memorizing problem please HELP

[Berti66]

ok I have a kind of a challenge to face.
I cannot memorize the pieces I play.
I play from sheet music all right and of course practicing is no problem there.
But I think it would come in handy if I could memorize at least SOME pieces to play.

I have tried the measure by measure (if playing in 4/4 then four counts by four counts...etc) and for one time I did fine.
Next day.......couldn't remember anymore.

my handicap is that I do have a hearing problem (although I can hear whistle/ flute allright) and maybe that has something to do with it but I have a feeling it is more than just that.
I can hum the tune for a bit no problem but I do not remember which notes to play! ARGH.....

how do I overcome this, does anyone have some great tips I can try.
berti

[emmline]

I, too, find this difficult. The tunes I have managed to memorize seem to come out more as rote muscle memory...if I stop to think about what I'm doing I invariably glitch it. I'd say it just takes determination...and there's a difficult weaning process which those of us raised on sheet music can maybe never quite complete.

[AngeloMeola]

I have been playing for 20 years and still can only play a dozen or so tunes from memory. My memory is so bad that I can play a tune from sheet music and not be able to hum it immediately after.

What seems to help is listening rather than trying to memorize. The more I hear a tune, the more likely it is to stick in my head. Once I can hear it running in my head, I can play it.

When I play with others, I do better. When I forget what comes next, I sit and listen until I remember and jump in again. I will often only have to drop out for part of one repeat. Fortunately, the people I play with are great and have no difficulty forgiving my lapses.

Angelo

[PhilO]

I do not consider myself at a level qualified to give playing tips, but am pretty fair at the remembering thing.

I suggest that you need to listen to the music enough so that you can recognize readily when you're playing the wrong notes and so that the tunes sort of pop up in your head whether or not you want them to. Also, as suggested by Em, then it's repetition so that muscle memory is indeed built in. Good luck.

PhilO

[Berti66]

ok......thanks for the replies BUT>>>>>>>>>>
as I said so I have a hearing problem......hearing the music allright but when listening to a cd I CANNOT hear whether someone plays say an B or an A....
for the tune itself so I can hum it along, no problem partially but for the NOTES to play it IS a problem.

should I just stick to sheetmusic for a while and just let my fingers do the memorizing and try to turn my "conscious mind" OFF and see what happens?

it is a bit hard to explain... but I will keep trying no matter what!
berti

[beowulf573]

I found that playing along with sheet music didn't help my memory at all. It would help my fingers get used to the movements, but when it came time to play without the sheetmusic it was completely gone from my memory.

What I do is load up a tune on the PC in Transcribe, hightlight a region to loop over and then play along over and over until I get it. This can take a while. Then I move on to the next. After I can play along with the recording I start playing on my own, going back to the recording as necessary.

Two things that I think are essential...

1) don't start cold, meaning don't learn a tune you can't hum. Listen to the recording over and over again in your car or your office or while sipping a butterscotch latte at the coffe shop until you have that song stuck in your head.

2) don't get frustrated. some folks can just pick up tunes, for other's it's a learned behavior. I'm one of the latter. After a couple years of playing, I'm slowly getting better at picking up tunes by ear, but I'm far, far from proficient at it. At first I had to slow a tune down 50% before I could pick pu notes, now I can do it at 75%-80%.

I know a fiddle player who can pick up tunes in realtime at the session, it's not fair.

Eddie

[Boo]

FWIW, this has been my experience.

I've "picked out" a couple of tunes by ear (e.g. John of the Glenn - Joanie Madden) and those I can play without any problems from memory.

Tunes I've learned from sheet music, I need to "pick out" again before I can play it without sheet music. That is, once I've learned the tune from sheet music, I put it away and try to play without it. I can play some of the tune but I stumble along for awhile, finding the right notes and play it again and again this way. Once I've done that, it sticks pretty well. For me, sheet music is a short cut so I don't have to figure all of the notes by ear, but there is that additional step that can be a little frustrating, especially after having been able to play it fluently from paper.

[Cayden]

The sensible thing is to only learn tunes you know well to hear. Tunes off CDs you've listened to loads so you have them in your head, can sing them, have them memorised before you attempt playing them. Makes life loads easier. Assimilate your music before you try play it.

