Nate DeMaria wrote:

>I believe the most important part of memorizing a piece is listening to
>a recording of it many times.  At first paying good attention to the
>recording will help, then just having in the background is ok.

No!  That just makes you learn someone else's performance.  You need to
go back to the score yourself and organize the music in your own head
motivically - look at the character of the themes, observe how they are
developed and transformed etc.  Then you've got a mental conception of the
piece that is not only more reliable, but also allows you a freedom and
flexibility in performance that would be impossible if you've limited
yourself to memorizing a particular aural picture.

Felix Delbruck
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