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Schubertian2 one nice thing about this forum is that we can prettily easily split threads if things go too far off topic. Like what I'm about to do...
ShiroKuro I would love to know what physical differences would be observed in the brain of someone like me, who hardly ever memorizes and always plays from the score, vs someone who memorizes solo piano music, vs someone like you who memorizes both piano parts and lyrics.
For classical, I almost never memorize pieces! I have a really bad memory, and it's rare that classical pieces are just 95% scales and simple chords like it was in this case (though vocal accompaniment is usually pretty simple). Usually classical has interesting lines with ambiguous and creative voicings which don't follow standard patterns or fingerings. If I go through the trouble of memorizing a piece like that, it will fly out of my memory within a couple weeks of disuse, making it not worth the effort.
In pieces like my recital piece, what I have in my head is no harder than what you might see in a lead sheet: a soprano line with chords, with maybe a little extra information about the rhythm bass alternating between two notes or whatnot. But from that I can recreate the score with 97% accuracy, and the remaining 3% will be noticeable only if you're familiar with the score. That ability will come with experience, though learning theory well and analyzing the pieces you play can help speed up the process.
