I’ve blogged before about my thoughts on and struggles with memorizing music. I can definitely see improvement over my college years as far as successful memorization goes, but I admittedly still find it discouraging. I think what makes it frustrating for me is the fact that sight-reading is so easy for me, and memorizing is so not easy. 🙂
Some days, I feel like I’ve finally find a method for this memorizing madness, and other days, I feel so far away from reaching a dependable process! A few weeks ago, I made the decision to when practicing, only “learn” as much music as I can also memorize during the same sitting. During some practice sessions, I only learn 4 or 8 bars. On a good day, I can learn a whole page of music. It’s slow, tedious work, but I looking forward to seeing the results of this experiment once I finish a few pieces using this method. (It will be awhile.)
So, I’m curious — what do other teachers do? First, do you find it difficult to find time to practice regularly? Do you make it a priority to continue learning new classical repertoire? Do you find opportunities to perform solo classical repertoire, or do you learn it only for your own enjoyment and personal development? Do you memorize? HOW do you memorize?! 🙂
Photo Credit: MaltaGirl | CC 2.0