How To Memorize Piano Music & Never Slip Up

[@jazerleepiano]

Do you have any memorization techniques that have worked for you? Do you prefer to memorize music or play from sheet music?

[@georgias701]

Could you share what kind of mics and cameras you are using? You have great sound.

[@deadmanswife3625]

Try to work on both

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

;3 Muscle memory is debunked by science. Muscles don't have memory. Shalom.

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

:D Memorize.

[@jimvandemoter6961]

I'm just starting piano, but I'm not new to music. In fact I started guitar when I was nine years old in 1961. I studied theory in college for two years in the early '70's then taught guitar for over twenty five years. I'm now seventy two years old and I'm just now starting piano. I really enjoy your videos along with my book (Alfred's all in one #1) Thank you for what you do. The journey continues.............................

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

O.o Muscle memory is debunked by science. Muscles don't have memory.

[@kevinhoffmann2084]

I learn section for section till I can play it without reading notes or watching the tutorial. Every time I start to learn a new song, I warm up by playing all songs I learned by memory to keep them fresh :D

[@leilakhammar4225]

I often thought it was wrong to look at our fingers while playing. So if I was somewhere else and wanted to play I could never remember my notes. Thank you for the tip. I will be trying to do that soon.

[@Marco1281]

It is a fact that some very high level students and of course very well known pianists don't look at their own fingers so much like Kempff in Moonlight sonata 1st mouvement for instance because they are focussing on their sound and the total control of it. But they are not the common guy that we are. Personally i play by heart meaning memorizing the difficult moments, and come back to the partition fir the easy ones.

[@leilakhammar4225]

@@Marco1281 thank you for the comment. I assure you I am Not a high level student. Just an amateur who Loves the instrument.

[@Marco1281]

@@leilakhammar4225 Like me. My highest level is Schubert's impromptus - which doesn't mean i play them completely well. (And after at least 2 months of work on them) :-)

[@juanmarcuslopez3018]

For me, singing along with the piece is the best way to memorize it

[@kevinball109]

I'm a late starter to the piano, having started 5 years ago at 58, have always preferred memorising my pieces. Great video thanks Kevin 13:17

[@gibsosmart]

Glad you started now. Better to start late than never. I started at 38

[@synthplayer1563]

Very good summary. I do mental practice in my bed and imagine myself playing the whole piece with every single note. For me, that is the most important step to being able to play a piece well by heart. Another thing is to always play with foresight and practice that. So always have a good idea of ​​how the piece will continue.

[@eufejr]

Here's an anecdote of how mental practice helped me: There was a piano piece that I was really eager to learn and memorize. I spent days practicing the sheet music, watching others play it on videos, listening to the music over and over, etc. One night, I fell asleep while doing mental practice, then had a dream in which I was able to play the piece perfectly. When I woke up, I immediately rushed to my piano and, voila! I was able to play the piece entirely from memory. 😅

[@meganburton724]

I’m a sheet music reader and really struggle with memorizing a piece. I want the music in front of me; however, I’m gonna give these techniques a try!

[@mrbulkyc1]

when you struggle as all of us do , you have to get back to a basic strategy, and this lesson provides that , All TREMENDOUS tips that will implement immediately , Thank you so much, you are the Best !

[@noelig4152]

My music therapist piano teacher has me envisioning each part of a piece. Eg. River Flows in You by Yiruma is easy. It starts w the river waking from winter; then moves to summer, etc, in the other sections. I also imagine "surprises" in the river's journey. So, in every few measures, there is a story.

[@GoFbassist]

I've only been playing since March 24, and I can't sight read, so it takes me a while to work through a song. I'll chunk it right down, work out the notes, and listen to how the song is played. If I can find a tutorial, I'll watch that too. Then I practice separate hands like you taught. I played the first page of Primavera with two hands for the first time last week. Thank you for your tips Jazer, they're helping me immensly!!

[@rogerparker8380]

I tend to use a story to go along with my playing. I have severe performance anxiety so I picture different people watching me through different parts and it helps me remember what comes next by who I am imagining listening to me.

[@maddesthatter1313]

That’s really interesting!

[@georginahuliganga4130]

You are absolutely a great piano teacher!!!

