I tried something new with my students this year, and I think it helped make our winter recital a huge success. I gave them a simple recipe for how to keep their memory secure in the week before their recital.
It goes like this:
1) With the score out of sight, play the first section or phrase and through from memory.
2) Put the music up and play the passage again, being sure to keep your eyes on the score.
3) Lay the music aside and play it again from memory.
4) Play the passage through again with the music.
5) Go on to the next section or phrase…
It’s that simple, and it works! I think it works because it avoids two problems – if we spend all our time with the score, we tend to use it as a crutch, or if we’re not really looking at it, we use it as a safety net, a teddy bear sitting on the music rack ready to jump in and save us should monsters crawl out from under the bed. But if we spend all our time practicing without the score, small errors begin to creep in, and we don’t really notice them until the adrenaline shines a big spotlight on them onstage. There we are in performance, and a voice appears in our heads saying “UH OH, DO I PLAY AN E OR A G HERE?” Yikes!
So I figured why not go half and half? Spend half the time with the score, focusing our eyes on it and burning it into our memories. Then spend half the time without it. No safety net. Just go and do the best you can. Jumping back and forth allows you to build on what came previously. Learn from your mistakes, and practice your success.
Try it out with your students and see if it helps, and let me know if you have any other memorization strategies. I’d love to hear them!
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