BBC Music Magazine

The art of memory

Memorising music is such a fascinating and personal process. It's about both understanding the architecture of the piece and finding those methods that resonate with you personally - so that you can truly internalise the work's sound, emotion and structure.

There's a lot of patience and discipline involved as well. If I am setting out to get to know a new piece, I'll often wake up at 4am as that's when my brain is quiet - no phone calls, no emails - and I can assimilate as much of the music as possible.

For the part of memorising that is muscle memory, the key is simply repetition - play the piece again and again, until it is 'under your fingers. Repetition is key, but not enough on its own: you have to couple it with conscious listening, as muscle memory on its own can be dangerous to rely on. It's fine in a safe environment - by yourself in the practice room, say - but you can't rely on it under pressure.

But when it comes to a 'mental map' of the piece, I have a few techniques. Visualisation is the most important of these. It's a really cool process, yet until I came to university, I had never heard of it. I try to see the score in my mind, and I imagine my hands playing the piece. In this way, your mental practice often happens away from the instrument. And it comes in very handy - especially at moments of pressure.

I take the score away, to a quiet place somewhere. And I create a mental map of it, that I can access at any time. This is particularly useful on the road, where you don't have access to a piano. Waiting for a bus, holding my luggage, I will notice my fingers moving through the piece. It's an incredible process.

This mental map is, essentially, the music on the page. I can see the music and I know where I am at any point. And I will say those notes as I run through the piece in my mind. In rehearsals 1 can sing the piece: that's obviously not an option in concert, so I mumble it instead. People have asked me, 'Are you talking to yourself when you perform?' But no, l am just saying the notes to myself - because this helps me to focus in the moment. You have to be 100 per cent in that moment, and really see the score in your mind.

That's general visualisation: but there are some specific visualising techniques, too. For example, I'll break a piece down into its harmonic and formal structure. When you know the architecture of the piece - whether it's a sonata or variations, a concerto or a rondo - you'll always understand where you are going. Key relationships, harmonic progressions - it'slike a road map through the piece.

Then I separate the different elements - melody, harmony, rhythm, voicing - and before I put them all together again I will often memorise each hand separately, and focus on each voice and how it interacts with the others. You need to understand how each part is working before you can put it all together.

April 2025