Tips for playing piano without sheet music

[GaraMedouar]

Hi - I play a number of instruments (grade 8) so relatively proficient - and I have started playing a bit more piano again in lockdown which I really enjoy (again grade 8 level). I have only ever been able to play if I read sheet music (and can sight read anything within reason).

I understand it’s a different part of the brain that’s used but I would love to be able to play some pieces on piano off by heart - but I couldn’t even play /learn a grade 1 level piece. I just don’t retain it. Are there any tips as to how I can get the music into my brain. I’m early fifties by the way. I’d just love to be able to sit down at any piano and play without music.
My son’s ex piano teacher was amazing - could play hundreds of pieces without sheet music.

I play half from memory, as my sight reading isn’t fast enough. You need to get worse!

Have you tried covering up part of the music, say starting with every second bar in the bass? Use post it notes.

Also to completely memorise a piece I have to write the structure down. Otherwise I end up going round in circles eg ABABA... instead of ABAC

For me it's as much muscle memory as anything. Once I've played a piece over and over, my hands just know what to do. I don't even have to think about it. But I do need to play the piece a lot for this to happen.

Maybe I’ll try playing each bar 30 times or something

Which is really not me trying to be facetious or anything - maybe I’ll literally try playing the first bar over and over , then adding the second - I’ll give that a go. And I’ll try the post it’s too - thanks for the tips - I’ll try all 😁

It’s great to be able to do it but I never have. Nor has my professional pianist df or many others that I know. When my dad used to do concerts when I was a teenager he paid me £10 for being his page turner!

What i’m saying is it doesn’t make you any less of a pianist if it doesn’t come easily to you.

I can't do it much ( not quite grade 8 anything) but I did manage a few things

The trick for me is to listen as you play so you really know where the tune goes.

Christmas carols were a good starting point for me because you know then really well. Cheat for the first note and work the rest out , slow , painful but will apparently get easier

Also things that you have recorded ... play along with that ( slow down perhaps ) not the notes . Once with the music second time without

Thanks migdedude - I could try Xmas carols - they are very easy and have simple chords. Maybe my goal each week to learn a new carol off by heart - then I’ll be ready for next Xmas ! Right - this week it will be Away in a Manger!

Frazzled2207 - yes I do think it’s a different part of the brain completely- some can do it, some can’t. I’m just in awe of those who can. I’d just love to at least be able to have a couple of party pieces off by heart!!!

For me, it's just repetition. After a while, your fingers will know where to go.

However, there are Bach fugues that I have never managed to commit to memory even after ample repetition, so I would say that the complexity of the piece also plays a role in whether I will be able to play it from memory.

I think if you think about it as playing by ear as much as memory it may help

Look at your fingers more, or at least away from the music as often as you can?

I'm the same - was Grade 8, come back to it during Lockdown so I'm still getting back up to the G8 pieces. I was never good at playing from memory or improvising or playing by ear. I was good at playing from music and quite decent at sight reading.

The only things I managed to memorise were maybe a few bars at the "page turn", and a few bars from a couple of songs when I used to work in a piano shop and demo'd the pianos. I accepted it wasn't the way I was wired, but it would be good to be able to play without the music!

I have DS who memorises pretty much everything he learns and plays, including studies and ensemble pieces without lots of repetition. I knew he was good at it as I sometimes hear people commenting on it but perhaps more than I realised? Have you read Alan Rusbridger's 'Play It Again'? It's about a middle-aged mediocre pianist who set himself to learn Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in the space of a year. He describes himself as a good sight-reader but a hopeless memoriser. It's an interesting book.

The music that I’m trying to learn now is accompaniment for songs - so some Eva Cassidy pieces, and musical theatre such as Les Misérables- with me singing along - so I suppose that’s another level of complexity too. Especially the Eva Cassidy as the accompaniment doesn’t ‘match’ the melody song line. I’m fine with the music so they are all playable for me. It’s just the committing to memory.

Interesting I’ve just remembered there were in fact two pieces I was able to play from memory as a child all the way through. One was Solfeggietto by CPE Bach. That was a fab little piece - sounded flash - but was really just two pages of arpeggio patterns. I’ll practise that again - I have the music for that one. I’ll try and do that one from memory again. (A good work out for my old brain cells).

And another one that I can’t find the music for - was probably Bach again ? (Not sure which Bach) and again was arpeggios. It might be in imslp. I can play the first few bars. It started with CMaj arpeggio - LH C,E then RH G,C,E,G,C,E all repeated twice then similar pattern with C,D A,D,F then B,D and GDF then back to the first pattern. Anyone recognise it? I’d like to find the sheet music for that one too again and maybe try to do that one as it must be in my brain somewhere!!