[@thepianoplayer416]

In my school days I learned violin in strings class. We had year-end concerts for the parents. Found that it's easier to watch the conductor (music teacher) having parts of the music memorized than having to read the whole piece. Taking up piano as an adult found that reading 2 staffs at a time (especially the bass) to be challenging. Initially I'd read through a piece to decipher the notes and then memorize in small sections. Over the years reading improved but continued to play pieces in public from memory. Once I attended a piano recital. The pianist was a 9-year old prodigy. He played the entire 40m concert from memory.

[@rarsenio1]

Thank you for your videos. I really appreciate it. Although, most of them are way beyond my level, I enjoy watching them.

[@cobrac4t34]

Interleaving practice seems to work quite well for me. Great to avoid feeling bored and or feeling like you're in a practice rut. Switching to a new section of the piece I'm learning every 3mins to 5mins helps me stay focused and alert. Sometimes I will practice 4 bars of a new piece then play a piece I've been playing for a while then immediately go back to practicing the 4 bar section of the new piece. Play another piece then repeat.

[@michaelungar3405]

Thanks Jazer for the useful tips. I've been focusing on repeating very small parts, like a bar or two, then playing to the next note in the next bar, repeating again and again, then continuing to the next note; keeping it all in small manageable bits. It's also helpful to take a few minutes of quiet rest after every 10-15 mins of practice to give the brain a chance to digest. It's especially important for me to stop if I find myself getting distracted, get up and stretch a bit then return to the task. I've been working on memorization since my eyes tend to wander and get lost in the score. Since I've been making more of an effort at this, I'm getting a lot more satisfaction and increased confidence from playing. Besides, memorization is a great exercise to keep an older brain sharp.

[@rjanuary]

I like to close my eyes and visualize the keys in my mind as I run through the piece. I do this both while on the piano and away from it. It quickly helps me identify parts that need additional work to commit to memory. Great guide.

[@marciamadeira846]

A piano teacher who discouraged playing by ear, playing only by the music, has made me into a sight reader and it’s very difficult to memorize. Even pieces that I know well, I “think” I need the music is front of me, when I get lost. So thanks for your techniques, I’ll try on a couple of pieces. ❤️🎹

[@thepianoplayer416]

Not sure why the teacher thinks it's wrong to play by ear. Jazz & Pop musicians play by ear all the time. When I started piano as an adult, I'd download sheet music regularly. Many pieces were made with a computer notation program and I'm finding mistakes. Pieces that are common I can find recordings online. I'd compare what's on paper and recordings so I'd read through a piece and end up memorizing it as well. We need to have a balance being able to read well so that we can learn pieces off sheet music faster as well as a good ear for listening to the nuances.

[@marciamadeira846]

@@thepianoplayer416 She was a bad teacher, my 3rd teacher was awesome. and I won the keyboard prize. I can still hear music in my head, just have a hard time voicing it on the piano, but I can easily sing harmony. I will work on these techniques. Yes, I notice mistakes in sheet music and I've heard that sometimes the publishers do that, so we won't have the exact song. I always correct it.

[@IsabelCabral-c1q]

Great tips! I'm showing this to my 10 years old daughter who is learning the piano. She loves to play and loves challenging musics, and I think it will help her a lot. I play guitar and mandolim in my free times (almost none recently) and I also tried a bit of my daughter's piano (learned a bit of bohemian rhapsody with the 2 hands, it was crazy but great!). I simply can't read sheets (I know the theory, but it just takes too much time). So even if I'm learning a melody in mandolim I like to learn the chords first, to have some guidance, I need to understand the structure of the music. For the most difficult ones, I use colors and paint the parts that repeat in the same color. I review the structure while listening to the music until it's clear. And then I start learning part by part. Then I practice while listening to the music, to make sure I can keep the rithm and recover fast on any mistake. Then I identify the parts I'm failing and stop the music and play alone and try again with the music. If needed, I change the velocity of the music to be slower and increase again when I'm more confident. For bohemian rhapsody I actually painted the main notes (e.g. all Eb in green, all C in blue) it helped me a lot to read faster and memorize! Also practiced the left hand while singing the melody from the right hand.

[@abrahamalatorre]

Both for me. While memorizing music can be handy if using a public piano and no notes in hand, by using a music sheet it gives a good idea how the piece was meant to be played.

[@grandiosa86]

Nothing beats the classics! Great melody and teaching!!

[@jt9058]

I prefer to memorize but I feel like having the sheet music there as a quick reference, but not necessarily reading it note for note. It’s like a security blanket in case my memory forgets what to do, but this is for new pieces that I’m learning.

