Disadvantages of Memorizing Piano Music

If you are in a hurry to perform a piece of music for piano, it may be a disadvantage to memorize it since, unless you have a Mozart-like memory, you may be unable to perform the piece well, as indicated by John Zeigler and Nancy Ostromencki at PianoEducation.org. The time you spend trying to remember every note accurately could be time spent increasing your technical proficiency in order to ensure a good performance.

If the piece you are trying to play is very long and needs to be performed in a short amount of time, it may be disadvantageous to memorize the music. The stress of committing the piece to memory may simply impair the overall learning process and ultimately the performance.

It may not be wise to memorize the piano music if you are accompanying a solo instrument or singer or a vocal or instrumental ensemble. Often, accompanists are supposed to follow what the soloist does. Too many wrong notes from incomplete memorization may throw off the singer or instrumentalist and negatively impact their performance. The same reasoning is probably why a pianist playing with an ensemble usually has the music during the performance. The piano often provides the anchoring tempo to the group, according to writers at Piano Education.org, helping the other players keep a steady beat.

http://www.pianoeducation.org/pnotperf.html#Chamber