Memorization tips! Featuring Liszt's Soirees de Vienne from our Community Challenge!
Memorization is always a tricky thing, so lets take a look at tips and advice for this skill featuring our community challenge piece: Liszt's Soiree de Vienne!
Find the start time in your time zone by clicking the photo or following this event link:
https://app.tonebase.co/piano/live/player/memorization-advice-liszt-soirees-vienne
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
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Since I'm an amateur, I generally only play chamber music with friends (well, I did pre-Covid). So, I rarely play solo works and have NO experience in memorizing. The whole idea of memorizing makes me feel nervous! How can an amateur deal with that anxiety? Thanks!
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Memorization: The quote you mentioned in a previous Tb workshop about Clara Schumann feeling like she was playing (if I remember it correctly) with her "wings clipped" if she had a score on the piano is revealing. Do you feel that way, too? Do you surmise that many pianists/musicians also feel this way? How does that theory play out in concertos, chamber music? The vast amount of music makes it impossible to know it all from memory, of course, so playing with the score is necessary at times. How does one play with the score and minimize that "clipped" feeling? Thank you!
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Do you find that different memorization techniques apply to different pieces of music? Based on certain factors?
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Hi Dominic ! Couldn't join this one live, but have watched threw it now. You shared a lot of great information in this one. I liked how you talked so much about memorizing in context with performance. When you said even the very best also do run-threws, I'm beginning to see that they are not so different from me. I usually get so much better after that first one or two performances. This was very enlightening!
Maybe there is even more to dig into with performance practice that we can have a live session on? You already shared A LOT of great advices here, and I'm very happy to see how someone on your level work and what you think about to memorize, and to get ready for performance.
Thank you, as always!
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Sindre Skarelven Excellent comments! You are really great at memorizing, Sindre. Is it easy for you?
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Gail Starr Thank you, Gail! Yes, the Liszt piece was pretty easy to memorize for me. It is a skill I'm working on, and I want to be able to memorize large pieces of music fast.
That being said, I don’t think it’s an easy piece to play! -
Sindre Skarelven You are AMAZING! I’m just starting to play the piano every day again after many, many years of only sight reading chamber music. I need to try to memorize! And learn faster also!
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Gail Starr Thank you, Gail! I look at memorization like muscle - It get's stronger the more one practice it, and one need to find the right "weight" for most effectiveness. You are probably very good at sight reading then!
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Sindre Skarelven Since piano is only a hobby for me, I do sight read mostly. Buy now that I finally have a real piano again and I discovered Tonebase, I’m going to start really practicing AND I’ll try to memorize. I love this community!
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Gail Starr "I love this community!" I do, too!
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