Suggestions of How to Memorize Pieces

[pawe2142]

Hello everyone!

So, I am planning on entering my schools Concerto/ Aria Competition with the Lebedev Concerto in One Movement. However, I noticed that one of the requirements is that the concerto needs to be memorized. I've never memorized a piece like this before, so any suggestions of how to go about it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I suggest lots of repetitions playing the piece, a section at a time, with a metronome at a significantly slower-than-performance tempo. This has the added benefit of really getting the intervals "into your chops." When you're tired from playing listening to the piece a lot also helps memorization efforts and teaches you the accompaniment as well.

Aside from that, there's really no substitute for simply putting in the necessary time, and that varies greatly from person to person.

[Ben]

The only thing I might add to Todd's post is to take small bits at the end of the piece and start memorizing from the end of the work towards the beginning in these small chunks. By the time you feel confident about the beginning, you will have a strong hold on the entire piece.

[bort]

Get a recording (or several), and listen to it over and over... the more you know what it's supposed to sound like, the easier it will be to know if you're doing it right or not when you try to play it. That's just to get the piece in your head... of course, you still have to make music out of it yourself!