about MEMORIZING music....

I've been discussing a certain topic with a friend by email and he recently wrote (about that topic)...."too much (information) in a short time is not effective." i.e. don't go into "information overload....it's not productive!"

I was going to post the following a while back but I think I'll do it now on the heels of his remark.

I read music but I don't play from music. I've memorized everything, both the notes and the words, to the point I can play and sing hundreds of songs out of my head. And the reason I did that was so I can watch an audience while I'm playing.

So, I don't say this because I want to be presented with the Medal of Honor. I'm leading up to memorization techniques.

Since I realized early on that memorizing music and words would be a tremendous undertaking, that I would have to come up with some kind of a "method," Well, I came up with "some kind of a method" that works for me.

I was reminded of it a few weeks ago while working on a fancy arrangement of Brazil. The arrangement is so fancy, I have trouble even playing it. So I'm working on the finger technique every single day for weeks and getting nowhere. Then I had to take a weeks break from playing and when I came back to Brazil again...presto, zippo....it all fell into place.

The same holds true for memorizing lyrics. Work like a Devil on memorizing the lyrics for a time and then...drop it! You'll find in the interim that the mind starts to process all that info once you "drop it." When you come back to it a few days later, the words will come floating out of you.

I'm not sure WHY it works but it does for me anyway. I'm glad I discovered this method of memorization....and...I'm glad my friend made that remark "too much (information) in a short time is not effective" to remind me how information overload can literally be counter-productive.

Mark

Thanks for sharing that Mark. It could be very helpful.

Bernie

It is my belief that everything that we feel and hear is stored in our brain; it may fade, but it does not leave. A book that I was reading stated that if you place an electric stimulus in the right spot in your brain it will remember what you had for breakfast on a Tuesday in May when I was 13 years old.

There was a time when a music stand was a no, no on the bandstand. Everything was memorized. Lyric came without thought; and my hands traveled to the next chord without thought. I became lazy; lost my trust so now I need to read the lyrics.

I live with my Ipad now and one of my jobs is to type lyrics and put them in the Ipad. I sit in front of my computer, bring up the song in PDF format and began to type. If someone was to ask me to sing the lyric to the song I was typing I would have to say no way. While typing an old song I looked up at the computer 2 or 3 times, to my surprise the lyrics just flowed out of me.

I said all this just to say it is all about our search engine; our ability find an recall’ the lyrics are still there. The names of the actors in the silver screen movies come the instant I see them. That’s strange because I never their names years ago. aaaaah!

I thought of trying to memorize all my lyrics again but I’m too busy trying to find the kitchen these days. (smile)

Life is good when we fill it with precious memories, John C.

Best memorization trick I know it to employ as many senses as possible.
Read it ... Read it again OUT LOUD
Write it down ... Read it again
Try to recite it from memory, covering the text with something - cheat when you need to. Eventually, you won't need to.
... and MOST important ...
REVISIT the material within 24 hours. This goes for studying, too. Tests show that you will retain almost 80% MORE if you revisit the material within 24 hours.
My old school had excellent ratings for SAT prep, and private tutoring, and this was the biggest game changer for many of our students.
We're ALL students, after all, right?

Now, read this again tomorrow so you don't forget it!

On a job I turned to the song I wanted to play, pressed the right buttons on my keyboard and played the whole song with no hesitation. When I glanced back at the music it was not the song that I just played. ???????

Years back, way back I worked with an accordion player who sat upright in a chair with his music book on the stand; never stopped looking at his notes. In the middle of a set I snatched the book off the stand and he finished the set with no problem. He never used a book, chair or a music stand again.

That says it all; it comes down to how much time am I willing to spend memorizing? How important is it to me?

John C.

Mark , Dave, Bruno. good points and something I remember and used to tell my students. Research has show its takes our brains about 24 hours to assimilate new info. Sort of like finding the right file drawers to put it in. So cramming for exams is not the best way to study.
Work on something, get away form it and keep coming back to review and it will stick.
Greeat tips, good post.