Being so excited about your piano lessons and not being able to memorize a single page is very stressful. Now thinking about quitting? Nothing is that easy, right? Don’t worry! Here are some of the tricks that might help you memorize an entire piece.
I am not going to tell you to use your hands separately or focus on harmonies and melodic structure or disallow distractions. If you are attending your piano classes regularly, then you know all of that already. This advice is so basic that anyone can tell you. What I am going to tell you is about the tricks that your piano class isn’t likely to teach you.
Divide And Rule
The easiest thing to do to memorize an entire piece is divide and rule, an old-school trick. Let me explain: break your piece to lines, lines to bars. That’s it. It can be time-consuming, but trust me, you can memorize the entire piece for a lifetime. For starters, combine 2–4 bars and try to play them. I would suggest going for two bars only. Play that 2–4 bars at least five times. Try with closed eyes, just to make sure that you can do it. Then take another 2–4 bars, and try them five times. After that, combine all 4–8 bars and play them. Repeat this for each bar segment. It can be time consuming or irritating, but when you reach the end, you will have already played the whole piece on your own without revision, and it will feel amazing.
Play – Take A Break – Repeat
Piano lessons and repetition go hand in hand. You will see positive results once you know when and how to repeat your music. This is another trick that helps me memorize an entire piano piece.
Learn a short segment of your piece, take a break for around thirty minutes and try that segment again. It sounds so easy, right? But wait. What will you do in those thirty minutes? You can take a nap, which will help you relax your mind and body a bit. Or you can try another segment of the piece because it is human nature to get mixed up when something similar comes up. I usually try another segment of the piece, which helps me save time and improves my memorizing power too.
This trick will help you judge yourself. Using this trick challenges you to focus. I suggest you try a rating system. Rate the accuracy of your memory. Give yourself an 8 out of 10. Anything below 8 means you have to go back to find your errors and repeat the entire thing again.
Spot Playing
If you get distracted at any point playing your piano piece, then it can be difficult to come back to the track. So, try this trick to challenge yourself to memorize each and every segment thoroughly. Take a segment from the middle and try to play it. Try this trick from different locations in the song in order to memorize the whole piano piece you’ve selected. Don’t let yourself get stuck on playing the whole piano piece from beginning to end. Memorizing the piano piece from start to finish could affect the long run in a negative way. But try this trick once you have memorized the entire piece from start to finish.
To try this trick, you can make cards. List parts of your piano piece segment on the cards. Then pick any card at random or ask someone to pick it up for you and play it. This can be so helpful in practicing and memorizing the piano piece.
Take It Slow
Speed is an inspiring part of advanced piano playing. First, memorize the piano piece as slowly as you can. This trick will help you track down each and every error of yours. Properly memorizing the piece and working your fingers simultaneously will develop speed automatically. It is almost impossible to memorize anything by working at the speed of light. So, try to play the piece at half of its normal speed.
To practice this trick, set the metronome tempo so it’s slow – like 66 beats per minute, then group the segments. Try to play them as accurately as you can with the same tempo. When you feel like you have memorized the piano piece, increase the tempo little by little. Keep practicing and you will eventually reach the tempo you want by using this trick.
Time Management
This is the most basic element, but an important one. Practice your piano piece multiple times in a day but be careful not to over practice. Break your practice into different segments and time and sessions. Keep all of your sessions for the same period of time. As an example, in a first session of thirty minutes, memorize a segment of the piece. In the next session of thirty minutes, try another segment with a different measure. In a third session, review the first segment, and in the fourth session, review the second one.
Using this trick, you can manage your practice by dividing it into sessions. You can save a lot of time by doubling down during the practice. You can also memorize the piano piece in half of the time it usually takes.
Forward Then Backward
I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, this is so helpful. Ty using it. It is easier than it sounds. Let me break it down for you. You know how we used to make a castle from playing cards by placing one on the other? We just have to do it that way only.
First of all, start with measures and lines. It’s easy to memorize one measure. So now take the individual measure of a line, and start combining them but with the last one. Now practice taking the last measure, and add the second to last to it. Keep practicing until you reach the first one.
You may find it difficult the first time, but it just takes a little more of your attention and practice, that’s it. Once you get a grip on it, it will make practice more enjoyable and keep you focused. Trying this trick when memorizing a piano piece will help you play from any segment you want. It can be time consuming, but only at the beginning; eventually, you will find it a great time saver.
Play It With Closed Eyes
This trick to memorizing a piano piece is a bit harder than the other ones. To practice this one, you have to be a pro at the piano first. This trick will help you increase your concentration. Memorize the whole piano piece using the tricks listed above, and then practice it with closed eyes. It will surely help you avoid getting distracted.
Conclusion
Next time you have to memorize a piano piece, don’t approach it the way you usually do. Do it using the tricks listed above. To find your perfect way of memorizing a piano piece, I suggest you try a new trick every time. You can try these tricks and let me know which one suits you the best. If you have a trick you use, let us know about that too!
