claudiogut wrote:

I took 5 years of classes starting in 1990. Then I just played by myself and during college I almost totally abandoned it. About two years ago I got back to playing, but I practice on my keyboard, which I've discovered is practically useless in terms of technique because the keys are not weighted. I noticed that when I do play on a real piano, I have trouble with the "pianos" and I play everything "forte". I really sound horrible. I think I should go back to playing the Hanon exercises.

As for my repertoire... also a frustrated area for me. I used to play Beethoven sonatas, Bach's Italian Concerto, the famous toccatta and fugue, and other large-scale works, but I seem to have forgotten them and now I'm having trouble memorizing new pieces that I learn. Are there any specific exercises for memory?

Thought I'd re0thread this cuz its a new topic.

Claudio the easiest and fastest way to memorize is TRUST> trust your muscles and your mind that
the image of the song will stay. This kind of Trust for example enables one to play deeper into the music without having to constantly battle self-doubt and worrisome thoughts.

Play slowly and mindfully also write down your fingering... and with the music on the stand... see if you can figure out one phrase at a time by looking at the keyboard (look up at music if you need to) then keep a pad of paper handy and re-write the passage. I do this a lot and it seems to work...

Once you can play it... quit... move on... then come back later... it helps to be working on more than one thing at a time... so the mind doesn't over obssess on mistakes/perfection

Thanks for the advice. I don't know if it's that memory starts to fade in your mid-20's or if your brain cells die because of partying and alcohol, but I've managed to memorize some new pieces and relearn some of the older ones.

I have no intention to memorize easy-to-sight-read music, such as sonatinas, but I've noticed that when I learn them really well and then come back to them later, my fingers automatically know what to do. So, at least at a sub-conscious level, there is some memorization going on.

As for writing down passages, I consider I have a little of photographic memory, but I don't see clearly enough when I try to picture certain passages. In fact, sometimes, if I think about certain parts too much, I end up messing them up.

Oh well, I guess it all does boild down to trust.

Thanks for your advice!