I don’t tend to look at my fingers generally when I play so yes I could try that , looking at the patterns maybe. It’s interesting actually.

Ooh manuelandviolin - that book sounds interesting. I’ll definitely look it up - thanks. That is me to a tee - a good sight reader but hopeless memoriser !

Accompanist here! If you are playing pop and music theatre style pieces, then it's often more important to get the gist of what you're playing, rather than memorising the exact notes and the placement of every last quaver. If you figure out the key, and the most important chords (so a piece in C would have C, F and G as its most important chords) you can busk your way through an accompaniment without sheet music, it just takes a bit of practice. Let me know if you want me to go into a little more detail!

Also, you are I think describing Bach Prelude in C major, which is used as the accompaniment for Ave Maria. And Solfeggietto is a great piece!

Ah yes Cherryblossomandcornflakes - it is indeed Bach’s Prelude in C major. Thanks ever so. I’ve just found a pdf online so printed that out. Super. Let’s see if I can get that one back to playing by memory

And yes I am guilty of wanting to play every little note in the right place , but indeed for the pop/ music theatre songs I could try playing a simple chord under to start, instead of all the moving notes.

I have definitely got some tips and ideas to go away with though - thanks everyone.

It is definitely a different part of the brain. I used to play flute a lot in church ( when we could!) and always used the music as it was there. Occasionally a song wasn't in the book and I would consciously feel a different process as I just let my fingers follow the tune in my head. I think we rely on the dots so much it's hard to let this bit kick in. That is different from muscle memory ( I may have never played that song before, just know it), which kicks in when I try old guitar pieces from years ago, I can play hard pieces with the music but I'm not really reading it. Im much worse sight reading even really simple pieces as there is no muscle memory. It's really interesting, I think he Benedetto sessions have one on memorisation, might be worth signing up. Good luck, I'm sure you'll make progress. It would be cool to just sit down and play a grade 8 piece from memory.

I could never do it - eventually I went right back to basics and beginner books and started plying over pieces a few times and then from memory. I think if you weren't taught to play from memory from the get go it is really hard and a skill that needs to be learnt right back from the beginning.

I can still play pieces I learnt by heart as a child, but can't learn new ones. Try Dr Gradus ad Parnassum (or something like!), by Debussy, it's also based on arpeggios and is beautiful. I know someone who can accompany anything on piano. He's a guitarist, so he knows the chord progressions. I'm trying to teach myself to do that. I remember my piano teacher would get me to learn a few bars at a time. One bar at a time is probably not enough to get the pattern in your head.

Should add, the guy I know, doesn't actually read music. Just plays.

My exP is a guitarist and doesn’t read music and plays everything by ear. I was in awe. But then he was in awe of me by being able to sight read anything and be able to read music !

Fascinating! I'm the total opposite, can only play by ear; sheet music goes way over my head and I've tried for years; I would love to have your gift! I echo a previous poster - improvise by chords and keys; even just getting the guitar chords i.e. Am, G, F, C and getting a sense of the rhythm of a piece, arpeggios and different octaves. Have fun with the piano and just enjoy making sounds until it starts to come together. Good luck!

This is interesting. I think that those that can sight read really well often struggle to play from memory and vice versa. This is certainly the case for me - I actually really struggle to read music - in much the same way that someone with dyslexia struggles to read words. It takes me a long time to “understand” the music before I can even begin to play and I cannot sight read at all. As a result, when I do get going, I play mostly from memory. My son is better at reading music than me, but is going a similar way, and tends to memorise everything he learns.

I think sight reading and memorising are two different skills which perhaps don’t come together very often, maybe because if you can do one, or have got by using one method, then there is less need for you to develop the other skill. (Although in my case, not being able to read music is not for want of trying!)

I am the opposite. I’ve been learning this year - I played a little at school, only had a small period of lessons, but can sight read music well as I was a classically trained singer and played a few other instruments.

I’ve been using the app Flowkey to learn new pieces - my sight reading and translating to playing has improved but still slow. I can’t play a piece fluently until I have played it hundreds of times and it’s in my muscle memory. At that point my hands just move as they’re supposed to without me thinking about it - in fact thinking about it makes it worse.

Maybe because you’re already so good you don’t play pieces enough times for this to bed in?

I’m sure if you played a simple piece over and over you’d remember it in no time but it’s probably much more tedious if you’re getting it right from the outset.