How to Memorize Music Quickly and Effectively - Josh Wright Piano TV

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Using distinct check points/starting places, as well as dividing the piece into sections, one is able to memorize more quickly and efficiently using the techniques in this video. www.joshwrightpiano.com
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[@musicfriendmc3227]

Being a professional musician myself (from Germany)I must say I am delighted to follow your lectures. Thank you so much. You are a great musician and teacher.

[@pwnedshift1]

Memorizing back to front is my favourite technique for learning new pieces by far. When I first learned about it it felt like I had unlocked a superpower. I like your idea of marking off sections... I kind of go bar by bar, but I'm still learning pretty short pieces, like Bach inventions and short Beethoven sonata movements.

[@sunshinein9546]

Nice. Could you describe more in details how you've been practicing it?

[@smplchmp]

It works really well

[@furioust9377]

He is soooo good. I'm trying to learn a 4 page piece and I can barely do that while this guy is playing a 17-18 page piece a week

[@jaykenarn6223]

same, been playing for one year already, still have a hard time learning

[@warthogmaster1013]

4:25 is where it starts btw

[@isav.2411]

Thanks

[@OmShira]

Thanx!

[@mailywong9612]

Thank you very much

[@mrhamz9389]

@Veronica Chacty thx

[@annamakesmusic]

Great grandma was a concert pianist. Started playing piano when I was three and formal lessons in 3rd grade (2007 I think?) always have had the natural ability to memorize. It’s not the sheet music itself that I memorize, but the spacial relationship between my hands and the notes along with the sound of the piece.

[@lucaszflenki4552]

I have the same thing kinda

[@seangrogan3622]

Really interesting, i think everyone has there own special methods

[@monugupta32]

When he starts playing, I was like dayyyyummm !

[@steelmagnolia219]

😄

[@metalheadlass]

breaking the music into parts is every teacher's favorite tip, and it does work.

[@devarita]

I've been subscribed to you for awhile, but only started binge watching your videos. You are an amazing teacher. The youtube world is lucky to have someone of your caliber give advice like this. Why anyone would dislike this video is beyond me!! Working in small sections is a great technique. Also analyzing the progressions, etc is incredibly useful to see the bigger picture. Looking forward to watching more of your videos as I'm starting to revisit advanced repertoire again, and take it more seriously.

[@kalieyi5959]

Thanks Josh I needed to memorize a song in two days and it's 4 pages long, your technique helps me a lot thanks!

[@pulsipherproductions]

this is how I memorize pieces... he's got it right on

[@joshwrightpiano]

Wendell Pulsipher Thanks Wendell!

[@pulsipherproductions]

+Adventure Time sorry could you reword that? I don't understand quite what you mean. Your first thought is an incomplete idea. (Sorry, I have aspergers and I'm not good at interpreting partial thoughts or inferring what someone "meant" to say).

[@pulsipherproductions]

+Adventure Time +Josh Wright 's comments about learning backwards, if I remember correctly, also mentions that that process can start from anywhere, really. For example, when I took up Mozart's Sonata in B flat K 333, after dividing up each movement into separate sections, I would take the parts that are most difficult for me and, once they were memorized, tack on preceding and subsequent sections. If you get a chance to look at the music for that one, one of my most difficult parts was measures 28-35 of the third movement. The optimal way for me to memorize that would be to master mm. 32-35 and then tack on mm. 28-31 and once my hands were comfortable and controlled in that, either go back as far as I am comfortable going and see if I can play well up to mm. 35 or just continue in a similar fashion, depending on how much I think I can "bite off" at once. For me it's all a matter of taking the hardest parts and, as Josh said, working backwards from there. I find that for most pianists, transitions are the hardest thing to master, so combining sections in this way and focusing on the difficult transitions and connecting them is usually the brunt of my focus. I hope I explained that okay.

[@graciellalee2477]

There are a few tips for how to learn piano Try practicing for 1 hour a day, or even 1/2 an hour if you can't find time. Do extra practice whenever you can. For example, on weekends you could do more than an hour, maybe 2 or 3, or even more. This is useful because it pulls you out of the routine of piano playing, and lets you practice more and perfects the pieces you play. (I read about these and more on Denelle Piano Lesson website )

[@chateauferret]

@@graciellalee2477 Oh, you mean to get better you should practise? No s***, Sherlock.

[@NinetyRalph]

Twelve years later, cant thank you enough for this

[@balgrantango460]

3 years later, I still go back to your videos for learning and memory tips.

[@sil3418]

Wonderful tip! I already use it to help my English students to memorize some lines we are working on. I never thought it could improve my piano skills! Thanks from Brazil, Josh!