[@koinoniateam6197]

I am grateful for sharing your skills. I am studying Liturgy and Church Music at age 58 now I'm 60 hopefully I will finish next year May 2025. You are right proper fingering is super important as well as singing or humming. I find it more difficult to play a choral accompaniment with the choir. I don't rely purely on my memory I need to read the music sheet.

[@colomboeduardo3961]

Thank you, Maestro Jazer....once more. Your advices are always very useful for beginners like me. Un abrazo desde La Palma.

[@virginiapopova413]

Definitely memories, because of the points that you made about playing a piece with more confidence, freedom and musicality. I use a lot of your strategies already, but I picked up couple of new tips. Very helpful as usual. Thank you so much ❤

[@Mike--K]

Thank you! I use small Post-It notes at the beginning and end of measures I want to isolate so I can focus on them without visual distractions.

[@elaineolson550]

Wow-thank you! So many intriguing and fun methods to learn. I will watch this video probably many more times 😊

[@zekiyezeynepsahin9449]

Thank you for this video. I think the most important strategy in memorising a piece, is mind playing. It is a very good test about the level of your memorisation.And I know that most of the time students are reluctant about this training. To my experience it has numerous benefits.

[@arlarl7176]

Thank you for this video. Memorizing strategies are often underrated, but very important. I've never learned memorizing strategies from my teachers. They always said "If you study this piece a long time, you will memorize it some day automatically". But this strategy is not reliable and so I really appreciate to learn some different and more reliable and efficient strategies. Very good channel, keep it up. Thank you!

[@jazerleepiano]

Thank you! I hope these strategies help you memorize sheet music more 😊

[@thisismoyukhsworld2022]

Chopin's Cantabile B. 84 in B Flat Major is considered a great stepping stone to the iconic Op 9 No 2 Nocturne. This is because the Cantabile is only a page short but has almost the exact same right hand melodic and left hand harmonic pattern when compared to the nocturne. Jazer Sir, have you heard of this Cantabile piece????

[@tortue225]

1) I listen to different interpretations of the piece I am learning, it helps me to get a better "grip" on hard passages 2) I try to have fun as much as possible, like playing the whole piece in a very angry manner, then as softly as if my fingers were feathers, or playing while singing something else, anything that can make me continue playing when I am bored to death playing it over and over. 3) Trying to work on interpretation only - it switches my focus to a different exercice while still working, but for interpretation I don't care about mistakes or technical aspects, only what I am able to convey. Switching focus really helps with boredom, at least for me. Honestly, I prefer to play with the music sheets in front of me (safe side), but it's not always possible. I also like to be able to improvise a bit during sections, when I feel like it. Thanks for this video and I'll use your tips for sure ! :)

[@suharmawatigarden3378]

Thanks for your help, it is easier to make the song sheet

[@Astro-n7h]

I just started piano and I'm suprised how many of these things I unconsciously already did while learning.

[@lanatudor5331]

Thank you, subscribed 😊

[@misscecilia2190]

Absolutely brilliant ! Your coaching is more useful than entire 1 unit at juniors college ❤

[@jazerleepiano]

Thank you! Glad you find my coaching useful! 😃

[@c.a.7522]

A very, very good Video👍🏻 with short,but also very comprehensive explanations!! Thank you very much!!!

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

:3 Memorize.

[@BestVidseveryday]

Thank you very much for your online coaching sir

[@angelmay27]

Thanks for the tips! I will pass these along to my students 😊

[@RolandHuettmann]

A also write down notes manually. It is helpful to memorize because what you write with your own hands is memorized much better -- even writing parts repeatedly and clearly calling out the note names for each voice so that your own ears hear the names.

[@Jary3166]

Awesome video, thanks Jazer! I often find myself forgetting sheet music as quickly as I learn them (even after passing the 7-day test). Would love a follow up about keeping sheet music in memory in more “permanent” memory!

[@williamschickling6702]

I prefer to memorize because, as you said, it allows one to focus on execution without the "overhead" of reading. But longer pieces take so much time to memorize, I just don't feel it's worth trying to memorize them because I'd rather move on to learning new pieces.

[@misskite2]

I have a super hard time memorizing and can only play from music. Because of this I’ll feel I’m limited. But I can sight read almost anything.

[@eikiworcester7215]

Thx for the tips. I never applied variation rhythm on the trouble spots. 👍🏻

[@Alter_Onkel]

👍Jazer Lee👍 -when only the very best will do😊

[@jazerleepiano]

Thank you! 😉

[@โมเน่ต์วินตรา-ฤ4ข]

I just listen to the song I'm practising so that I can remember the rhyme better. Thank you for this video!

