So my voice teacher (who’s German, by the way) wants me to sing/memorize this…I think she’s crazy, LOL. At least Italian words SEMI-RESEMBLE English!! I wonder if there are tricks to memorizing lyrics in foreign languages. How do you do it, especially when every stanza is different! It sure is a beautiful song, though. I may have heard of it before, but can’t be sure.
Piano: I’ve been practicing pretty heavily these past two weeks, but, again, the practice is more focused on memorizing the songs than reading music. Although, one could argue that in order for me to learn the song in the FIRST place, I must first READ it, so it’s not like I’m not getting ANY reading practice in (just not as much!). I’m thinking about purchasing a “sight reading workbook” from somewhere. They have those, I think…will have to ask my teacher if she could recommend one. My sight-reading ability is horrible, but apparently, I am more “advanced” compared to her other students who are first-time piano learners. That’s good news, I guess, but it’s sometimes hard for me to trust what she says. I think she wants to make me feel better.
I also get incredibly anxious with her breathing down my throat when I sit at the piano. My performance drops by 80%, easily. 
Guess performance anxiety is something else I must learn to deal with.
Oh, the lessons music has taught me!
Feb 14, 2013 @ 03:54:43
I love Stanchen. I recently learnt to play it on piano. see http://pianolearner.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/standchen-serenade-schubert/ I agree with you, I always play worse at my lessons than at home, but over time this improves.
Feb 14, 2013 @ 18:24:57
Oh I’m terrible at singing in German. Italian, fine. Spanish, fine. Even Japanese is fine. But German is so bad, for me anyway. Sight-reading-wise, I think the only way I learned to do it decently is by picking several random pages out of my advanced book, giving myself 30 seconds, and forcing myself to play through without stopping. I got a lot better at it for awhile, but I’m awful again, since I haven’t done it in so long. And Piano is so much harder to sight-read at than saxophone. Oh, well. You’re not alone! I’d much rather memorize the stuff too.
If it’s any consolation, I think the ability to memorize things is much harder to acquire (and much more useful) than the ability to sightread.
Feb 14, 2013 @ 18:40:49
Yeah, German is really something; the language is so “airy/rough,” if that makes any sense. Do you think think memorizing is harder than sight-reading? To me, it’s the total opposite. I wonder! I heard that there are two different “types” of piano learners: readers/memorizers, and that you’re either gifted in one or the other (or neither, haha). At least, that’s what the “Idiot’s Guide to Piano Playing” and some other sources on the web says.
Feb 14, 2013 @ 21:08:48
Nah, I definitely agree with you. For me, memorization is way easier than reading. But I think fewer people have the ability to memorize, because it takes a good ear, and sort of an intuitive knowledge of the music. Reading just involves being sort of a robot. To me, anyway. But I admit bias, since I’d much rather memorize than read.