[@raicho20]

Dude you're amazing! You need a LOT more people to watch this! You're obviously an amazing classical pianist, but I wonder, do you play anything else but classical? I can imagine that you would be able to do ANYTHING if you chose to! I am forever grateful for all of your vids! Thanks for taking your time!

[@manuelcrespo6395]

Hey Josh, can you make a video on the importance of mistakes and how to recover from them in performances?- thanks a lot

[@HotOlive]

Manuel Crespo I’ve been told to play through mistakes. Most people won’t notice and if they do they will give you credit for not stopping

[@jacobdegeuss]

I was working on pavane for a dead princess and hadn't even gotten down the first page in 3 days and I tried this technique and I got the first page down in under an hour! Thanks so much!

[@Max-yp1iw]

Jacob De Geus dead princess?

[@Max-yp1iw]

Jacob De Geus or is that the piece

[@jacobdegeuss]

@@Max-yp1iw it's the piece

[@Max-yp1iw]

Jacob De Geus whos the composer

[@jacobdegeuss]

@@Max-yp1iw ravel

[@ceciliahelenakruger330]

Hi Josh! I am Cecília from São Paulo, Brasil! Thank you for the memorizing tips. I will put them in practice right away, since this is a big issue to me. I am 71 years old and after 42 years I am back with piano lessons at The Beethoven Conservatory here in São Paulo. Looking forward for more tips!

[@monugupta32]

I love the idea.. ! When you're done with the end portions initially. You're more motivated to finish the piece & not abandon it in the middle. :)

[@EmdrGreg]

I've had great success using this method. Thanks, Josh.

[@kyeongd9070]

I am so comfortable playing pieces with music in front of me I really had problems memorizing pieces. This video is going to help me I know. Thank You!!!

[@JustinDAMusic]

This is very helpful. I've been feeling discouraged because I can't seem to memorise things quickly enough. I'm definitely going to experiment with the back to front method.

[@thisvocaljourney]

This is crazy good!! How the heck you get your fingers to move that fast?! Obviously I’m a beginner…. But, this is amazing! 😯♥️🙏🏾

[@bford3977]

Ironically, I had a choir director that would teach us classical pieces to singg JUST like this and I never thought to do that while learning pieces to play. Great idea!

[@DihelsonMendonca]

💥 Josh, I'm now dedicated to improve my sight reading technique, but when I sight read a piece, or even after playing it reading, nothing stays on my brain afterwards. When I read it again, it's like always the first time. It looks like my brain consumes all resources to sight reading and disables memory. In order to memorize something, I need to play it very slowly, paying attention, and splitting the piece in sections. I E. Either I read the piece, but can't memorize, or I have to work completely different for memorizing. I'm 57 now. When I was very young, I had a poor reading, but excellent memory. Now, I improved a lot my music reading, but doing that, I can't memorize for example, Scriabin or modern music. But I feel easy to memorize Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven or Mozart, because their music makes sense to my brain. What advice could you give to me, please, in order that I improve my reading and this reading helps on memorization ? Thank you very much. 🎉❤

[@jeffh5388]

Thank you for the great information Josh. I subscribed. Cheers

[@anagram80100]

Really, really good stuff. Don't stop making videos! I watched like 10 of them straight and it wasn't until I saw the notification on this one that I realized I didn't hit the Like button on any of them. I bet I'm not the only one, so keep them coming. And thanks.

[@mpaz48mo]

Josh, great story and lesson, thank you. I play guitar but it all translates and I can't wait to give it a shot.

[@michaelsmith697]

Memorising is VERY important! Simply playing with the music all the time gets you nowhere fast. The entire piece can learnt much faster if it’s memorised. Then you can concentrate on the interpretation, dynamics, phrasing etc.

[@JSB2500]

👍👍👍👍👍 😃

[@jameskoszyk4559]

Thanks so much for the video. I am going to try this. Listening to you play though, I realize we have one thing in common.....we have the same piano bench. Thank you

[@gavinsaxey]

This video was very, VERY helpful. Thank you SO much.

[@rabbitpunch1422]

I love how you play such amazing things and then call it "sloppy".

[@JTPCovers]

Jean Reotutar he's a modest man

[@monugupta32]

hahahaha

[@jackieguardame4302]

That's what you call true musicians, or those who know the differrence

[@loveispatient0808]

So humble of Josh! I am impressed!!😀😀

[@wiktornagorski3620]

It's just A-minor scale brotah, it WAS sloppy few hours of practice from him and he'd be back to his original way of playing, not sloppy like here

[@Must_not_say_that]

Excellent advice and tips. It makes sense and therefore engenders confidence. Thank you very much.

