/EINPresswire.com/ Memorizing music is an important, although sometimes difficult, task. TakeLessons has provided some essential tips for beginners to master the skill of memorization.
Most music enthusiasts have already heard all of the studies on music education. It’s no secret that learning music as a child helps with confidence levels, math skills, and goal-setting. But this latest story sheds even more light on the benefits of music. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, The Society for Neuroscience presented a case at their recent annual meeting of a 68-year old German cellist with a brain infection that wiped out his memory, leaving him in an amnesiac state, unable to remember much of his past. Yet miraculously, doctors found he could still remember scales, rhythms and intervals of music he once played before the illness, and he scored normally on a standard test for musical memory. The case furthers evidence that musical memories often endure long after other memories are inaccessible. Now that is the power of music!
As a beginner, memorizing music is an important, although sometimes difficult, task – even if your memory is intact. As a helpful guide, TakeLessons recently featured some tips for memorizing music on their blog, as originally published on the Color In My Piano blog. The following is an excerpt from the blog post:
1. From day 1, practice your music with the intent of internalizing and memorizing it. Don’t wait until you’ve learned the piece to begin memorizing it.
2. Use good fingering and use it consistently. It will take a lot longer to learn the piece if you are using different fingerings every time. Writing your fingerings in the score will help (especially if you decide to use fingering other than what is indicate in the score).
3. Always memorize the dynamics, articulations, and other markings on the page along with the notes. Don’t wait until you have the notes mastered! It’s difficult to go back and fix things later. It’s better — although perhaps more tedious initially — to learn it right the first time.
4. Watch your hands as you play. Closing your eyes all of the time isn’t a good idea: when performing, you might look at your hands and suddenly everything looks foreign. Get used to watching your hands. Look for patterns as you play.
5. Practice slowly. If you play with a fast tempo as you are trying to memorize, you are strengthening mostly your muscle memory (which is not enough, on its own). Practicing slowly is harder, and forces you to strengthen other memories, like your visual, tactile, and intellectual memories.
6. Memorize in small sections, usually just four measures at a time — but sometimes two measures at a time may be necessary. Once you’ve gone through the entire piece in this manner, try doubling the number of measures and going through the whole process again.
7. Repetition, repetition, repetition! Don’t be discouraged if you return to the piece the next day and find that everything you worked on memorizing yesterday seems to be gone from your memory. It’s part of the process. Re-memorize those sections. Each time you return to a section, it will become more solid in your memory.
By sharing these tips with blog readers, TakeLessons aims to help musicians of all ages reach their goals. Readers are invited to provide their own tips by commenting on the TakeLessons blog, where fans can also read a tribute about Nigel Tufnel day (11/11/11), and comments are also welcomed on Facebook (http://facebook.com/takelessons).
About TakeLessons
Headquartered in San Diego, CA, TakeLessons is America’s full-service music and voice lessons provider. With private lessons taught by TakeLessons Certified™ instructors in cities nationwide, students of all ages can start living their dreams through music. Founded in 2006 to help people discover their creativity and pursue their passions, TakeLessons also offers turnkey music programs for schools and community centers.
Jon Crim
TakeLessons
877-231-8505
http://takelessons.com
PR Courtesy of Online PR Media: http://bit.ly/vJJcDs