Please note the following …
1) Don’t follow blindly my advice! Use my input only as a starting point!
2) Finding the right fingering / hand position is a prerequisite for efficient memorization.
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My ‘theory’
Type 1: aural memory - reinforced by hearing or imagining the sound
Type 2a: visual memory - the music score - reinforced by reading very slowly or mentally visualizing the details in a music score
Type 2b: visual memory - hand positions - reinforced by watching or mentally visualizing hand positions and finger movements. Mentally visualizing hand positions can be accompanied by actual physical movements of hands, arms, fingers but without actually touching the piano.
Type 3: analytical memory - reinforced by making up your own ‘story’ of how the composer came to choose the musical elements: the musical idea, the pitches, the harmony, time signature, rhythm, register, structure, and so on.
Important thing is make up your own story, not borrow other’s story. It is very enlightening and great learning to read others’ analysis of a work, but always try to analyze a work yourself too! But key is analyze it in sound (i.e. play it on piano, or imagine it in your head; and not analyze it only on paper).
Type 4a: physical memory (muscles engaged in piano playing) - reinforced by practising on the piano closed eye / looking away from the keyboard, in regular or slow motion, feeling the touch and movement of the entire body. Feel every finger, arm, hand, shoulder, back, breath movements. Remember how you feel physically - connect to your whole body! Choreograph your breaths!
Type 4b: physical memory (vocal cord)- reinforced by singing (or actively listening to) any melodic part - not just main melodic line, but also bass or middle voices in a chordal passage. For complex rhythmic passages, use non-melodic sound such as “dah dah dah…” to rehearse the rhythm (I find this better than clapping because I can then actually play the passage while pronouncing “dah dah dah…” to further reinforce the rhythmic memory - I can’t clap while playing the passage!)
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Rules for Memorization
And I always follow below rules when learning a new piece of music:
Rule #1: immediately start memorizing when I learn a new piece
Rule #2: when I am touching the piano keys, 50% of the time my eyes are either closed (to reinforce Type 4), or opened but focused on my hands (to reinforce Type 2b). Only 50% of the time my eyes are on the music sheet.
Rule #3: if I struggle with memorizing a particular passage, I simply break it into smaller units, or just move on! Come back to it in an hour, or even tomorrow! Don’t drill on one spot and drive your brain nuts!
Rule #4: always train all types of memory separately, and combining them in any permutations you can dream of.
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Illustration
To illustrate, let’s use Liszt’s Sonata:
Type 1 (aural):with the help of technology, we can listen to a work performed by many pianists on demand. To reinforce Type 1, you can listen to CD so you remember aurally how the music evolves. But watch out: don’t just copy other’s interpretations. What if the recording for a work you are learning is not available? You simply have to practise slowly and closed eyes, even hands separately if you need to - focus on hearing the sound. Or imagine the sound in your head while reading the score.
Type 2 (visual): read the score very slowly. You can sing in your head aurally while reading the score - slowly; or visualize music score and hand positions. I know many students have experienced this type of memory - e.g. before going on stage, moving your fingers in the air to simulate playing the piano. But I now realize I can even just spend 1 hour doing this and not touching the piano, and I can still treat this as an intense practising session! It is easier on my body (no actual physical exertion on a piano); I can do this anywhere (I love riding the subway and doing this); and it works!
A chiropractor told me about an experiment: a group of basketball players are divided into three groups. Group A had normal training for a period of time. Group B had no training whatsoever for the same duration. Group C only has mental visualization. At the end of the period, performance of Group A (normal training) and Group C (only mental visualization) were very close, while that for Group B lags behind significantly. Got the point? (click here to read more on this experiment)
Type 3 (analytical memory): Make up your own story of why a piece is composed like that. The story does not have to be theorectically sound - just a story that you can easily remember and translates onto the piano keys.
For example, the beginning of the sonata in B- starts with a deep low octave in G:
The damn devil (Mephisto, and Liszt!) is playing a joke on us. He gives us a G which evolves into a seemingly C- melodic scale (above) Are we in C - then? No! Because the next scaly passage (below) seems to be G- harmonic scale (with a C#)!
So I ask him “Where are you leading me?!” … (see below)
The devil leaped up excitedly two times (the two octave leaps on G), and finally crashes on a diminished chord E-G-A#-C#: the diminished chord based on the leading tone of B-!
Type 4 a, b (muscle memory): I often practice on the piano closed eyes or looking away from the piano’s keyboard. I do this often hand separately, slowly / rapidly / in short rhythmic phrases I made up. Sometimes I hum or just articulate pitch-less “dah dah dah” to feel the direction of the melody. (singing in pitch is not required).
Mixing Type 1 to Type 4 in whatever way you want.