[@christianvennemann9008]

"thAT wAS slOPpy."

[@meta-analysisonserumcholes5516]

well it was actually sloppy but I wouldn't be able to play that - sloppy or not

[@mailywong9612]

I wish I can play sloppy like him

[@jamesholland789]

Thanks Josh. Very helpful. (Niles, Michigan)

[@MisterMusicarta]

Thanks! You're awesome!

[@legecla7302]

Yes that's how study and memorize my piano pieces, reverse study, start from the end.. Good Advice :-)

[@天靈靈地靈靈-l2d]

thanks for sharing, so basically its the same procedure to learn a new piece, from the end to the beginning.

[@leonardwalcott3319]

why do all piano players always have stairs in their house?

[@mvmishler]

Robert Plant pitched in on this response: "climbing the stairway to heaven"... by the way, those riffs aren't allowed in guitar stores, just saying.

[@leonardwalcott3319]

that's a guitar song and yeah, I know their not. Haha!

[@orangejuiceman]

Two story houses are fancier

[@Suntro]

wealth

[@kenmcd2014]

So that the piano is in the hall way rather than the room where everyone else is trying to watch the TV....:)

[@cindyp4553]

I am self-teaching myself how to play the piano and I was intuitively already doing this 😄

[@WeeGrahamsaccount]

Thank you, I tried this method with prelude 21 from book 1 of the 48. It works wonderfully. Thankyou. Now for the fugue.

[@LivinginSLCwithLaura]

Josh, your videos are so helpful and informative. Thank you for sharing your talent so freely. You are my favorite artist out of dozens of classical CD's I own. Your beautiful arrangements of beloved hymns and some of my favorite classical pieces interwoven are pure genius. My favorite gift to give is your CD.

[@carloslalonde6328]

that winter étude was fantastic

[@PianoUniverse]

Are we talking about muscle memory or cerebral memory if that makes sense. I seem to use muscle memory and if I stray it breaks apart really quick and then you need a new starting point.

[@samanthaquant7411]

I was like WOW HES FAST! Then I remembered I was listening at 1.5 speed. Listened again at normal speed. He’s STILL FAST!

[@steelmagnolia219]

Yeahh... ahahahahhaa

[@DivineMisterAdVentures]

Pretty terrific! Now I'm wondering if I can actually memorize script lines backwards!

[@PIANO128]

Wow that a great video and tips tanks so mucha Josh

[@misschocoholic82]

Thank thank thank you for this video this just makes perfect sense !

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

Thanks a lot Mr. Josh. I thought I would leave playing the piano once and for all, just because I couldn't memorize a 7 page piece which is Tchaikovsky's Christmas (December from the Seasons Op.37a), but you averted it!

[@nuray07]

Thank you so much!! I have to memorize a 4 page piece by tomorrow and I'll try your method! By the reviews and your own experience, it seems like a very effective way to memorize, so I really hope this works out :D Thank you again for your lectures. ☺️💕

[@atilio11111]

incredible! this is working right away for me!

[@desteddyeggroll]

That's how I memorized my song for voice lessons!!!

[@devinpigera6363]

This was an awesome lecture.. thanks Josh!

[@daniloberaldo570]

Excellent, I learned a lot!

[@GracefulLiving1]

I understand the last page. Would the 2nd last page tgen be the next practice point asxzn dntity onbits own with small sections etc....Do I understand this correctly? Amazing video!

[@littlecloudmotif]

Hi Josh, came across your video and found it very useful so thank you for that. I'm having trouble memorizing contemporary pieces, how would you go about it? I'm currently trying to learn Bolcom's poltergeist rag and it's really hard for me so any tip would be great. Thanks or your time.

[@PhilJonesIII]

Ha! I used to use this technique for guitar but in my young mind felt that it was cheating somehow. I never told my teacher what I was doing to learn in case he got mad with me. But it certainly works. Much older now and trying to learn piano.

[@JSB2500]

I'm 55 and it's working great for me at the piano!! 🙂

[@petemurphy7164]

This is quite useful

[@rspanjaitan]

i wish i can memorize 1 song and have it stick in my head so next time i see a piano i can just play it...without music sheet

[@Chopinwannabe7556]

I gotta learn a piece for a church Christmas program in like 2-3 weeks lol thx.

[@Mybougiehippylife]

Thank you for sharing this method! I find that I too have trouble memorizing like your students when I start from the beginning of the piece. Once I get to the middle of the piece I will fall apart if I mess up because I do not have a check point to go to. I am going to try this today and get memorizing! Thank you!

