I require memorization as a yearly goal – 20 2-3 page pieces over the course of the year. But, I never require them to perform from memory for the same reasons as you. I believe trying to work on memory skills is a worthy goal I think for their own satisfaction of having a repertoire of pieces to sit down and play when the opportunity presents itself.
Becky sent me this comment in response to the When Students Can’t Memorize post. As much as I advocate sight-reading, this really resonates with me because I do wish I had a more expansive repertoire of pieces I could just sit down and play without the printed music. This is something I should probably encourage my students to do more regularly as well. I’m curious to know how other teachers approach this. How do you encourage memorization in your studios? Do you have a repertoire tracker of some sort so that students maintain a list of certain pieces that they can sit down and play at a moment’s notice?
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