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Know sheet music by hearth

Posted: 16 Aug 2007, 13:55
by Tony
I’m having piano lessons, and my teacher wants me to know the sheet music by hearth. At the beginning I think it is quite difficult. How do I manage? Any help, thanks. :D
Tony

Posted: 23 Aug 2007, 21:25
by TonyG
Sheet music by hearth? Is this a gag that I'm gonna fall for? Fred Hearth's Sonata in B quadruple Sharp for Tuba and Piccolo?

Ok then , sheet music by heart. Piano teacher wants you to memorise sheet music?

Every rest, every staccato, every semiquaver? Sounds rather un-teacherlike to me. How is this going to help your reading? If you ever reach the Concert platform playing Rachmaninov then you'll have to memorise. Otherwise I don't see the logic in it.

Is it a Classical piece we are talking about or a popular tune? You don't mean memorising Scales do you?

Posted: 27 Aug 2007, 14:31
by WinstonChurchill
Memorizing music isn't like memorizing poetry; it's a hard slog at first, but once you've done the work, you'll no longer need to concentrate on every little detail. Your fingers will learn where they need to be and when, leaving your brain free to concentrate on dynamics and phrasing and all that good stuff.

Take it one bar at a time. Take it slowly. See how far you can get by memory and then sight-read the rest, so that the bit you've memorized becomes a natural part of your performance of the entire piece. Do it over and over again, until your fingers start to know where to go, without your help. Play through the entire piece by memory at a slow tempo, and then pick up the pace as your memorization becomes more certain.

If you've already learned to play the piece well by sight, you'll find memorizing easier anyway, because (I always find) sight-reading becomes like speed-reading: you've already memorized a lot of the detail, and you're just looking for landmarks to guide you through the music. So now all you need to do is memorize the landmarks, and fill in the rest.

Posted: 27 Aug 2007, 17:32
by Gill the Piano
Winston's right; play it often enough and learn it thoroughly and it'll become programmed into your fingers. When you tie your shoelaces, you don't have to think 'so...left over right, make a loop...'etc, etc. It's all in your head in a file marked 'Tie shoelaces'. Well, with application, you might one day find a file marked 'Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3'...! :D

Posted: 31 Aug 2007, 19:46
by Tony
Thank you all for your advices.
:D Tony.