[@eenayeah]

"When playing piano, you're gonna need to use two hands." He's not lying!

[@FriedaV-ru7nh]

Stellar idea to create variations 👍

[@ellemobilis3015]

Spot on strategies. Thank you so much😊

[@CommDao]

Very interesting! I implement a very similar strategy with learning fighting game combos.

[@lizlomas59]

The tip about learning hands separately will be good for me as I struggle with carrying on if I go wrong, if the other hand that is played right keeps going then the other hand can be added to it.

[@elenamarquez2380]

Thank you,great video!

[@avjohn1]

Great tips. Thank you, Jazer...

[@kylearigot8750]

Superb advise! Thank you!

[@cathygraf2067]

Excellent video!! I picked up playing the piano again everyday after playing occasionally for years. I find playing hands apart is easy, along with sight reading. I struggle with fingering in more advanced music. Do you have any videos on fingering? I play from sheet music, but am going to try memorizing. I used to play the bagpipes in high school, am 66 yr. old, and had to memorize all of the bagpipe music!

[@nancymchugh5528]

What is the intro music that you play? It’s beautiful.

[@jazerleepiano]

It’s my own composition! I call it Chasing Dreams. I’m glad you liked it! :)

[@nancymchugh5528]

@@jazerleepiano thank you for letting me know. Very nice!

[@katiet1496]

So excellent!

[@samsonokwe8308]

Pls need a video on exercises to do to improve auriel perception (hearing and writing solfa)

[@benjames4190]

Thank you

[@_RabbitLeader]

It’s like actors who learn a new script for a play inside out but after a few months focusing on a new play, rapidly forget the previous script they knew inside out. I don’t know how one can remember several songs from memory unless playing them everyday as a repertoire.

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

:3 Muscle memory is debunked by science. Muscles don't have memory. ❤ Shalom.

[@izab.426]

Good tips! 🤩Thanx!

[@oswinhull4203]

I have the exact opposite problem with playing hands separately than what you mention. I have often been able to play the left and right hand parts but then it does nothing to help playing them both at the same time other than perhaps giving you some confidence. So I just completely stopped doing that. I feel like it is a waste of time. Using drums as an example, anybody can play the high hat part on most songs but what is difficult is playing the, high hat, bass drum, and snare at the same time. As another example, anybody can rub their belly and pat their head but doing both at the same time is super awkward and difficult the first time you try to do it. I'm not a neuroscientist but I'm pretty sure moving both hands in coordination works a different part of the brain or something. In fact I would theorize that playing the parts separately may even be detrimental to learning since you are training one hand to not be moving while the other hand is playing the part.

[@peteandxyz2709]

As a beginner, I've also been practicing pieces in overlapping chunks to help with fluidity, I'm working on memorizing a piece now, and I find this helpful as well. So memorizing bars 1 and 2, then 2 and 3, then 3 and 4 etc. I might spend the most time on chunks 1 and 2, 3 and 4 but spending some time on just 2 and 3 is helpful. Probably an obvious comment, but just throwing it out there

[@catlady9123]

I agree, I've caught myself in the past doing 1-2, then 3-4, but then trying to play 1-2-3-4 I mess up because the fingering flow from 2-3 doesn't work at all, so now I'm having to "relearn" 3 with different fingering to create a flow.

[@edithseravillo7804]

awesome video Maestro I prefer to memorize the piece.....😊 grazie

[@MoXyiD]

thanks for the new approaches!

[@summer.days1105]

Nice tutorial 😊. I have a question though , for people who are formally trained for a long time do they have the ability to identify which chords or keys instantly just by listening to the music a few times? And are they usually great in playing by ear?

[@elah1916]

Thank you very much can you please make a video “how i would learn piano if i could start over”

[@dabmachine1]

I'm trying to memorize Bohemian Rhapsody and it is a very long song so the tips in this video will help alot

[@nicklass7075]

Awesome video! I'm really bad at figuring out which chords are played in pieces like op 9 no 2. Could you make a video about how to determine which chords or progressions a piece contains.

[@Krugerboi13]

I've been playing piano for almost a year now and so I'm still learning how to read and count sheet music effortlessly , but one thing I'm struggling with in my counting is that as weird as it sounds , different note pitches throw me off when I count. I guess it is because certain pitches sound like the counts while I count out loud and that just throws me off. I'm busy learning a piece in 6/8 time , but there are a lot of like 8th notes followed by a 16th note in the middle and then an 8th note again at the back, I dono.

