Security in Memorization

Here are some Security in Memorization that I would recommend everyone to try with.

Four facets of memorization are:
1.Tactile (least reliable under stress)
2. Visual: visualizing the printed page
3. By ear
4. Analytical (most reliable under stress)

Practicing memorization:
1. Divide a piece into sections, number each section, be able to start at any number.
2. Work backwards from the end, phrase by phrase: set the metronome. Give yourself an exact number of counts to think, then go back and play the next-to-last phrase. When you finish, wait, count, go back to the phrase before that, and so forth. The goal is to reduce the metronome count from, say, 8 to 4, to 2, to 1, to 0.

To check for security in memorization, try these tests:
1. Play the whole piece at a painfully slow tempo (if necessary, use metronome set to 60 to the 16th note, for example)
2. Think every note and finger associated with each note away from the violin.
3. Sing your part from start to finish.
4. Take any phrase, start any measure on any beat. Be sure the fingering is unchanged.
Do not do these tests right before a performance!

Remember that memory slips are most likely to occur in:
1. Passages that are similar but not exactly the same. -- mark the differences on the score
2. Passages with rhythmic complications
3. Modulatory passages. Analyze the keys
4. Bass line or bottom notes of chord progressions. Analyze the bassline motion.

The purposeful playing of everynote will guard against memory blackouts. Your intentions for each and every note must be perfectly clear to you. Your mind needs to be as active as your fingers and bow. The more you plan and map out the piece, even create a storyline, the less likely you will get lost.
1. Refresh your memory by studying the score visually and trying to imagine how it sounds and exactly how your hands would look and feel with the violin. Then play the piece slowly through with the music.
2. From memory, play the right hand as softly as possible and the left hand as forte as possible throughout, then do the reverse.
3. Play the piece through with your eyes closed. play slower than usual
4. Go through all the correct motions as if you were making sounds but do not press your fingers all the way down
5. play through the piece very slowly in pianissimo
6. Combine the visial, aural, and tactile senses in "mental" practice. Close your eyes and try to "hear" the music. Try to imagine how your fingers/bow "feel" on the violin and how the music "looks" on the page. If you cannot "see" the music, don't be concerned. It is more impoartant to "hear" it mentally and visualize how your hands look on the vioin and bow if you played.

Good luck everyone!!