Repetoire, Memory Practice

[Dick]

Here's a question for all you diligently practicing musicians. This appears over in the Guqin forum:

Cardcaptor said:

I thought we might like to share our repetoire and tell us about what pieces we are currently learning. My repetoire use to be composed of over 20 pieces ...

A detailed list of pieces follows, categorized as known, forgotten, and working. So looking that over, it occurred to me to wonder how others maintain their repetoire.

Does "knowing" a piece mean having it memorized, or the ability to execute it creditably while referring to the music or tablature? For me, especially for longer traditional pieces, it's difficult to keep track of the sequence of parts in my head. I have problems when differences between sections are very subtle. Also, how many complete pieces can you maintain in your head - and be prepared to execute by heart - all the time? How much practice time should be devoted to maintenance of mastered material, versus sight reading, learning new stuff, and technical exercise? Anyone care to comment on their own experiences or practices in this regard?

-thanks

[Charlie Huang]

Sometimes, I learn a new piece, and forget most of it by the next week. Some, I learnt and then it sticks with me even after months. It all really depends on your connection with the piece. Pieces that you find difficult or boring tend to be forgotten quicker than pieces you really like, have the tune in your head (and actively seeing yourself play it on the instrument in your head or physically) et al. Of course, not necessary the case for some pieces. After I have forgotten a piece, I tend to try and re-learn it in the future, and it is sometimes difficult, but sometimes quite easy to pick it up again and re-learn it much quicker. Sometimes, I only forget one or two bits of a section, in which case I tend to improvise.

To keep memory of one's repetoire, I usually play each piece ocassionally or regularly. The key is, for me, to keep practicing that piece even after you already learnt it, again and again, together with other pieces. That way, it would slowly move up into long term memory. Sometimes, I do forget the entire piece, but looking back at the tablature re-ignites my memory and after a bit of familiarisation, I tend to remember it fully.