While on a trip to Rome In 1770, 14-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited the Sistine Chapel with his father to hear the famous Miserere by Gregorio Allegri, a celebrated work only performed inside the church walls on Wednesday and Friday. After hearing the work on Wednesday, young Mozart wrote down from memory the score of Miserere, and on Friday, he returned to the Chapel with his version in his hat to compare with the original and verify what he had heard. Mozart found that he had, faultlessly, note for note, duplicated the complex score from his memory after listening to it only once, a feat which attracted much attention from the public.

What does Mozart’s memory have in common with yours and mine? Probably not a lot, to be honest! However, all hope is not lost, as any determined classical pianist can strengthen and build their “muscle memory.” This article will outline some tips and suggestions for memorizing classical piano music. Let’s dig in!

Types of Memory

Before we get into more specific suggestions, we need to understand some basics about memory in regards to the piano, which fall under 4 categories:

Aural (Ear)
By listening, one might be able to determine the key a piece of music is in, or more advanced musicians (such as Mozart in the opening example), might be able to play back portions of music through this means without ever actually seeing the printed score. In a practical sense for most amateur pianists, developing your aural memory can help you “hear” the next notes while playing, helping you find your place and get back on track in the event a memory slip occurs.

Visual (Eye)
Visual memory can include reading a score and then recalling it to your mind, much like someone who can recite a poem after enough repetitious reading of the text. The so-called “photographic memory”, where a skilled musician can take a snapshot of a section of notes and see the image in their mind’s eye would fall under this category. It can also extend on a more basic level to visually identifying groups of notes on the keyboard, or the mapping of notes from a score to the geographical location on the keyboard.

Kinesthetic (Touch)
Kinesthetic, or muscle memory, is mostly a non-cognitive means of memorizing notes after enough repetition, when the muscles themselves go through the motions rather than your mind. If you find yourself playing through a familiar work while simultaneously looking out the window or wondering what’s for dinner, your Kinesthetic memory is likely churning at near 100% capacity.

Muscle memory is often used extensively in fast passages of music, when the split second decision making is too quick for the mind to properly analyze and make decisions in time. Conversely, in slower passages with long pauses in between notes, muscle memory will often take a backseat to other types.

Analytical (Mind)
Analytical, or cognitive memory, involves the “bigger picture”, where instead of remembering individual or small groups of notes, a person recalls to mind the harmonic and compositional structure of a work.

Musical examples and their memory types

All forms of memorization types will be used to some degree by performers no matter the task at hand, but there are perhaps instances where one memory type might take precedence over the others. Consider the following works:

Bach Fugue
Analytical – structure and harmony

Chopin Prelude
Aural – cantabile style with a dominate melodic line

Rachmaninoff Etude
Kinaesthetic – thick textures and large chords

Schoenberg
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Tips for Memorizing

There is a treasure trove of tips for memorizing that have been written down, some based on suggestions and ideas that might conflict with others, so every student will have to decide which works best and discard the rest. Below are some of the most helpful tips that I’ve discovered or learned.

Tip: Prepare mind and body

The process of memorizing and producing music is an artistic, mental, and physical act of coordination, so the most success will come when we are as refreshed and relaxed as possible.

Memorizing requires repetitions, but repetitions are of little value unless there is a high degree of attention. So each person must decide what time of day works best for them. Experts in the field have found that memorizing before bed can have favorable results, however this must be done when we are not fatigued.

Tip: Lay a solid foundation

When you first start learning a piece of music, it is vital that the initial impressions on the mind are accurate and free of mistakes as much as possible. Avoid memorizing by playing wrong notes and correcting them. Rather, it is advisable to only purposely memorize a piece of music when the technical and musical problems have been first worked on and cleared.

Imagine your memory as a sponge, ready to soak up any input you provide when you begin learning a new piece of music. If the input we give it contains inaccurate notes, inconsistent fingering, or dynamics which fluctuate each time we practice, we are building on an unsteady foundation.

Instead, practice a piece of music slow enough so that you can accurately play the notes, maintain consistent (and correct!) fingering, and observe all dynamics and other markings which are needed. By investing the time initially on the details when first learning a piece of music, you will lay a solid foundation for your memory, one which will help you recall notes faster and more accurately years later.

Tip: Memorize in small sections

While a pianist’s goal might be to eventually perform a work from memory from beginning to end, it is wise to try to memorize in small sections at a time. Begin by trying to memorize 4 measures of a score. If you make an error, go back to the score and try to relearn. If you are unable to easily memorize 4 measures, then drop down to 2 or 3, depending on the complexity of the work at hand.

Memorizing in small sections helps with mental fatigue, thus allowing for a greater attention to detail and more repetition, since it’s less time consuming to repeat a few measures than performing the piece from start to finish each time.

Additionally, by memorizing small sections throughout the score, you will get a better overall “picture” of the work in your mind. Strengthening the mental geography of a score can assist if a memory lapse were to happen, enabling the pianist to more easily locate the next neighboring measure or section to jump to if needed.

