Posted by Jay Bertolet on February 18, 2000 at 09:37:48:
In Reply to: Memorizing etudes posted by Jay Boyd on February 18, 2000 at 00:59:51:
I don't think you'd see much benefit in your playing, but maybe it would be alot more convenient to practice because you wouldn't need a music stand! :-)
Seriously, I would propose a different viewpoint. I see memorization as an obstacle rather than a plus. Just because music is on a stand in front of me, doesn't mean I know a piece any less when I'm performing. To be honest, when I'm performing I frequently don't look at the music for long stretches so I can concentrate on sound, pitch, and ensemble. I guess that is my standard for being "prepared" to play a given piece. I've experimented with memorization before and the results were that sometimes, students simply memorized the piece for memorization's sake. The result was that they performed rather like automatons because they were replicating the series of sounds they memorized. This is very different from having the notes committed to memory and thus being free to manipulate those.
As a result, I don't require memorization from my students. Since it is an easy enough thing to do, why don't you try memorizing a couple of pieces and see if you gain any benefits from the process? I'd be curious to know what you think afterwards. Good luck!