My piano and violin students often complain or ask if they HAVE to memorize a piece of music. I do teach Suzuki method along with other methods on both instruments, so I could give them a 3 hour lecture on why memorizing is important to a music student, but instead I have a list of these answers at the ready (and printed and in my teacher binder, so I can easily whip it out!)
If you would like your own free copy of this chart to print out and keep/hang/give out to your students, just fill in your email in the annoying pop up box and it is included in this months’ newsletter. If you are reading this blog post and the month it was posted has passed, let me know in the comments and i’ll get you one!
Here is a student playing their suzuki piece by memory, with their “memory hat” on:
Here are some other great blog posts about why we should memorize pieces:
From Joy Morin:
Thoughts on Memorization: A Skill Integral to Piano Playing?
and here is a great read on the benefits of memorizing in general…
http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/in-praise-of-memorization-10-proven-brain-benefits/