Do you memorize your Piano exam pieces?

Question

Hi there,
I m sitting for my Diploma in Piano Recital ( Trinity) Exam at the end of the year.

These are the pieces I am working on Right now.:-

1) Bach French Suite no 5 in G, BWV 816
2) Mozart Sonata in D K 311 ( all movements)
3) Schubert Impromptu in Eflat, Op 90 No 2
4) Prokofiev Vision Fugitives no 2, 11 and 14.

I am now In the process of Polishing my pieces.
The question is, Should I memorize my exam pieces Given the time left ?
I can play them with the score and I have been learning them Since November last year.
The thing is, I tried to memorize them but Memorizing after you learn a piece ( With the score ) is twice as hard ? And also, when you memorize, what happens when you memorize the wrong thing or play it with the wrong technique ?

Isn' t it quite risky to play and practise that way?


Given the time I have left, It seems that I have 2 choices now :-

1) Practise daily with the score and work on fine tuning sections as my teacher wants me to play it. Leave memorizing out until I have finished polishing them or Can play them well enough. But there is always something to work upon and I feel like I never have enough practise , OR

2) Focus now on memorizing the piece Like how Pianists memorize their repertoire, in other words relearn my pieces All over again. When I am able to play the entire piece without the score , I can work on sections and Finetune them to performance level.

It seems to me there are pros and cons on both the methods or practising . I know now I should have memorized the pieces from the first time I had to learn them. However Initially I was in the process of Selecting my pieces, So I had to learn them the Sight reading method, to see if it is a good choice for the examination

And now, Then I thought of memorising them, after I came across an Article about Learning and Memorising.

But Since I have a lot of Polishing to do, Isn't memorising my exam pieces Risky to do it on my own? Should I just leave my exam pieces alone and practise it according to my teacher's advice and focus on memorising other things instead?

Answer 1

You should have started memorising once you've finalized your choices, even if you did learn them the sight reading method. I don't know whether your diploma exam requires your pieces to be memorised. I know when I did my ABRSM Diploma, it was a requirement. So it's not like I had any choice. I had to memorise all 4 of my pieces - Bach Prelude and Fugue (book 1, G minor), Mozart (the same one as yours), Rachmaninoff Elegie Op. 3 No. 1 and Sculthorpe "Night Pieces" (3 movements). However, since you're going for a Recital diploma, it's better to have your pieces memorised - whether or not it's a requirement. It just gives a better presentation. Pianists don't play with scores during recitals. Are you aware that you can start memorising your pieces AND work on fine tuning sections at the same time? That's pretty much how I learn all of my repertoire for conservatory, because there's just not enough time to wait for my teacher to finish teaching the pieces before I start memorising them.



I've just had to finish learning and memorise a complete Bach English Suite, complete Schubert sonata, a Liszt concert etude, a substantial Romantic piece and Ravel's Jeux d'eau for my 2nd year in conservatory. And I had to do all of that within 6 months of 'term time', on top of learning the complete Shostakovich 2nd Piano Concerto and memorising it as well. If I didn't memorise alongside 'polishing' them, I would have died really badly.



No, if you do it carefully, you won't end up memorising the wrong things. If your teacher has taught you proper technique, you won't memorise the wrong technique either. Even if you did, your teacher will be able to correct it if you play it to her memorised during lessons. If anything, it should help you remember what your teacher says more effectively. You should talk to your teacher about this. Since you have the time to memorise other things apart from your exam pieces, you should have the time to memorise your exam pieces. Use the time that you spend memorising other things on your exam pieces instead. If you don't start now, it's only going to be more stressful afterwards.



The Schubert isn't hard to memorise. Neither is the first movement of your Mozart at least. Bach might be more tricky because of the counterpoint, and Prokofiev is about average.

Answer 2

Since your question has been answered properly, this is something I am curious about:



How is memorizing a piece after learning it with the score any more difficult than memorizing it from the beginning on?



Personally, I've always ended up completely memorizing any piece I played, provided I played/practised, listened or played it back in my head often enough.



Most of the time I just keep playing with the score until I, at some point, realize I don't need it anymore (entirely, or partially) - this method you're describing as more problematic is the one that's worked for me every single time.



Obviously, the passages I practise the most (the more difficult ones) are the ones first to get memorized.





Also, "mental play" (i.e. playing back the piece your head) is a great help - if you can imagine a piece in your head, you've basically memorized it.

Sure, you might first "forget" it when attempting at the instrument, but, well, "some practise" and some more mental play really should do away with that.





As for mistakes, you can always check back with the score what you've memorized, and eliminate them one for one - not that hard, either, especially when you've already got the "overall picture" anyway.







So just out of curiosity about a mind different from my own, why is it more difficult to memorize a piece you've previously learned?



Shouldn't it be "in your fingers" already? Why "relearn the piece from scratch" when you'd probably use the same fingering/techniques/whatever you've conditioned yourself to perform when trying without the score (it's, after all, in your mind and muscle memory)?

Answer 3

Basically you just have to play the song a ton and eventually you'll memorize it

Answer 4

memorize every piece that you perform