2) Divide the piece into sections.
3) Divide those sections into smaller sections.
4) Write out each section and play it after you've written it out. Finishing the entire piece could take days, depending on how long the piece is, but I think the time and effort is well worth it.
Below are some other techniques that have worked for me:
Sing the music. Even if it's not a vocal piece, you can still hum or "la la la" the melody. This will make memorizing the music easier.
If you are learning a piece that you have not heard before, it may be helpful to get a recording of it and play the piece several times until you can remember it. You know you can remember it if you can play it in your head while doing something else, like driving in your car.
Here's the classic method, which is often a good option:
Divide the music into sections. Start with the left hand only, and play it until you don't need to look at
the music. Then add the right hand and practice until you can play both hands without looking at the music. Then
move on to the next section. This way, the music becomes a part of your muscle memory.
When you feel you've got the piece under your fingers, test your memory of the piece. The best way I know of to do that is to play it for someone. Most people, including me, feel some amount of anxiety when playing for an audience of any size, even one person. So, playing for someone is a sure way to find out how well you know a piece of music. Once you've played it once for your practice audience and made a few mistakes, as you probably will, you will know where your weaknesses in memory are. Then you can concentrate on strengthening your memory of those sections of the piece.
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