Since every single one of my pianoworld/pianotell recitals has been performed without sheet music, maybe I should say a little more.

  • most of my recitals have been jazz, which means memorizing a lead sheet, which is almost always not too much effort.
  • Modern Major General was simple enough to understand as a soprano line over chords. So basically the same as a lead sheet. In general, that kind of analysis doesn't work for the sheet music I play.
    *Sleigh Ride in 7/8: okay, I admit I thought it would look nicer and more performative without the music. But the effort was great. I had to do 40 takes because I kept messing up the end. That was 2018 me, and 2025 me disagrees with his decision.

For for many pianists, including professionals, I think the fear of memory slips more than outweighs any other supposed advantages of playing from memory. If it was not considered a semi requirement for professionals to play recitals from memory, I think many of them, even if they had memorized the music, Would choose to have a tablet with the score on the music desk for the sake of security And there are the other disadvantages of playing from memory in particular the inordinate amount of time it takes that could be used to learn more repertoire.

twocats I have not read all other answers that you have got, but if you are interested in finding out for yourself if your friend is correct, I would test it. Start with a short piece of your level - or maybe even memorise only half of the piece, and find out for yourself.
For a very short time I had a teacher who demanded memorisation, so I did try it. For me, it adds absolutely nothing. The piece did not become a part of me. When recording the piece, there are already so many things to think about, and adding to that the stress that I would not remember correctly, did not do my performance any good. However, maybe I should have spent even more time on that piece... (which would make me progress even slower...)

About your comparison: Always having the score is like driving home by way of a very complicated route, and knowing that you can glance at your GPS whenever you need to.

*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...

      twocats gonna start watching this now. 😊

        Animisha When recording the piece, there are already so many things to think about, and adding to that the stress that I would not remember correctly, did not do my performance any good.

        I think many people would have the same experience you had. It's possible that going through the lengthy process memorizing a piece very securely (which still can break down in performance) gives one more understanding or " The piece becomes part of you" whatever that means or whatever else those in favor of memorization claim, but the stress of playing from memory could easily outweigh those theoretical advantages.

        Ignoring for the moment the added stress of playing from memory, it's possible or even reasonable that all the extra work needed to memorize a piece would give one greater understanding of it. But throwing back stress into the equation plus the huge amount of extra time needed to memorize I don't think it's worth it except maybe for a small number of pieces.

            Ok, I've only watched the first 16 minutes or so, but very informative!

            I think I might try the hands separate on a piece I'm playing now... It's more conducive to HS work than other pieces I play. Also, it's an easy piece, I am close to having it worked up but, but I have some rough spots, a few spots where I habitually play the wrong thing, and then that problem at a page-turn.

            Even if I don't memorize the whole thing, memorizing in some of the ways he does could be very helpful. And maybe it will fast-track my progress toward completing it.

            One thing I noticed is how he says the note-names... I rarely think to myself "ok, that's a D..." But I will try it. Here's part of the easy piece, Wishing by Alexis Ffrench:

            Oh, and I have another piece I'm working on (Hana-Bi, pretty sure I posted snippets of the score in a different thread) with four-note block chords that I routinely play wrong if I don't have my eyes on the score, but there are jumps and so I don't want to be glued to the score... this is another candidate for memorization, of those measures if not the whole thing....

            Here's a portion of Hana-Bi

            Sgisela He had some very concrete recommendations for approaching memorization

            Thank you! I think I will memorize for a few pieces at most, definitely not everything I'm working on. I feel in my gut that the Chopin pieces I'm working on could be a bit more "free in my body" if I memorize them. But it would have to be memorized totally solid to reach that freedom. My friend breaks his pieces into chunks and will randomly draw a number out of a hat and then have to recall that section from memory. I think if you're able to do that, then it's solid!

            I will start with just one piece and see how it feels! It's not as much overhead since I'm still learning it anyway.

            Interesting that your teacher says that memorizing hands together is important and Greg Niemczuk says the opposite! I think for the easy bits I'll do hands together and the difficult ones I'll do hands separately 🙂

                twocats Interesting that your teacher says that memorizing hands together is important and Greg Niemczuk says the opposite!

                interesting! I haven't finished the video yet, so I'm curious about how he will approach bringing the hands together...

                    Animisha For a very short time I had a teacher who demanded memorisation, so I did try it. For me, it adds absolutely nothing. The piece did not become a part of me. When recording the piece, there are already so many things to think about, and adding to that the stress that I would not remember correctly, did not do my performance any good. However, maybe I should have spent even more time on that piece... (which would make me progress even slower...)

                    I don't think you reached the stage where the piece became a part of you! First, it has to be completely solid. And then the memorization has to be completely solid. I think my friend means that you have to be able to lose yourself in the music, and having your eyes open and tracking the music doesn't let you do that. I have memorized one piece to that level only because it was above my ability and took over a year for me to learn, it's the only piece that has stuck since childhood (Tchaikovsky's June). There's maybe one other piece that has stuck (Beethoven's Rondo in C). I literally can't even remember a lot of what I've played before, it just sounds familiar.

                    pianoloverus throwing back stress into the equation plus the huge amount of extra time needed to memorize I don't think it's worth it except maybe for a small number of pieces.