[@rebeccaryanthomsen6951]

Brilliant

[@ChristineGPadua]

Hi Josh, thank you so much for this lesson. I just re-started lessons and I need to learn how to memorize the pieces. Thanks so much! And by the way, you are fantastic!!

[@Skyfan1000]

I understand the overall strategy, but how do you memorize each small section?

[@olivierverhaeghe755]

you practice all day long

[@Skyfan1000]

Olivier Verhaeghe Lol. That is probably true.

[@gabriellamapac9609]

Wow great me too I have inspired by your tutorials 😍😍😍

[@jimimaze]

awesome, thanks

[@angeldavis9921]

OH. MY. GOSH. JOSH.

[@halytorresguibon5689]

11 years ago, wow. Watching in May 2021

[@TomGlander]

Once again, superb. This is totally going into my way of doing things. So great. Much more efficient way to do things. THANK YOU.

[@joshwrightpiano]

Tom Glander I appreciate it Tom. I'm glad the videos are helping. If I can answer any questions, don't hesitate to shoot me an email.

[@andrewcasey472]

Backwards - great, thanks!

[@JoergPelzer]

Cool i will try it!

[@pimjanssens8808]

thank you Josh, old film but still useful

[@JaySmurkzTV]

Thank you so much!

[@JaviSorianoMusic]

Oh i will try this, thank you for this advice. it takes me a lot time to memorise any piece. I can't control the time I need for it. Now I'm in trouble. I have to memorise "apres un lecture du Dante" from Liszt to the next 6 of February. This day I have to play it in a rehearsal and then the 9 of February in an exam... I'm scared and worry :S we will see what happen...

[@RobinBeaumont]

very good - interesting that you found it much more difficult for polyphonic music - do you think an alternative memorization approach might work there such as playing each part separately and then two parts in different combinations etc.

[@randyclar747]

It seemed it took this man some time to make his point, but he did. If I am understanding correctly; is he advising to practice sections in reverse of how they are written on paper? I need to contact this guy.

[@TomGlander]

I believe that's what he's saying. You always have an ending point when you do that. You can and will put it all together eventually. At least that's what I gathered.

[@joshwrightpiano]

Randy Clark Hi Randy - that's right. Don't memorize note-by-note backwards, but always be working to an ending point. You'll gain confidence and momentum this way. If you just memorize going forward (which certainly works in many cases) it can sometimes feel overwhelming, which is why I use this method when passages become particularly difficult or discouraging for me.

[@randyclar747]

Josh Wright So you are saying to play in reverse order, but doing it while not commiting it to memory? If this is what you are saying, I will try it. I want to be an accomplished player (like you). Whenever a pianist plays notes repeatedly, it inadvertently gets commited to memory. My real name is Bryan by the way.

[@teostaro9976]

No, then you would playing a completely different piece - you would change the structure. You just have little sections in normal note order and then you end somewhere and work to the beginning eventually.

[@yudipitre5720]

Oh my those fingers

[@BeauJames59]

thanks

[@potatoesandtomatoes6817]

OMG SHIGATSU WA KIMI NO USO I LOVE WINTER WIND

[@petermaier3685]

Potatoes and Tomatoes

[@_wade_morgan]

this man learned the first movement of chopin's 3rd sonata in a month wow

[@dalerider3124]

But Josh, how do you learn TO PLAY the notes of a section first, BEFORE memorizing? Surely you do not mean to imply that you memorize AS you also learn to play a section.

[@epichdsheep]

Dale Rider play SLOW

[@loveispatient0808]

He is assuming you already know your notes from beginning to the end!!

[@finnjake6174]

Do you use the same technique on poly rhythm? I mean on really small sections..

[@vimapratama5840]

Thank You!!! :D

[@JT-by7jl]

Cool thanks 🙏

[@mr2loser]

This lecture doesn't actually address memorizing. Just how to approach and organize the memorizing, which itself remains a secret.

[@rajendraharikrishnasharma2780]

Very useful sir

[@Informant7]

Thanks so much for this video. I was actually having trouble memorizing a very simple piece. I won't even mention it here because I am pretty sure you would laugh. I say this because I have only taken piano for almost a year. The strange thing is that I was able to memorize a complicated hymn last year and a William Gillock piece that is above my level. This piece I am working on however is very simple and below my level but I rush through it and fail to memorize properly. Will try this now!

[@southpark5555]

We do it - not because it's easy. We do it because it's hard. (11 years later - Christmas Eve - 2:48 PM - North Queensland, Australia)

[@elizabethkapadia494]

Do u count ur piece as u memorize?

[@pgmerovingian]

I have a question-do you ever work mentally without playing to memorize? I used to imagine my violin pieces (in sections) , then play the section and usually, by the time I could do that, I had it memorized; but I'm finding this much harder to do on the piano because you have to "imagine" so many notes and harmonies!

