Memorizing Tunes

[Danner]

When you learn a tune and memorize it, how do you remember it as you play it? I'm not too bad at ITM stuff when I actually take the time to memorize it. Right now I'm having problems with a classical flute sonata that I need to memorize. I remember best by muscle memory and by hearing the intervals.

[Cynth]

http://www.slowplayers.org/SCTLS/learn.html

Danner, I don't know if this website will be helpful or not. I was never able to really memorize classical music. I realize now that was because I didn't really know what was going on in the music. This website is talking more about learning by ear but toward the bottom it addresses memorization. They talk about kinesthetic memorization (muscle memory) vs. aural memorization. I think muscle memory is not the way to go for me---as they mentioned, I would have to start the piece over again if I stumbled and I think it was because I was depending on muscle memory and not on knowing "the story that was being told". I think in classical music one might be able to use the question and answer idea, at least in some parts.

I hope your teacher can help you. Also, since there aren't very many responses here I'm sure you could find other tips on the internet. I'm sure this is a very common problem.

[Craig Stuntz]

Here's some advice I got last night on this subject:

http://learningtowhistle.blogspot.com/2 ... -tune.html

I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but it made sense to me.

[Cynth]

Craig--that post a comment thing is great!

[missy]

for me personnally (and this applies to any instrument I play), it depends on how I first "got" the song.
If I first learned it via written music, I have a heck of a time playing it without the music in front of me. I took 8 years of piano, and can't play hardly anything on it without sheet music.
If I learn a tune by ear, however (either hunting and pecking until I get the tune, or from someone showing me and walking me through), I have it for life.

So - it depends on what I'm going to do with the song. If I'm playing it at church, for instance, and need to have exact notes, etc. - I'll use written music. For almost all other tunes, I attempt it by ear.

Missy

[Jennie]

I learn tunes in all those ways.

Intervals help me remember how a tune starts. I also use intervals to remind me if there's a spot that the tune does something unexpected.

Lately I've been lilting tunes-- singing them with the dum dum deedly and so on, and that helps me with remembering them in context, so to speak. With the life and rhythm all there, even if I'm not playing an instrument at the time.

There are some that are just plain hard to remember for me. Then I go to my hammered dulcimer. It's kind of like the keypad on a calculator, in that the positions of the notes in relation to each other are part of what gets layered into my brain along with the sound of the melody.

With something like a sonata, it's really helpful for me to listen to the full orchestral arrangement. The accompaniment really fleshes out the whole piece, and I don't get lost trying to remember what's next if I can hear the chords and other instruments coming in. Do you have a recording of the piece you're working on?

Jennie

[Dana]

All of the above.

[ErikT]

I'm with Dana, "All of the above", though heavy on the intervals (that's why I selected that as my choice). Actually, I mix them a lot. Perhaps I'll have the whole tune by intervals but will need to remember to play an "A" somewhere that my muscle memoried fingers want to play a different note - like if there is a partial arpeggio, that finishes oddly, I'll often need to think about that odd note until muscle memory kicks in to fix it.

Intervals helps me if I need to transpose a tune. For example, we were playing a simple waltz the other day; the fiddler had started it . On the third time around she switched into the key that I normally play in. I didn't even realize that we weren't playing it in the "right key" so I must have been using intervals to transpose on the fly.

Erik

[Emrys]

All of the above. If there's music, that can be faster. But I never ever learn a piece by just playing from music over and over again... because then I get totally dependent on the music forevermore. Bleech. So I use the music, right off the bat, to memorize the piece. Learning a new piece is like meeting a new lover. I get kind of obsessed with it, in a good way. I just keep repeating it until something clicks in and I it becomes natural to play it. Then I own it for life (ah, different than meeting a new lover, yes?)

[feadogin]

I first learn a tune by playing along with it, so by ear, then.

But after that I remember tunes in my fingers, not my head. If I want to think of a tune, I just start playing around on the whistle until it comes to me. This is probably why I can never think of tunes to start, but then sometimes when someone else starts one I start playing it without even realizing I know it.

Justine

[BoneQuint]

A mixture of 1 and 2. Mostly by "muscle memory" when I know a tune well, but if I can't hear myself play, I often trip up, so there's some feedback going on hearing the intervals as I play.

[Jack]

All of the above.

I agree.

[walrii]

I'm a self-taught newbie with but a few tunes memorized. Like the previous posters, I seem to use "all the above." One thing I've noticed: If I learned the tune from sheet music, I remember the start by picturing the dots for the first few notes. Once I'm playing, I use a combination of muscle memory and aural feedback (does the tune sound like I remember it?). If I learned the tune by ear, I remember the start by memorizing the finger positions of the first few notes. This is different from muscle memory in that what I have memorized is a picture of my fingers on the tube. I have one or two tunes that I've not memorized the start either way. On these tunes, I start noodling around until I find the first few notes. Usually, I find the first few notes of a tune other than the one I intended! I have no idea if any of this is good or bad. Perhaps some of the older heads can comment.

[norseman]

OK, now what about the names of tunes?

[FJohnSharp]

I'm horrible at the names.