All masters agree
that analysis and concentration are the prime factors in the process of
committing music to memory.
Michael von Zadora, pianist and teacher, said to me recently: "Suppose
you have a difficult passage to learn by heart. The ordinary method of
committing to memory is to play the passage over and over, till the
fingers grow accustomed to its intervals. That is not my manner of
teaching. The only way to master that passage is to analyze it
thoroughly, know just what the notes are, the sequences of notes, if you
will, their position on the keyboard, the fingering, the positions the
hands must take to play these notes, so that you know just where the
fingers have to go before you put them on the keys. When you thus
thoroughly understand the passage or piece, have thought about it, lived
with it, so that it is in the blood, we might say, the fingers can play
it. There will be no difficulty about it and no need for senseless
repetitions."
PHRASE BY PHRASE
Most of the artists agree that memorizing must be done phrase by phrase,
after the composition has been thoroughly analyzed as to keys, chords,
and construction. This is Katharine Goodson's way, and also Eleanor
Spencer's and Ethel Leginska's, three of Leschetizky's pupils now before
the public.
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