Memorisation in piano students: A study in the Mexican context

Abstract

The present study analyses the different types of skills and abilities that piano students use to memorise pieces. During students’ education process, it is important to implement different study strategies for the proper learning and improvement of memorisation. Mastering this task is essential to the professional future of students, who must play musical scores by memory in exams, public concerts, recitals, public examinations, and other performances (Bernal, 2009a; Hallam, 1997; Lim & Lippman, 1991). In the Mexican context, a defined methodology for memorisation strategies for piano students has not been identified. Thus, to gather the necessary information for the development of this research, piano students ( N = 88; 44 men and 44 women) answered a questionnaire formulated by Mishra (2007) and adapted to our context. This measurement instrument provided information about the type of memorisation strategies used most often by the participants of this research. Most results point towards the use of analytic memory study strategies, followed by aural, kinaesthetic, and visual memorisation. Furthermore, the personal strategy the students used most frequently while memorising was practising their instrument daily. This activity generates greater fluency and confidence when playing a piece from memory.