                    Yes, agree.

                          ShiroKuro interesting! I haven't finished the video yet, so I'm curious about how he will approach bringing the hands together...

                          All he says is that he memorizes one hand solid, then the other hand solid, and then it's easier when he puts them together!

                            twocats I don't think you reached the stage where the piece became a part of you! First, it has to be completely solid. And then the memorization has to be completely solid. I think my friend means that you have to be able to lose yourself in the music, and having your eyes open and tracking the music doesn't let you do that.

                            1. If one has learned a piece well but not fully memorized it, then at that stage one is usually not doing what I would call tracking the musical score. Before playing from memory became popular or even required, do you think keyboard players were not capable of losing themselves in the music(whatever that means) or had some expressive limitations? Do you think orchestral musicians or chamber music players of today lose something in their performances because they are playing with the score?
                            2. If one is playing from memory then one's eyes are usually still open but focused mostly on the keyboard.

                            If someone has put in all the time usually needed to solidly memorize a piece AND Is has no fear of a memory lapse (rare), than I wouldn't be surprised if all that extra time with a piece improved their performance. But is it really worth it except possibly just occasionally considering all the downsides of memorization?

                                pianoloverus I'm always tracking the score, no matter how well I know a piece. Because if I don't, I will lose my place.

                                I don't think people are limited in their expressiveness if playing by the score but I think memorizing and not always being tied to the score like I currently am can allow me to access the piece in a different way. I'm talking about how memorization might be able to help me for certain pieces. I'm not comparing my experience to how pros would experience it.

                                    I too am always tracking the score whether it's a brand new piece I'm just starting to learn or the piece is fully polished.

                                    twocats I don't think people are limited in their expressiveness if playing by the score

                                    I agree with this.

                                    At the same time, I think that for those of us who are "readers," sometimes memorizing could be beneficial just as a way to experience internalizing a piece in a different way.

                                    So to @pianoloverus 's question:

                                    is it really worth it except possibly just occasionally considering all the downsides of memorization?

                                    I can only speak for myself of course, but "just occasionally" is exactly what I was thinking about and why this thread caught my attention.

                                        ShiroKuro At the same time, I think that for those of us who are "readers," sometimes memorizing could be beneficial just as a way to experience internalizing a piece in a different way.

                                        I do feel that I access "June" in a different way (and it still stuck with me after all these years!) and I immediately related to what my friend said and made the GPS analogy, despite really hating what I was hearing! I literally can't even tell you what note most of my pieces start with and I feel like memorizing will help me to internalize the content of the music better because it will force me to think about what I'm doing, instead of making musical decisions but being pretty "brainless" about the actual notes because I'm still just reading them every time.

                                        Definitely not going to memorize everything but going to try with one piece first and see how it goes.

                                        Also, there's the side benefit of actually being able to play something without music. I feel like everyone should have a few pieces that they're able to play on demand.

                                            twocats I literally can't even tell you what note most of my pieces start with

                                            Same!!!

                                            twocats I feel like everyone should have a few pieces that they're able to play on demand.

                                            I agree. I used to have one or two pieces like this, but the last time I did, it was when I was piano shopping (2019) so, yeah...

                                                  ShiroKuro so, are you definitely planning to eat a vegetable? 🤣

                                                    twocats I'm always tracking the score, no matter how well I know a piece. Because if I don't, I will lose my place.

                                                    The solution to that is to practice moving your eyes between the score and keyboard more. Eventually you won't lose your place.

                                                        pianoloverus but why would I look down if I don't have to? I don't see myself building that into my practice just to achieve not getting lost, because I could just do what I've been doing and track the score and not get lost.

                                                            twocats but why would I look down if I don't have to? I don't see myself building that into my practice just to achieve not getting lost, because I could just do what I've been doing and track the score and not get lost.

                                                            Well I assume you must have to look down sometimes when you play from the score. And especially so when sight reading a piece. Even the best pianists do that quite a bit unless possibly if they are playing something that's very easy. They look at their hands because it makes playing the music much easier. And it would give you the option I mentioned earlier of memorizing a piece but still having the score on the music desk so you don't have to worry about memory slips. I believe you said you couldn't use that option because you couldn't look back and forth between the score and the keyboard. In other words being able to look back and forth between this score and the keyboard gives you an option between memorization (and playing without the score) and tracking the score all the time. I have never seen or heard of a pianist playing music at the level you play who does not regularly use the technique of looking back and forth between score and the keyboard when playing from the score.

                                                            Do you keep your eyes glued to the score when playing Chopin's first ballade?

                                                                pianoloverus of course I look down when I have to, but I don't when I don't...

                                                                I think we're talking about two different goals here. Memorizing a piece is an experiment for me and I'll see how it goes. Maybe I won't feel secure enough after I'm done and will want to have the score but I think just going through the process of memorizing will be valuable in some way.