Music memorization algorithms used by Asian and European concert pianists

The purpose of this research study was to find out if there are common threads of music memorization strategies between ethnic groups with an emphasis on the use of mathematical algorithms and codes. Some studies show that Asians excel more in math and science than other ethnic groups (Luo, Jose, Huntsinger, and Pigott, 2007). Based on this information, a selected group of Asian and European concert pianists, six in total, were interviewed to gain more detailed information about their memorization process. Although there proved to be no major differences between ethnic groups, this study provides insight into the specific mathematical and analytical codes that advanced concert pianists rely on to memorize in the most efficient way. Five of the six of the pianists rely on analytic memorization as the most reliable method and gave specific examples of the algorithms they use. The second most reliable method that the participants chose was photographic methods. All of the participants said they received minimal to no instruction from their teachers about how to memorize. This study provides some new and valuable information that contributes to music memorization pedagogy as well as performance. A teacher may be able to create more structured approaches to teaching memorization based on the information found here. Further research could be used to test a large population of concert pianists and examine their experimentations to help distinguish a credible hierarchy of the most efficient algorithms