Comments

 Hi Karen,

Sounds like a major achievement—congratulations!

Just remember memorization is not part guessing. We must know what we did, are doing and will be doing. It is like when you used the music for the lesson even though a good deal was in process of memorization. In addition to playing something many times, do a great deal of study regarding the note patterns (scale/arpeggio), finger sequences and interval patterns (Hand Groups) and , of course, rhythms.

D.

As the page of music is the 'map' so is the fingerboard and bow pattern, just translate it perfectly and remember all those subtle nuances—piece of cake!

Hi Karen,

That's interesting: you too find that playing from memory allows you to pay extra attention to making music. I wonder if you could comment on that as a neuroscientist? How would reading music interfere with making music?

Bart

Bart, I think it has to do with not splitting attention too finely.  There are numerous studies pointing out that multitasking doesn't really work--but in my case, it's not like I needed a study to tell me that! 

For me, it really matters what I do with my eyes.  I think I'm naturally a visually-oriented person.  For example, I take in information much better if I read it than if I just hear it.  I get more out of lectures and speeches if I take notes and write things down.  But if I'm playing an instrument, it's a different thing altogether.  I become too attentive to visual input (the music), to the exclusion of the aural and kinesthetic input.  Sometimes, as an exercise, I'll just close my eyes altogether when I'm playing.  I don't know if an external observer would say it helps my sound or not, other than with memorization, but it does change my experience of the music quite profoundly.

 I know you're on to something here. I have played from memory exactly once. It went well enough but I haven't had the courage and energy to do it since. 

But I think that one doesn't really know a piece until they have memorized it. Laurie's note on the student at Starling et.al. was another goad.

Yeah, Laurie's blog about Chee-Yun's advice to write out a piece from memory was also interesting.  I've just been speculating how that would go with the Stamitz, but I should try it.  It also switches clefs repeatedly--between alto and treble, sometimes mid-measure--for more fun and games.

 There is a part that is a series of repeated triplet arpeggio's with only small differences between each section.  In one case, the first section is minor and then the next section is a 5th down, and major with high 4's instead of open strings (the way I fingered it--which my teacher agreed was the best way).  And I keep getting hung up there without the music--slowing down just a little and getting out of tempo, just enough to make sure I'm in the right section. 

Karen, congratulations on memorizing the whole piece for your recital and for playing the recital, too.  I'm sure you played beautifully.  I have trouble memorizing, but my students who memorize pieces or passages say the same thing you did:  When they don't have to look at the printed music, they can focus better on the music itself, and they play better.  I can confirm that they play better when they've memorized the music.

Bart, I wrote a blog way back in Oct., 2006 that addressed the question you asked Karen as a neuroscientist.  A number of neuroscientists have studied the brains of living musicians.  In one study, the scientists compared the brains of professional and nonprofessional violinists while they played part of a Mozart concerto.  The brains of the professionals focussed more on the sound of the music and less on their muscle movements.  The brain can direct its finite resources quite well.