still here :)

Yes, I am still here! In the past couple of weeks, I have been busy 1: packing up our entire apartment 2: cleaning our entire apartment 3: long-distance apartment hunting (oh joy) 4: advertising for students 5: piano studio planning 6: taking lots of pictures (did I mention I am sort of an amateur photographer?) 7: editing lots of pictures, and 8: trying to fit everything and everyone in that we want to do and see in Utah before moving to Texas. I would love to discuss more about memorization (and we definitely will soon!) but for now here are our poll results:

How do you usually teach memorization:?

Other response:
Using “memory stations”


I love the “memory station” technique (I call it “starting places”) and find it so helpful in preparing students for recitals. Thanks to all who took the poll!

Now, since piano studio planning is on my mind, and I am sure many of you are currently preparing for fall lessons, I’d like to pose a question – and I am excited to see your comments!

If you had the chance to completely re-start your piano studio, what would you do differently?

Types of Memorization

I’d like to follow up Jenny Bay’s post with a look at the different ways in which we memorize. I can think of four main types of memory, none of which should be completely neglected if a student is to have a solid grasp on the memory of a piece.

  • Tactile/Kinesthetic/Muscle Memory: this is the kind of memory we develop by drilling a passage over and over, until our fingers know the “feel” of it. It doesn’t require very much “thinking,” as Jenny pointed out, and often fails us in the adrenaline-induced shakiness of a performance, although it is essential for being able to play a piece fluently.
  • Aural Memory (By Ear): this kind of memory is also developed by drilling, as well as by listening to recordings. Musicians who have perfect pitch or who have a natural talent for playing by ear often rely heavily on aural memory. The rest of us of course use it, but on its own it’s not nearly enough for solid memory.
  • Visual/Photographic Memory: this type of memory involves both remembering the look of the notes on the page of music, and memorizing the look of the keys on the piano as you play them. Some visually-oriented students will use this quite a bit, while others may find this the least important type of memory.
  • Cognitive Memory: this is what Jenny Bay was talking about in her most recent post. To add a couple of things to her list, the tools I have found to be most useful for developing strong cognitive memory are:
    1. Memorize hands separately: how many times have you had a student stumble on memory and say, “I just can’t remember the left hand here.” Well, memorize the left hand alone, and the problem is solved! There is something about memorizing hands alone that requires the brain to be more involved in that thinking thing Jenny was talking about. Many students resist this kind of “work,” but after memorizing a passage together in the lesson, they will often admit how good it feels to really know the passage, instead of just hoping they will make it through.
    2. Use pickup points: these are places in the piece where a student can just “pickup” and play from memory. Having several of these in a piece requires the student to think a little bit harder about the form of the piece, the chords that begin the section, and other patterns that will help their memory. I like to test my students’ ability to start at any of their pickup points (not necessarily in order) the week or two before a recital. When they have solid pickup points, they also have insurance that they can make it all the way through the piece in the recital in case of a memory slip (which still happens to all of us, despite the best preparation).

Students who seem to memorize naturally and easily are often using a combination of the first two or three types of memory. Or sometimes these are the students who are not great sight readers, so there has been some cognitive memorizing going on as they learned the piece. In any case, I have learned to allow students to use their strengths to their advantage, while balancing their study with a good dose of techniques that might be a little more challenging for them.

think about it.

One of the big problems that piano students face in memorization is that they only memorize by muscle memory. They play a piece over and over and over, hoping that their fingers will catch on and do the memorizing for them. Often this gets alright results, that is until the student is in a stressful situation (such as a recital!) and their nerves get the better of them. Their fingers get a little mixed up, and suddenly they are completely lost! Muscle memory is definitely useful in memorizing a piece, but we should not rely solely on it. As was written in my college pedagogy notes, “Don’t take chances!! Don’t just say, ‘good luck, fingers!! I hope you make it.‘” As teachers, we need to teach our students to actively learn and memorize pieces with their mind, not just their fingers….we need to teach them to

THINK.

In the book How to Teach Piano Successfully, Bastien says, “The student should think while practicing, not just play by rote.” (Bastien, p. 246)

Now that is some great (albeit somewhat obvious) advice – think while you practice! If your students learn their pieces thoughtfully and thoroughly, they should have no problem when it gets to the memorizing stage. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking…hehe…

Ways you can encourage thinking while practicing:
Saying letter names out loud
Counting rhythms out loud
Forcing your brain to learn the notes, not just your fingers
Not letting your mind wander while practicing…
Writing out the chords
Looking for patterns in the chords or in the melody
Knowing the form of the piece

What do you have to add to the list?

the important things

Thanks to all who participated in our poll this week! I think the results to this poll were closer than any other – it seems that all of these factors play an important role in laying a good foundation for our piano students.

What is most important in laying a good foundation for a beginning piano student?

Other answers:

  • Trusting the teacher/Collaboration between student and teacher/Cooperation
  • All of the above!
Interestingly enough, “knowledge of theory” did not get any votes – yet if our students do not have a sound knowledge of music theory and how music works, do they really have a good musical foundation? Something to think about!
This week we’d like to talk about memorization. How do you teach it? What techniques work the best? Tips? Ideas? What are the challenges? Why is it important? I can’t wait to hear your comments 🙂
On a personal and somewhat unrelated note, today I visited my former piano teacher and it reminded me how important and far-reaching our influence as teachers really can be. My younger brother had his last lesson from her before leaving for college, and so my mom and I went to give her a little gift and to visit. She has been teaching my family piano lessons for over thirteen years, starting when I was an awkward thirteen-year-old girl with braces (gotta love awkward years). She has made such a difference in my life and the lives of my siblings who also studied with her – and I think of the many students we have each taught (my three siblings who studied with her have also taught piano for a long time) and realize that one teacher can have a very far-reaching influence. All the more reason to be the best teachers we know how to be, right? No pressure 😉

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