[Séan O'Neil]

Hi berti!

Try to get a record of your tune and her it so often as you can. Then learn the tune to play, then play the tune from the sheet and if you know it quite well try to play with closed eyes!
This has helped me, hope it will help you!

[Tyghress]

Berti, try downloading blank sheet music from the internet, then writing out the tune you want to learn. Copy a measure, then play it. I have NEVER failed to memorize easily a piece I've written, usually by the time I'm done copying it. Its tedious though.

I also think that playing a measure or two while looking at it, then glancing away for the next two measures, or longer if I can keep it up. Usually if I get the first measure or two I can play the rest of that part.

And there are tunes that really lend themselves to mental pictures...at least to me they do. Saddle the Pony is one of them. The images in my head are indications of the tune itself. Maid Behind the Bar is another. Listen to a nice simple recording, get a clear image then try to play it.

I asked a fifer once how he learned his music, which is very precise, no alteration of notes or note lengths allowed. He said he 'chunked' each piece so he wasn't memorizing notes, but 'chunks' of music. Three note patterns, eight note patterns, whatever made sense.

Lastly, if I have a complicated version of a tune, I tend to memorize that version exclusively. If, however, I have a 'bare bones' version without variations I tend to learn it more fluidly, and can put in my own variations without losing track of where I am.

Best of luck! Once you figure out a trick that works for you, you'll probably be off and running!

[Darwin]

I agree with those who said to get a tune in your head so that you can hum it or sing it.

One thing that helps me is to keep a list of song titles with the first note for each. If I can't quite get started, I can play that note, then imagine or hum the tune, and the rest of the notes start to come. On a few odd tunes, I put down 3 or 4 notes to get me going.

[Chuck_Clark]

OK, some might find this totally wierd, but its worked for me ever since HS band where we were't allowed lyres on the field or on parade. You either memorized every piece (and proved it to a very picky bandmaster) or someone else took your place in the line.

If its a song you're learning, learn the song (words and melody). Somehow, this is easier than learning a series of notes. Then, when practicing or playing, 'sing' the song mentally as you play. It helps keep the melody in your mind. If it's a tune without words, learn the melody the same way and 'sing' it as well when you play.

The other thing is just practice a lot.

FWIW, and I am certainly not much of a musician myself, sheet music is great for telling you which notes to play, but if I try to learn a tune just from sheet music, then I find myself having to follow a mental picture of the staff and getting easily confused.

[beowulf573]

Here's a great essay by Chris Smith on learning by ear.

http://www.indiana.edu/~smithcj/cjsnet69.html

His book on accompaniment is also great reading even if you're just playing melody.

Eddie

[fluter_d]

Record yourself playing a tune from the sheet music at a reasonable speed (not cd fast, in other words). Then, listen to the recording over and over (if you can't already hum the tune). Then, sit down and play along with the recording, and figure out the really obvious notes - for example, if the tune is in G, then find all the points where there are longs Gs. DO NOT go back to the sheet music at this stage. Get to the stage where you can play all the obvious notes every time round. Then try to figure out what's happening in between them. Does the melody go up or down? Are there any big interval jumps? Can you hum what happens? Concentrate on the sound of the tune, not on the exact notes, and try to switch off your conscious mind and let your fingers do the work. This sounds weird, and is kind of scary, but it seems to work for most people. Try to get to the stage where you have most of the notes without the music, and only go back to the sheet music if you are absolutely stuck.

Memorizing and training your ear so you can pick tunes up require the same skills. You get to the stage where you can hum it, and then you transfer it to your fingers. The trick to getting good at either lies in making the transfer process faster. Like anything else, this requires practice, so don't give in and go back to the notes. After a while, you won't have to think about the exact notes any more - you'll hear the tune, and there will be run of notes going up, and your fingers will automatically know what to do (and where to start and stop).

Good luck!
Deirdre

[Zubivka]

Trick: the geeker you get, the older the tunes you kept in memory. Like born in the late 40's all you can remember may be "Apache" by The Shadows, and something even cornier by The Platters, and you just can't memorize this Session tune.

Now, what was your question again?

Regards
--
Alois