How to Memorize Sheet Music

Last Updated: May 11, 2021

Whether you're in a rock band, marching band, or your band teacher requires it, memorizing music is an important skill. You never see professional musicians reading off of sheet music for music they made! How do musicians memorize their music? Look no further, the steps are below.

Steps

1
Practice the music. You obviously won't be able to memorize your music when you don't even know how to play it!
2
Recognize phrases. This will not only give you a better understanding of the music, but when it comes time to actually start memorizing it, it will be easier to divide it up. Most phrases are four to eight measures.

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3
Begin repeating the last part of the song. The music will be more secure in your memory if you learn it from the end toward the beginning than if you learn the beginning first.
4
The length of each section depends on how well you know your memory to have been in the past; if you know you remember things well, extend the length, but if you're forgetful, make it shorter, even if it's just a phrase or two. Keep reading off the music at this point.^{[1]
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5
Play it once from memory with eyes closed. Go as far as you can.^{[2]
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6
Look at the music again. Find what you did right and what you did wrong. If you need to, play something that you missed.
7
Play it again without looking at the music. Continue to alternate between eyes closed and eyes open until you know the piece well.
8
Even after it is memorized, it helps to continue looking at the music in alternate cycles. This not only secures your memory, but also helps to minimize the chance you might habituate yourself to a wrong note.
9
Move onto a different chunk. This will, again, depend on your memory. Repeat the process you used with the first chunk, but play this chunk by itself.^{[3]
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10
Link the two chunks together. Play from measure one to however far you memorized. Keep repeating this until you can play it from memory five times in a row.
11
Continue this process until you have memorized the song.
12
Start at the end and play the last measure, play it by memory, go on to the second to last measure, and repeat the process till you can play the whole song.
13
Use a metronome while practicing and learn to count the measures of rests, you don't want to be the one person who plays during a rest.
14
Sing the music you're trying to memorize. Don't be embarrassed to sing or hum it, because the more familiar you are with the music, the easier memorizing it would be.

Community Q&A

Question

Why is starting at the end of your piece and working your way to the top helpful?

Community Answer

Because often when you go from top to bottom, left to right, you tend to practice the beginning way more, which causes you to have the first part of the song rock solid and have the last part not memorized as well. I wouldn't recommend only going from the end to the beginning, or else you would know the end much better, just make sure you're practicing all parts equally.
Question

Is it good to take breaks while trying to memorize a song?

Community Answer

Yes, because your brain will need some time to process the music you have practiced.
Question

How do I memorize a song I saw in a video if I don't have the sheet music?

Community Answer

Try listening to the music and playing it by ear using tips in this article about playing piano songs by ear. Figure out the notes and write them down if you can. You can also see if sheet music is available for the song.

Warnings

Avoid bragging about how fast you can memorize music. That is not only impolite but it is also boring to others.

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For marching music, it is likely that you will play it a lot during band and marching camp. If this is the case, it may not take too much effort to memorize it. However it may be extremely difficult for people to learn music that don't have a past in music. But, always practice extra on parts you don't know, and don't show off if you get it right away. You don't want to be the one to think you know it and then be clueless on parade/football game day!

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Remain calm and focused if learning this doesn't happen as soon as you want. If you find yourself getting frustrated, go away and do something else for awhile and come back to a fresh start. Getting frustrated at how many mistakes you make will only cause you to make more mistakes.

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This will not happen overnight. It requires lots of practicing and performing to be able to fully memorize it.

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Be positive and patient; just because someone else can memorize music faster than you does not mean you cannot master it also, it just means you need more time. Some people are better at memorizing music than others.

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