a little higher, so that when the piano comes, it'd be no great difference.
What about the pianists who improvise where one plays spontameouly and rarely do they think about fingering patterns. The ear plays a predominant role on that process. To repeat what is in score numerous times is not enough as the ear must be engaged and the very intention of endeavoring to memorize. Yes analysis and theory help. We have all kinds of techniques including memorization away from the keyboard. 🎉❤😂
Great ideas
I can memorize Clementi sonatinas as much as I want, but I can't memorize Scriabin or modern music, because the structure sometimes is not so obvious, or tonal. I have no problem with Chopin, he's one of the easiest to memorize, nor Beethoven, or Mozart. But Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff is out of the question. I can play only reading, and it's a pain ... I'd love to memorize. ❤
Thank you so much for your comment ! Here are my thoughts. 1. The more complex the music is the harder it is to memorize. 2. It will much easier for us to memorize tonal music vs. a-tonal simply because we rely on hearing familiar harmonies. 3. If the piece is clearly challenging for you to simply play , you need to allow yourself much longer time before you start memorizing it. Pre memorization stage could be up to a month or more if needed. You should be able to play it more or less comfortably with the score before you attempt to memorize it. 4. If you are determined to memorize the piece, create a good plan and memorize one or two phases a day. The music could be a-tonal or somewhat so, but there should be some structure (phases, sentences, sections ) that you can identify . 5. Remember you will memorize if you analyze. If besides basic harmonies that may not exist , what else is there ? Look at the intervals, base line, Melodic contoure. Are there any patterns or repetition of the material ? In general give yourself more time , create a good plan and approach memorization step by step. And if you are able , try to do your memorization work in the morning hours. Good luck and enjoy the great repertoire!
I homeschool my children and have no music knowledge, but your video is helping. We are new subscribers!!! Do you teach online?
Hello! I'm so glad you found this helpful! I teach online for adults only at the moment :) Thank you for subscribing!!!
Privet. Knowing the why as well as the what is also very important for those little "moments" when you have to resort to approximation by improvisation. I've heard these "moments" even from acclaimed platform performers... Spasibo i derzhite's Aleksandra.
Thank you for emphasizing this aspect, and spasibo to you as well for sharing your insights!
Hi Alexandra. Everything you said makes perfect sense. Great content! I'm considering taking a sabbatical to return to the piano. In which state do you work?
Thanks! I'm working in Washington State. Right now I am taking only online students for my coaching 6-month program Piano Excellence for Life :) pianoexcellenceforlife.com/
Wonderful vid. I’m going to implement this today!
@@globalc3849 great, good luck and happy practice!
I found a piece with no sharp or flat at the key for the first two movements: 3 movements of Petrouchka, Stravinky :D is that fine ?
"muscle memory" is a wrong concept being spread: muscle *do not* have memory (except that they adapt their physiology to the task, which is a kind of memory or adaptation); eventually there are conscious and unconscious proprioception for body positioning.
Hand memory best fits imo. I can’t even pronounce proprioception. Cheers.
Start at the end of the piece and work backwards.
Yes, great idea! Using it with student and my own practice a lot :)
Exactly what I do. Also do both increase the tempo but also jump up the tempo rapidly and go back. Listening to the line you play is also helpful
I think Rachmaninoff considered to know a piece only when he could transpose it in all 11 other tones.
Wow- quite phenomenal! As the Man himself! Thank you for the comment!
oh i saw a comment from you the other day on a feux-follets video. interestingly enough about how you said to work it fast, rachmaninoff himself apparently did intensely slow practice for pieces like chopin 25/6 (at least as the story about him goes)
@@anotherdepressedmusician Haha, a follower ! There was a journalist who spied on Rachmaninoff once and heard him play very slowly; then the word about it spread. But the things is 1) nobody describes what is the work that they do (in their mind), fast or slow, which is not fully described in what we hear 2) practicing slowly is not exclusive with practicing fast and Rachmaninoff very likely also practiced fast (he plays also unusually fast, and spends every day an insane amount of time on technique, maybe like Liszt), and I practice also slowly, but the work (the object of attention and the consequences) is very different in both cases (slow and fast). So, in the end, practice is one thing and work is another; one can practice slowly and do no work, and practice fast and do a lot of efficient work (and the inverse too). There are a few known teachers who claim the same thing as I do, in particular with the image of the horse: practicing the walk a lot will never help with the gallop since the movements are different.
Well said. Slow on the outside, fast on the inside. Lol. If only outsiders knew.
What about Rach 3? It’s unthinkable to think he plays it in all keys.
What is meant by memorizing score?
Score- an actual music ( the text) you are working on!
Min. 5.50
Hmmmm…. I don’t necessarily agree with the depth of memorization. It’s not necessary (for me) to know every note and interval. I think of memory as a suspension bridge. We have the big towers that hold up sections of the bridge 🌉 and we have spans of bridge that hang. The hanging spans are our muscle memory. The giant sturdy towers are the start points at the beginning of our sectionals of course too few towers means we will fall into the water as the bridge sections are too small and too frequent towers is uneconomical and taxing. Basically, have frequent start points and then have sufficient muscle memory between them.
For reference, I have 2 kapustin Etudes, 1 Rachmaninov etude, gargoyles 4, Prokofiev toccata, ready to go right now from memory.
Wow your repertoire is so impressive!! Good for you! Very interesting analogy with bridges- I've never heard that before! But I agree that there will be not necessarily a need for every single element to be discussed. It's just an example of how to proceed in general as we memorize- again, it's all individual- I find it very helpful though, it helps to bring consciousness into the process!
Thank you for commenting, and again, wow Gargoyles N 4!!! Bravo!
You need to keep the loudness level maximum acc to youtube standard, it is an essential reason for any channel growth. This is too low, almost inaudible.
Thanks for the feedback! Next video is recorded with a mic!
@@alexandra.tsirkel u can improve mastering of the audio with some compression and mastering plug-ins in the video making tools. Keep the audio your priority
If it's a Schoenberg piece transposition would be superfluous. Transposition is good and would transpose an Etude of Chopin to make sure you know it like Opus 25 # 11 ? The real problem is the ear and one has to hear what one plays and have a theoretical understanding of what is there. I heard Rachmaninoff parsed every bar of a piece and spent an inordinate time on each bar before moving on. All of this is time consuming.
too much talking
Rude