If memory serves... CAPTURING THE POWER OF MEMORIZATION IN PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE
____ Words by Amy Lynch
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Strong memorization skills benefit musicians in many ways, but modern performers are now discovering that they’re no longer the critical measure of success they once were. “There’s always been an expectation that musicians should play from memory for everything but chamber music or modern music, which harkens back to the Romantic era with pianists like Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann,” says Clare Longendyke, D.M., a classical concert pianist and founder of the Music in Bloom Festival. “Those unspoken rules are changing. Now, it’s more a matter of personal preference.”