[@janethudgins3299]

I'm reluctant to rely on memorizing as it's so risky, at least for me. I would like to know enough about chords that I don't have to memorize but know which chords go with the melody, and that seems to be hard to do.

[@confidential5743]

Improv is hard to do, there's lots of videos on it though

[@1980subrosa]

Thank you for that great tip. Maybe it would be interesting to end a section just after a difficult part in order to revise the difficulty many times. Your lessons are great!

[@tonimikael]

Thanks! :)

[@rhoda216]

thank you

[@trueliberalreality5103]

Hi, I have tiny hands! say in the key of C, I can't depress the c note & the e above it . It is too much of a spread. I have played drums for 5o years & am good at rhythm. I can't see how I can keep it fluid with such a fundamentally poor reach.?

[@joshwrightpiano]

Charles Mcnary Hi Charles - are you meaning you can't reach a 10th? If so, many people cannot reach a tenth. A lot of people with smaller hands than me are much better pianists than I am, so skill doesn't have to do with hand size. Best of luck in your studies!

[@cathylu6773]

+Josh Wright uhhhhh I'm 10 and watching this (I'm using my moms acount. Ima boyY)so omg you have to play 10ths when I'm older? I can play a 9th

[@lunawang7450]

Hey ^^ I'm working on my performers degree and I can barely reach an octave. I usually use speed to my advantage, try breaking the chord and jumping from one not to another really quickly, if it's clean enough, it won't sound too different :)

[@yavannakementari4632]

It is very hard for me to memorize pieces. This is because, as my piano teacher always reminds me, I read notes very well, so I never have the need to memorize at all. Strange how people are gifted in one way and yet lack in another.

[@JSB2500]

Delete the "because" in your sentence. Assume it's not true. I was a brilliant reader too, and I thought I'd never be able to play without the score. Then I learned how, 25 years later, and now I do it literally all the time! (I always memorize at least something of what I'm playing). You MUST do it the right way! You do not get to choose you to do it. Repetition DOES NOT work. There is no such thing as muscle memory (Classical musicians believe there is but they also nearly always have teachers who get them to focus on all sorts of stuff, and it's that that enables them to play without the score, not repetition). When you work with a piece, you must always be understanding it, learning something new about it. Even if you're really tired or don't have much time, you can learn that it goes from Eb to C minor to Eb. Then, as you get on with your day, you think, "But how does it get there?". Then your brain gets thirsty for knowledge, and away you go! Always learn backwards, in sections and sub-sections. It works great! When you perform, you are always heading towards a bit you know even better than the one you're playing. It feels great! So far it's gotten easier and easier for me. I'm 55 atm. Never ever ever play from the start "To see if you can play it from memory". That's setting yourself up for certain failure. Instead, play from the beginning to find out what you don't know. There's ALWAYS something. So you ALWAYS succeed!! 🙂 Slow down if necessary, here and there as required, to avoid any mistakes. It doesn't damage the rhythm in the long term assuming you have a good sense of rhythm. I've seen concert pianists do this. It works really well. Mistakes are bad. They can mess up your memory. Best avoided. Learn once. Learn right. Don't change your fingering (or if you can't work out a good fingering initially then don't focus on your temporary fingering and then you won't inadvertently learn it. A good fingering will magically appear in due course once the piece is in your head. Then learn that!). Go ahead and succeed!! 🙂

[@susanmorrison8403]

@@JSB2500 I love what you said about playing from the beginning to see what you don’t know rather than to see if you can play it through for memory! Thanks. This is so helpful!

[@celineeng9167]

hi,do you remember the pieces by alphabets or do,reh,me?

[@sophiac.1999]

im taking the level 9 cm test in 2 weeks and i havent memorized my pieces yet -_-

[@kalieyi5959]

Sophia C. I'm taking level 7 cm test and I still need to memorize a whole song. Good luck to u!

[@ethanwang803]

How’d it go

[@MysticiCorporisChristi]

@@ethanwang803 She dead. F

[@loveispatient0808]

Sophia, did you pass?😔

[@pavlova3310]

@@MysticiCorporisChristi damn it really sucks when you see someone alive and well and then minutes later you realize their dead.

[@davidleesn]

Knowing the form and repetitions, how they differ e.g. exposition & recapitulation in Sonata form….or variations in Rondos… ?!

[@bubbaXzone]

i dont understand what he meant by "X" every 2 measures. am i going back words every 2 measures or just major sections at once thats like 12-15 measures.

[@sebandsara9645]

great videos Josh, i would like to be your student