I think there was a long post recently about some of the members having difficulty memorizing music, lyrics, etc.

I promised myself that I would not go into Science of the Mind techniques again....I'm wearing myself out trying to explain it.

But over the years I had to work on "the art of memorization." It's NOT hit or miss. It's actually a science.

If no one is interested, that's OK with me. Just trying to "pass the torch" so when I arrive at the Pearly Gates I'll be registered in St. Peter's reservation book as one of the "good guys" and given a penthouse suite! Or, is that true? You can't buy your way into Heaven?

I'm interested, where do I find out how to improve the memorization of music...I used to (40 years ago) be pretty good at it!

Hm. One of the things that I promised myself that I would do, is to distill the songs I wanted to learn down to a "Nashville numbering system," i.e., I-vi-ii-V7, etc. I felt that if I perceived a pattern, it would be easier to remember that, instead of reading ahead one chord at a time.

In reality what I find is that I end up memorizing hand movements. In other words, I end up learning when I need to move my left hand to a new position; how far, and what fingers to put down, etc. I believe this is called "Muscle Memory."

Perhaps another topic, but I've often wondered whether it might be possible to actually write "music instructions" in this way- visual cues to the player's hand and finger movements specific to an AUTO-CHORD, as opposed to dots that atomically represent pitches. I've added annotations to my printed music along these lines. It's a laborious process that discourages me from learning new songs, but I can hardly play a tempo without such annotations.

What I'm saying is: showing all the dots makes eminent sense for PIANO. But as soon as you think about something like an accordion, chord organ, or arranger with "intelligent" multi-note chords, at least some of the dots in the bass clef amount to extraneous information that has to be processed and selectively ignored for real time play.

I'm not a professional musician, and I'll probably NEVER invest the study time needed to recognize multi-note chord and left hand patterns on sight. But what would happen if we dismiss the pre-existing conventions of the grand staff, and invented an ANIMATED music notation for the 21st Century. A couple of metaphors might be "follow the bouncing ball," or "come at me, bro!" (Think of Guitar Hero.) With video display tablets like the iPad, digital reproduction of musical works for distribution, etc., for the first time we can tailor the display of music (or fingering instructions) to how the human brain works best!!

Maybe we need to invent an Xbox game called "Chord Hero!" Let's make arrangers fun again! ;-)

You Tube has had this method available for a long time - kids use it as a guitar hero-ish piano approach.

Hi Mark,
always interested.
Not very good at memorising music,
ironically I can remember lyrics to songs, even songs I haven’t heard in decades,
ironic because no use to me I can’t sing a note. Haha

Mark, I know thousands of songs and do OK until someone actually listens. Seriously, I would be interested in a method of making the process easier. I find that I'm generally Ok, but if I have to call changes or write down lyrics, I blow it big-time.

Thanks,

Russ (absent minded professor) Lay

I was going to leave this topic alone after I posted it because, upon reflection, I realized it's easier to "do" than to "explain." But I'll give you Level 1 of the procedures.

Here's how it started for me. I landed a dream job in London (stopped in the place and asked did they need an accordion player?.) The answer was "yes" .....we just fired our accordionist, can you start on Monday? Started on Monday and realized I didn't know enough of the needed songs (it was large Bierkellar - host to people from around the world).

So I went home and figured out how the mind works to memorize large numbers of songs.

First, I took the sheet music (about 40-50 songs) and put them in a pile. I then decided I'm going to work on 6 at a time. Once I familiarized myself with those six (I mean I half learned them), I put them aside and started working on the next six. When I got to the end of the 40-50 songs (it took weeks of dedication), I went back to the first group of tunes and started the cycle again. Here's where the mind surprises you. It's like a computer. You just feed info in (to the mind) and it (the mind) processes it. Each cycle of six songs became easier because I gave it (the mind) time to process what I learned the first time around. The second and third times around the mind remembered what I learned the "first" time. i.e.each time I went back to study a particular song the mind remembered from the first viewing and processed it and registered it so the second to fourth time I addressed the song, I didn't have to start over again.

The trick to the whole thing is....don't try and memorize a song overnight. Go over it casually, let it sink in, wait a few days and go over it again, and again. Eventually the mind embeds it and it's in there for life. Then on to the next song.

Never mind!!! I just read what I wrote and....I'm weary just reading it! I'm giving up writing any more. I, myself, couldn't understand what I wrote here. I can "do" but it's much too hard to explain. Just know that, like every endeavor, there are shortcuts, tricks, tips that will work for YOU. The old days of "grunt and groan" become past history when you know the shortcuts.

But for lyrics, I'll just skim the surface. Forget "playing" the music...just know the melody in your mind. Take a 5x8 file card and write out the lyrics. I would do maybe 10-20 at a time. Carry them with you wherever you go. Before you attack each song, picture, in your mind, the story the composer is telling and then link each line to the image. EXAMPLE: (one of my hardest songs was Little Things Mean A Lot). "Blow me a kiss from across the room (picture him on one side of the room, blowing a kiss)..."Call me at six on the dot") ...now picture a telephone in his hand with a clock behind him fixed on 6 o'clock)...."Touch my hair as you pass my chair" (he then moves toward her touching her hair as he moves).....etc It's all about "imaging." Once you implant the whole image of the story of the song in your mind, it will remain there forever. The 5x8 cards with the lyrics are there to refer to when you forgot a part while you're learning the song. Most of my lyrics were learned by repeating them as I drove my car or went walking or on my morning jog (with the cards in one hand).

