Monday, January 13, 2020 by Bonnie Synhorst | Teaching & Learning

Back in my time as a young student, I was troubled and vexed by the very idea of memorization.  This may be because I did it poorly, and I know it was partially due to multiple failures.  When I began to teach, I wanted to make sure my students (usually) never have the problems that I ran into personally when memorizing.  This post is devoted to my list thus far of how proper and solid memorization is accomplished.

1.  Don't wait until you can already play the piece well to begin memorizing.  This point is so important if you are a reader and can simply play the piece by looking at the music.  As a reader myself, I find that I can often let my mind wander (although I shouldn't) while reading and playing through pieces.  With my focus elsewhere, I can only guess that my understanding of what notes I'm playing gets passed to an area of my brain that usually deals with things I don't have to think about too hard like walkiing and breathing. Therefore, I walk away from the instrument still having no idea what I just played from a memory perspective.  

Instead, I recommend to play the piece in little sections or chunks.  Analyze (to the best of your leveled knowledge) the structure of the section and then play that part with full focus on what you are playing with the intent of removing the score.  When you know the part well enough through this focused and thinking involved playing (it may take a few tries), turn the music away and then practice going through that section several times without looking.  While doing this, it's also good practice to do one hand and then the other hand and then put them back together paying particular attention to how the parts interact with each other.

2. Structure your practice time and log it to keep yourself accountable. The part of the music that you spent your time and effort in step one will fade away quickly if you don't practice it repeatedly.  We all have pieces that we learned back in the day that we can attempt to play now, but just can't remember the whole thing.  Where did the memory go?  Well, we didn't continue to exercise those memories so they faded.  Just like the body we once had when exercising daily, if we don't keep it up, we lose it.  We can get it back, but we will have to go back to the literal and figurative gym!  

In order to solidify and strengthen memories of the section(s) you've learned, they must be repeated over a period of several days.  That's why I stress the importance of daily practice.  Maybe you've heard that you should only practice on the days you eat---while this is especially true when working on memorization. Thinking of your brain as a muscle, you need to exercise it daily.  During this practice, though, it is highly important to focus both on the recognized patterns from step 1 as well as the sounds of the patterns.  Notice I didn't say to play mindlessly and hope the fingers remember the section.  This is muscle memory only and how I'm fairly certain I memorized ALL of my pieces as a young student.  (Remember how well that worked for me. . ..ahem.  .. .yeah, it didn't!)

Be sure you have a goal for each practice session and WRITE IT DOWN, or check it off your list.  Tonara is a great tool for this as the teacher can help you set the goals and the amount of time and days, and all you have to do is follow the plan and the items check off your list.  If you are a teacher, keep a practice journal. If you have a piece you want to learn, set a goal date and then break the piece into sections to memorize with dates by which you want to accomplish the memorization. 

Young students work well with more visual representations of repetitions.  One of my favorite techniques is using objects such as little figurines or erasers and challenging the student to 'earn' an object (it comes and sits on the music holder) for each repetition they complete well.  Sometimes they will want to repeat it many times to earn all of the items!  If you are a parent encouraging this technique at home, think of all the toys they have and use those.  You could add on pieces to a Lego model, or something similar.  

3. Reward yourself (or your student or child) for their efforts  In order to associate that hard work reaps many benefits and rewards, sometimes we need to start by tricking our brain into enjoying the process.  The easiest way to do this is with rewards.  It doesn't have to be expensive or tangible, but it does have to be something that allows you to feel happy about the effort you put in.  For example, spending time and effort in cleaning the house results in a pleasant environment (for a few days or a few hours depending upon the other people that live there!).  Maybe some video game time equal to the amount of practice time the student has accomplished or a small sweet if it is something that would not be normally given.  Personally, I will take some time out to play a video game or browse on Facebook.  

4. Sleep and exercise Don't neglect the idea that the brain needs both sleep and active time to grow and develop.  Sleeping after practice allows  the brain to solidify the memories of the recent practice.  Active time creates new activity and thoughts surrounding the material.

5. LISTEN to your music  This is one that actually is not a step but can and should be used in conjunction with the practice.  If you don't know what the music is supposed to sound like, you can't play it (at least not effectively and sometimes not at all).  The brain is amazing and can fill in the blanks IF you enable it and let it!  We have so many tools to be able to access our music aurally that I did not have when I was growing up.  Use Youtube, ask Alexa, or Siri, or simply ask your teacher to play the piece for you!  

Memorization is a process and can be very rewarding as the end result will give you something that you can carry with you and produce at a moment's notice whenever the opportunity arises.  After all, don't we study music to be able to play it and share it?  Give it a try!