How to Memorize Piano Music

One of the joys of playing an instrument is to be able to share the music with family and friends.

But unless you are great at improvising and playing piano by ear, it takes some preparation and learning how to memorize a few songs to have "in the back of your pocket" to be able to perform whenever there is an opportunity.

Selecting your repertoire:

See if you can find pieces in different styles, to make your repertoire more varied.

For great selections of intermediate (grade 4-5) pieces, perfect for social events try these collections:

Learning your pieces:

Simplify:

Repeats:

Neither do you have to play all the repeats- especially if like in Billy Joel’s “The Piano Man”, it is meant to be sung along with, and nobody does.

On the other hand, some people love the plinkety-plink of the piano as a background sound while talking. In this case is it great with repeat after repeat so you keep on playing for a long time…!

How to memorize music:

1. Learn the piece with notes.
2. Play 2-4 measures twice without mistakes while really staring at the notes.
3. Play the same part twice with the notes in front of you, but look at you hands and the keys (You can "cheat" as necessary).
4. Play twice more with closed book (keep looking at the keyboard).

Then continue with the next 2-4 measures. After learning the whole piece like this, combine larger parts of 4-8 measures, and then even larger. Continue until you can play the whole piece by heart.

Maintenance:

• The first week after memorizing a piece, play it preferably several times a day or a minimum of once daily.

• The second week, play every other day.

• The third week, three times, the fourth two times, and then play your piece/s a minimum of once every week as long as you want to keep that piece on your repertoire.

As you learn new pieces, you might want to trade old pieces with new- or keep them forever on your repertoire, whatever you prefer.

But remember to keep playing your repertoire, and grab every opportunity you can to share it with others!

If you have issues with fear of performing, got to this page for some tried and tested tips and advice: Overcoming Stage Fright for Musicians.

Recommended Recources:

Here are some other links you may enjoy:

• For free sheet music for beginners, have a look at my online recommendations.

• For free classical music, from about level 1, just print and play (or practice!) go here.

• Great sites with free popular sheet music for piano

Piano Playing Questions and Comments

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