Well, I meant well but it really is too hard to explain....and too tiring too. So much for "passing the torch!" Next time I volunteer to pass on some things that I learned, I'm going to put duct tape over my mouth and paste a sticky note on it that says "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS."

I'm outta here on this topic, but I wouldn't mind hearing how some of you other members "memorize."

Mark
Calm down, your ideas are right on point. Breaking down the material into smaller pieces and not trying to completly learn them in one session is good advice. Then going back at a later time and reviewing is correct. I've read it takes our brains 24hrs to assimilate and store information so those College all nighters before a test the next day are a waste of time. It does take organization, dedication and concentration. I believe more than 2 hours of practice a day is all you should do as you loose your mental sharpness and capacity to input more info.
Good topic and the kind of info we need.

Hi Mark:

You truly are "one of the good guys"... and there was a time I would have jumped at the chance to improve my ability to remember the lyrics of songs I enjoy. That time has passed and my cup runneth over with unfinished tasks and things to be done before "the big day" arrives unannounced! Wishing you success with your music... and much happiness in your life.

----Dave

Hi Mark,
going to give it a go for memorising the songs. Makes sense what you’re saying.

Lyrics I don’t have a problem with, I sing along in my head, ( I sing perfectly in tune in there haha, far cry from actual reality) it actually helps me play melody.

Thanks Mark

Guitar lessons in my early twenties:

1-Each week my teacher gave me an arrangement he made of a song. The arrangement was involved with new ideas.
2-I found that I could play the arrangement much better if I memorize it. So, each week I came with a song that I had memorized – I was prepared.
3-I did not play/study the entire song immediately. All music tells a story, so I played the first story, four measures, over and over. I did not go any further, but it was not memorized yet.
4-The next day the four measure was no problem, I played them without looking at the music.

Mark, has a point, there is some kind of hand memory. Not going deep here, just think of how many movements your hand makes during the day – that you give no thought to.
Memorizing a song:

Take as many measures as your mind allows. Play the first two until you are comfortable; then add the next measure --- do not play the song beginning to end. You are teaching the hand memory, it’s like learning a habit. You cannot rush the process.

And yes, learning the theory of chord progressions will simplify the learning. The song “More” has a I VIm IIm V7 chord progression in the beginning. G Em Am D7. You will see this chord progression in many songs, making the task of memorizing an easier task. Most people do not think about any of this, they just forge ahead and play, and enjoy --- and it happens.

John C.

When I was teaching High School, we showed the kids that anything we learn, that you refresh within 24 hours will have about an 80% higher retention rate than if you just visit the topic/subject/song one day, and then spend time away from it.
So, if you study a song, or lyric on a monday .... then revisit it on tuesday, you'll remember it much easier than if you wait until thursday to revisit. We proved this to be correct many, many times with our kids.
Study small phrases at a time, and revisit the material the next day and see how it works for you.

Thanks Dave,
Will try that too.

My late Uncle was posted to Burma during world war two and I remember him telling me of a soldier in his platoon who was a pianist.Unable to have access to a piano,he painted the black and white keys on a piece of wood and used it to memorise notes as he played them saying he could visulise the sound of each note in his head.

Amazing ... I would assume he had perfect pitch?

Hi,
Interesting about memory.

Haven’t played piano in roughly 20 years ( not till my p121 a couple of months back (Thank you Dave) . Gave up on it totally after I had sell mine ( no space after downsizing). Didn’t really do much keyboard playing either, all my time over the years was spent on style converting, studying functions etc.

Anyway, got my little piano, sat down, totally stunned myself, I remembered how to play a few of my favourite old tunes. Not necessarily all the way thru, and not very well, but there was still something there.
I certainly don’t play by ear, I’ve always had to read anything I played.

There's a well-known book out called Psycho-cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. I read it twice. They experimented with professional basket ball players....put them in three groups. First group practiced physically shooting balls at the basket, next group did nothing at all (no practice), third group......!!!!!.....just stood there looking at the basket and IMAGINING they were shooting the ball into the basket. Weeks later when they tested them again, group A showed progress, group B showed NO progress, and....Group C, who played basketball in their minds only, showed as much progress as Group A!!!

There's a similar book for musicians...about learning and playing music using "mind power techniques!"

So, you guys pretty much know about this already (what I wrote). Bill, as usual, you're a step ahead of me. In retrospect, I should have handed you the topic, wound you up, and let YOU come up with the explanation. You always manage to put into a few words what it takes me a thousand words to say.

You ask me periodically how I'm doing with my "piano program" these last few months. It's coming along but I'm really dragging these days. I get my daily 90-120 minutes in (in 4 or 5) sessions, but I'm losing interest. Reason being, I'm starting to realize no matter how much better I get, where is it going to get me. Self-satisfaction only.

But I'll buy into "self-satisfaction." Six months ago I couldn't dream I could ever play a left-hand arpeggio, or do walking bass, or the elusive Jerry Lee boogie bass. Now I'm maybe 70-80% there, but still not "fluent" as I would like it. But I'm determined and I'm dedicated. I carry on because there's nothing as satisfying as being able to play what you hear in your head....WHEN "you hear it in your head!"

Yes, I'm using every "mind principle" that I know...my "last hurrah" in this lifetime.

Paul (montuno man) said it even more efficiently in a past post, using just a few words. In the end, there IS no magic bullet or mystery formula or exotic elixir (or snake oil even). Paul said: "it's all about simple but intense focus and intense concentration on WHATEVER it is you're practicing!" I suppose that's another way of saying "mind power!"

I'm real careful about my spelling these days because I'm noticing the spelling police are roaming the streets of the Synthzone. Donny's got to be careful...he could very well end up incarcerated for life!