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Archive for the ‘Hints on Memory Playing’ Category

Correct fingering is also a help to memory. And memory is a most important asset to the modern pianist, as it is now the fashion for him to have to play everything in public by heart. It will, therefore, not be out of place here, if after speaking about fingering I now turn to consider a few points in connection with the faculty
of memory.

For the pianist, then, especially, will memory always be a serious study as he has so much to remember at once, and often it is of such a complicated nature. Also he must be of much greater accuracy in his memory than, for instance, the singer or the actor.  For the actor can often substitute one word for another without
unduly disturbing the sense, while the singer has the accompaniment to support and remind him if he forgets for a moment. But with the pianist everything depends on the correctness of the text, both from the standpoint of his getting through his performance, and from that of the enjoyment of his audience.

Now the more logical the composition is, the easier it is to learn  by heart. Therefore the works of Bach and Beethoven are never so hard to remember as those of the modern composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Scriabine, etc. The former, being built up on general principles of structural symmetry that quickly impress themselves on the brain, are much easier to memorize than the latter, that depend more on atmosphere and harmonic colouring and therefore possess a less definite outline to fix in the mind.

Most people have their own way of learning by heart on the piano. I myself find it is a good plan to look upon memory as divided into three distinct parts of the same faculty, each one being able to supplement the others in case of lapse or failure of one of them. These three I distinguish severally as the Harmonic, the Ocular, and the Mechanical memories.