Tip: Connect the Joints

Let specific measures you are trying to memorize overlap a little, so that the “joints” of the section (either before or after) are included in the material you are focusing on. This strengthens smooth transitions in and out of problem areas in the score.

Tip: Disconnect the hands

Practice lifting your hands entirely off the keyboard at random parts in a score when playing from memory. This “disconnect” can act as a switch to turn off your kinesthetic (muscle) memory, forcing you to use (and thereby strengthen) other memory types to find your place again.

Tip: Memorize back to front

This tip is endorsed by Czerny, Liszt, and Leschetizky, so listen up! Typically, amateur pianists will learn a work by playing it through from start to finish in its entirety. While this in itself is not a bad thing, often the result is a stronger association with the beginning of a work, or the “starting point” during practice sessions. This unbalanced imprint of the work can cause potential memory issues when performing, as the mind’s concentration can be put to the test midway through and onward.

To counter this, try memorizing a piece of music starting with the last 4 measures of the work. Once those have been memorized, then work on the 4 measures preceding those, and so forth going backwards towards the beginning of the piece. You will often find a sense of security when you begin to strengthen the ending of a work first, rather than last.

Tip: Memorize away from the Keyboard

Stepping away from the keyboard to “practice” can help strengthen your visual memory type. This can be done by the following:

Read and analyze a musical score. When the mind is not busy giving a steady stream of input to the fingers, arms, shoulders and the rest of your body, you are able to instead focus on the details; the phrases, structure, dynamics, and other markings in a musical score which often get glossed over when reading and playing it simultaneously.
Practice memorizing a small portion from a score away from the keyboard by just reading it. After doing so, try to play back the section at the keyboard without the notes visible. Continue in this manner until you are successful. These short sessions can help strengthen your ability to memorize quickly and more assuredly.

Tip: Memorize at the keyboard, but without the notes visible

Learn to memorize without the notes visible by placing the score on top of the piano, on a chair, or somewhere else near but out of your sight. There is often a reluctance to “jump off the cliff” when it comes to memorizing, even in the comforts of your own home with an audience consisting of only your judgemental cat. By removing the option of even a quick glance at the score, we ensure discipline while memorizing, while additionally instilling confidence in our ability to perform without the notes always present on the music rack.

Tip: Write out the music

Write out the notation of the music you are trying to memorize. Skip to random parts of the work for increased difficulty.

Tip: Practice!

This might be the most obvious, but you must practice! Practice improves memory. Deliberate and intelligent use of the memory strengthens it like a muscle.

The great (and underappreciated) virtuoso Vladimir De Pachmann said he never performed a work in public until he practiced it 1000 times, while Busoni said by the time he learned a piece, he never had to memorize it. Practice is essential!

Tip: …But play music you enjoy!

If you find the previous tip difficult, then take notice of whether you actually enjoy the music you’re working on. Our free time is too fleeting to play music we either do not enjoy listening to, do not enjoy playing, or do not find ourselves moved by. If you really love a piece of music, memorization comes much faster and with greater ease.

Personally, I love Manuel De Falla’s Danza Ritual Del Fuego, and it’s a work that I not only was able to learn quickly, but because of my enthusiasm during the process, was able to also recall it very quickly after setting it aside for a number of years. Conversely, there are works I’ve played twice as long as Danza Ritual Del Fuego which “go in one ear and out the other” so to speak. We must enjoy the music we play!

Tip: Hands together… or separate?

Memorizing hands separately or together is a topic of varying opinions. Musicians who descended from the Moscheles school of playing believed in hands separate, while others found no need for it. Some notable opinions from leading pedagogues and pianists of the early 20th century:

Maurice Dumesnil: hands separate
Percy Grainger: hand separate
Olga Samaroff: hands together
Hofmann: hands together
Edwin Hughes: hands separate
Ernest Hutcheson: hands together
Guy Maier: hands separate
E. M. Delaborde: hands separate
Silvio Scionti: hands separate
Moritz Rosenthal: hands together
Rudolph Ganz: hands separate
Victor Seroff: hands separate
Reginald Stewart: hands together
Josef Hofmann: hands separate
Sigismond Stojowski: hands separate in spots that require it

In Summary

It’s important to understand the different types of memory, and to work on strengthening each as much as possible. An insecure memory is one that requires a myriad of events to go just as planned, whether it’s complete silence from your surroundings, the exact fingering you intended to play, or a mind that remains completely focused on the task at hand. While these ideal situations are preferred, they are not realistic, and pianists must prepare as thoroughly as possible to deal with the unexpected when performing.

Whether we are a beginner or an accomplished musician, we are each unique in our own physiological and mental makeup. Because of this, each individual would do well to experiment with the tips outlined in this article to see which methods best help them learn and memorize piano music in the most efficient and secure manner.