[@Arrestina]

Excellent video

[@1tunkh0]

Wonderful.... which piece is this one?

[@_RabbitLeader]

As a beginner I write large amount of finger positions to be consistent. I recognised that playing with subtle variations each time was not necessarily a good thing.

[@chitrayoum]

The biggest problem that I have faced and worried about was when I got lost at some parts while playing from memory. This always hold me back from learning to play from memory. If we got lost in the piece then we would have no idea how to get back to the piece.

[@mariofirpo200]

Thank you so much! I need to memorize, I am too slow at reading...❤

[@jillmcaleese6514]

Make up words to go with the hand actions. Play hands separately along with KZbin version on slow speed.

[@Mucologist]

I am visually impaired so, memorization is necessary. I have been using some of the techniques you described but I will be adding new ones. Good job and good stuff. Thanks,

[@prabakaranperumal5432]

Is it always necessary to complete a full piece . For eg., in the case of canon D, i could complete only 70% of the song and unable to succeed fully. Shall I move on to the next new pieces or should I complete the full song. Please advise. Regards, Prabakaran.P

[@petertarsio7168]

Name every chord change and write in the names of the chords and practice playing those progressions naming the bass movement and root movement. Memorize the chord progressions thoroughly and practice blocking them down. Harmonic analysis is essential. That bar you had trouble with should be analyzed thoroughly. Note is a progression return you to the tonic chord. Improvise over those very same chords and create something new.

[@Amyshm]

I look at my hand when play. That helps to memorise the sheet

[@nevetsny1]

The more theory I know the more tools I have. Easier to recognize chord progressions. I IV V ii or whatever. Inversions. Chord structure like diminished, half diminished. Scales like half whole. When you know more and more of these structures you can chunk it big time.

[@nevetsny1]

For example the second page of The Hours instead of having to memorize bars 25-40 i just think of inversions of F, G, and E. Then F, G, G with a tritone thrown in, C and third inversion of A. That takes care of almost a whole page distilled into IV V iii IV. Then IV V I VI.

[@staples6]

I end up having to replay and practice sections so many times that I end up memorizing it along the way

[@Critique808]

My technique is to memorize right hand separately and then memorize left hand separately and then practice memorizing hands together.

[@trevorworrall5198]

When I try to play a new piece I mark above each note E, F,G etc as I find it easier for me to play for a while until I get it in my memory..... that's just me though

[@allfinenicksareNA]

Tip 1 is incomplete without overlapping note(s)!

[@do.not.disturb4150]

When I play hands separate its so hard for me to put it together

[@samsilva3625]

I’ve tried everything but nothing works for me. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise because I’ve discovered jazz and it’s all about improv. But still, sometimes, I wish I could play those classical pieces without struggling to find notes 😢

[@deadmanswife3625]

Left hand separately Got it

[@marclafontaine6996]

Most of what I play is all by ear with my band - I don't have a choice but to know these songs by heart. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bn_bgZ6NiMR1g7c I learn other songs by sheet to practice my sheet reading as much as possible also. Cheers!

[@Nick-ui9dr]

Why I am feeling that u playing something like "Lag jaa gale..." 😅

[@AlanMcCarthyguitar]

Think you covered everything! ( maybe super super slow practice is a help !!)Very informative video thank you , I find the visual memory away from the instrument the hardest,,it’s exhausting . Audio not too bad .. just look at the score and try to sing it , A good tip which for me as a guitarist works well is to play the piece while guitar totally out of tune , that way the connection between ear and fingers is severed, then you know if your fingers know it , especially played slow , but that not practical for piano I guess

[@hyperseah]

3 weeks? I need at least 3 months and that is for a simple piece. 😂

[@MultiCugel]

Same here 😆

[@billblack3775]

I just retired and picked the piano up and my piano teacher told me never to memorize pieces I would learn to read better if you don’t memorize,,, little confused, but good video

[@Critique808]

Crazy teacher. Memorize so you don't have to look at music sheet.

[@platypussquid]

I always memorize piano music. My problem is that I really lack on reading sheet music and really reading what I'm actually playing. Furthermore its difficult ro play without looking at my hands. I really have difficulties... but I'm trying 🫡

[@377559]

Always informative and practical. Thank you very much!