Klarinet Archive - Posting 000080.txt from 2002/04

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] memorization
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 17:26:08 -0500

On Tue, 02 Apr 2002 17:10:56 -0500, mixtapes8@-----.com said:

> Hello list,
>
> I am interested to hear about everyone's methods of memorizing music.
> When the day comes that I will perform in recital, I would like to do
> so without music in front of me as much as possible.

It's an interesting question, Amy.

One of the most helpful things is to know the music you're going to play
in as many ways as possible. You can copy it out, play it on the piano
to yourself, imagine seeing it on the page in front of you, sing it,
hear yourself playing it through in your mind's ear and so on. All that
helps.

You can also learn the various keys that you'll be playing in as you go
through a piece, and analyse how the themes are used.

You'll also find you have a physical memory on the clarinet -- one bit
leads on to another because your fingers remember it.

Beyond that? Well, I once had to play a very complicated piece, the
Berio Sequenza, from memory, and I realised that I'd have to break it up
into smaller bits, and then link the bits.

That's a very old technique that the Ancient Greeks used to use when
they memorised their speeches. They would practise the various parts of
the argument in different rooms, and then, when they had to perform,
they would imagine passing from one room to the other, delivering each
part in turn in the appropriate room.

Hence, the origin of the formula, "In the first place, such and such;
and in the second place, such and such else" and so on.

There's a book by Frances Yates, called 'The Theatre of Memory', which
describes all this.

I actually associated various bits of the Berio with members of my
family, and made up a little story. But you probably needn't do that
for most bits of music.

> p.s. I very much agree with whomever asked that all this discussion
> about swear words and filters end... it's tedious to scroll through!
> And it's definitely not clarinet-related!

:-)

Tony
--
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