The 3 Types of Memorization for Pianists

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I'm Robert Estrin and today is the three types of memorization. What you feel, what you hear and what you see. Let's break this down a bit for you. This is really multi-modal memory and in order to really solidify things you really need to be able to take it in different ways. So the first, what you feel, what am I talking about? This is sometimes referred to as motor memory or muscle memory. It's the same way that you learn how to walk. At first you have to think about each step, a toddler does anyway, and we take it for granted. Well, thank goodness we have a certain amount of motor memory at the piano because the massive number of notes you have to play and the complexity, if you had to think through every single thing you're doing at every single moment, it would be virtually impossible.

But unfortunately motor memory cannot be relied upon all on its own and the ultimate most important is what you hear.

Active listening is really how you develop your memory in a much, much deeper way, avoiding clashing harmonies, listening to the chord progressions, listening is key.

And the other one, what you see, sight also plays a part, particularly with leaps, when you have to know specifically what keys you're jumping to. These all add to the memory, but what does it do, how does it coalesce? Ultimately, all of these visual, aural, and tactile come together as intellectual memory and the intellect must really understand the structure of the music, analyzing the harmonies, the melodies, the rhythmings, the rhythmic underpinnings, all of this helps you to really conceptualize the music.

And how do you know if you really have a command of the intellectual memory of your music? There's a simple test that I want you to all try with any pieces you've memorized.

Take the score in your hand or put it on your music rack and without touching the keys, just sitting there, play mentally and see how far you get.

At first you can play in your lap and by doing this, this is pure practicing, it's total mental practicing and did you know that with brain scans there is virtually no difference between playing the piano and thinking about playing the piano. However, when you play mentally you don't have the benefit of the tactile memory that feel that we take for granted. You ever find yourself playing the piano and it's not that you space out, you space in, you realize in the middle of playing that you're playing the piano because your mind wandered for a moment and thank goodness for that motor memory that it keeps going. But you can't count on that completely which is why thinking through your music, having an intellectual understanding by bringing together these three different ways of approaching memory what you feel, what you hear and what you see to form a cognizant intellectualization of the music that you can even have with you away from the piano. And that's the secret to having a solid memory at the piano.

I hope this is helpful for you again, I'm Robert Estrin, this is LivingPianos.com, your online piano resource. See you next time.

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