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Hey guys!
Memorizing music can be a real challenge for many people and it is definitely not always easy or natural.
That's why I put together this document The 4 Components of Memorization
In fact, one of the points that I make is that memorization is not necessary for a great performance.
However, I do believe that "sectionalized memorization" can be greatly beneficial even when using the score!
Feel free to check it out, let me know your thoughts, and also way that you memorize music!
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I'm not sure if this is applicable, but everytime I practice, I am usually humming in solfege (fixed do) along in my head. The more I practice, the more I "know" how to hum, how to sing the part. I begin to hum the melodies everywhere I go, even outside of the practice room, and the more I practice, the more complex my mental humming can get. I'll start to be able to sing the other lines, to understand how each note fits into the context of the grander narrative. Importantly, I will hum along with recordings when I'm outside the practice room and imagine my fingers playing as I hum.
As such, for me, memorization comes naturally as I practice and engage with a piece for long enough in this way.
The reason why this might not be applicable for everyone is because for me, fixed do solfege has been "ingrained" into me because of my musical education, and I think fixed do solfege plays a crucial part in the humming method working, especially for atonal pieces. Each "do" "re" "mi" is translated directly to a tangible note, sound, and key in my head, so that humming actually becomes a form of mental practice for me. In the practice room, I am associating all my movements with my humming too, so it becomes like a sort of conditioning that I can use.
But if you're willing to learn "fixed do" solfege, I think this method can really work, and is helpful beyond just memorization, because you are associating to a mental voice to all aspects of your piano playing, and speaking is easier and more primal than explicitly memorizing notes.
It's entirely possible that this method can work without fixed do solfege, by the way, though fixed do plays a large part in how it works for me personally. I'm sure it works with other forms of solfege... just not movable do. I feel in modern pieces, movable do is not applicable.
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When I was a child learning piano, music just naturally memorized itself. By the time I did everything my piano teacher asked, it was memorized. Now that I am all grown up ( in my 60s!) I memorize by analyzing the chord structure of the piece (loosely, nothing fancy), and I put green stars on my Forscore music for places that need extra attention and focus. Sometimes I transpose these spots into a few different keys and that usually snuffs out any issues. I have discovered over the years diminished chords can often trip up my memory so I note those. I also play a lot with my eyes closed so I can hear better and feel the shape of the music with my fingers. It's hard to do this when it's not memorized :-)
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Thanks Dominic for the pdf. Much appreciated. I found a really useful lesson on Youtube from Peter Martin of Open Jazz Studio.
Peter recommends learning each of the tunes in the treble and the bass, and then filling in the notes of the chord in between those two lines. I am not yet there with this method, as I tend to work with the melody in the treble and then harmonise with chords underneath, but I am intending to try this out. It sounds very contrapuntal.
My forays into jazz have led me to start understanding more the direction of travel through a piece of music. For instance, in Autumn Leaves the chords descend through the circle of 5ths, albeit there is a B natural instead of a B flat when descending from F7.
The tune follows a pattern apart from one place in the tune. Each time the tune starts it is a minor 3rd above the key note, e.g., when starts on Am7 so the tune starts on C natural, etc. Therefore, when the tune begins on F natural then the chord is Dm7.
Working out tunes in this way is improving my improvisation by working out the voicing to be economical with movement between the chords, while adding rhythmic changes too.