Tag: Memory

From the heart – memorising music and memory lapses

Nicole Neal5 Comments
English: a human brain in a jar
Brain – the best musical instrument of them all (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Musician and blogger, Caroline Wright, is currently pursuing a project at the moment looking into the question of how and why musicians memorise music – I was invited last week to participate and answer a few questions about how and why I memorise music. Check out her blog here:  http://memorisingmusic.com

 

So, I thought I’d share with you, dear readers, some of these thoughts of mine on memorisation of music and memory lapses.

 

Should we memorise?

 

Only if you want to, I’d say. In some situations you may have to play from memory, such as during an exam, then you have no choice really. Otherwise, it’s up to you and you shouldn’t feel you have to just because that’s what others may be doing. Sometimes I like to play with a score, sometimes without. If a piece is particularly involved and complex, like a Bach lute suite for example, I like to use the score.

 

Yes, it looks kind of cool to play without the score, and in some ways can really help you get to the heart of the music, play from the heart literally (they don’t calling it “playing be heart” for nothing you know!). Conversely, having the score there with you when performing can really help keep you on track and help concentration, especially if performing a multi-movement work or many pieces within a recital.

 

What about memory lapses? Can they be avoided?

 

I think it would be unrealistic to say that memory lapses will never occur. It’s going to happen at some point. And that’s just fine. So long as you recognize that and don’t get caught up in it. Just move on. It’s happened. It’s passed. It’s gone. It’s done. No use ruminating on it, especially in the moment of performance!

 

It’s also vital to remember that when we’re performing, we are invariably doing so for others. It not about you. It’s about what you’re giving to the audience. So get over yourself and give it your best for the performance of the music to come!

 

But how can I minimise the potential for memory lapses happening or happening more than once?

 

We must know our pieces inside out. We must know what our right hand is doing. We must know what our left hand is doing. We must know where the music is headed. We must know how we want it to sound. We must be able to sing it or hear it in our head. We must understand the structure, the harmonies, the landscape. We must know the various “signposts” in a piece.

 

If a memory lapse has occurred in a performance situation – and yes, it has happened to me –  you must pay attention when coming back to the practice room, address that particular issue and ask ourselves a few questions – why did that memory lapse occur just there? What is that bit? Do I really know how it sounds? Do I really know what the left hand is doing? Do I really know what the right hand is doing? What is the harmonic landscape doing? What is that chord? What is the key there? And so on…

 

And please, please do not look on a memory lapse a failure. I like to believe instead that there is no such thing as failure. It’s pure and simply feedback. It’s a gift that’s telling us we just don’t know that bit quite as well as we might. So we just need to tweak our learning strategy for that particular element. Job done!

 

I think it would be a great idea to follow up this post with some pointers on how to memorise! How about that? Feel free to let me know your own thoughts on memorisation.

 

Oh and if you want to get involved with Caroline’s projects and provide your thoughts head here: http://memorisingmusic.com/interviews/ 

 

Why do we memorise music?

Nicole Neal1 Comment

Before looking at the “how” of memorisation, it’s important to discuss the issue of “why”.

So why do we memorise pieces?

Well, in the pop, folk and often the jazz idioms (ooh there’s a good word) it de rigueur to play without any kind of score. And that often reflects the way the music has been composed and brought together

Chopin trio partiture
Memorise this…..Go! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

with the musicians playing it. Not to mention we’d probably think it looked a little strange with Keith Richards turning his sheet music, or Pete Townsend scissor kicking his music stand (OK probably not likely found scissor kicking these days, but you get the idea). One may also argue that pop songs are a little less complex than certain pieces we as classical guitarists might play, and therefore arguably more easy to memorise. Having words to a song helps too.

So why do we classical musicians memorise?

One could argue that it “looks good”, or say “because that’s what we’re supposed to do, that’s the culture”. Well, yes. And also no. It is recounted that Chopin threw up his hands in horror when a student rocked up and played something from memory. He considered this the height of rudeness, very flippant and arrogant of the student, that they couldn’t be giving the due care and attention to this written instructions on the score!

You’ve got to admit he did have a point – there’s a lot of information on there, and it can really help in the middle of a piece (or start or end – I’m non-discriminatory!) when your mind wanders a little or you lose yourself a little too much in the musical moment.

Interesting. So back to the question. Why do we really memorise music, if we don’t need to as such?

1. It helps us to learn and really know a piece inside out, upside down and back to front. When you’re flying solo you’ve really got to know exactly where you’re headed, where you’ve come from, the melody, the structure of the piece and so on. Can you pick up in the middle of a phrase? Or can you skip ahead and start from the third or fourth phrase or some other landmark in the score? If not, you probably don’t know it was well as you could do yet. Really knowing something inside out is also going to help in managing performance anxiety too. If you’re not worried (or less worried) about whether you’re going to forget something or stuff something up because you’re not quite rocksteady with it yet, that is likely to significantly reduce the feeling of nerves.

2. Gives us the freedom to take a look at both our left and right hands for some of those more challenging sections and then not get lost trying to find our place on the page again.

3. Once we really feel we know the structure, technical requirements and mechanics of a piece inside out, it’s memorisation allows greater freedom in exploring tones, colours, dynamics, phrasing and other musical expression. Some say it removes a level of interference in playing the music from the heart. By knowing it by heart, it can perhaps more easily come from the heart.

4. Memorisation allows us to really LISTEN and be aware of what we’re playing and how we’re playing it. It allows us to focus on producing exactly the quality of tone and sound that we want at any given point in the piece.

5. By playing something from memory, even if only partially memorised, it’s a fantastically direct indicator of which bits you know very well and those that you don’t know so well. When you’re first committing a piece to memory which are the bits where you have memory fade? Ask yourself this and examine why? What’s going in the melody – can you sing it?, the harmony? The phrasing?

6. Last, but not least it’s good for the brain! It’s an excellent exercise for the grey matter, regardless of age. It helps build up your noggin’s cognitive reserves!