Tag: preparation

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/ 

 

A marathon starts with a single step or starting on the journey to guitar playing success and general awesomeness!

Nicole NealLeave a comment

 

There’s no denying we live in a world of Facebook posts lost in the ether within minutes, Tweets posted and gone in seconds (unless you make some kind of idiotic, racist, sexist or otherwise bigoted statement which then comes back to bite you big time!), ads here there and everywhere,

World Athletics Championships 2007 in Osaka - ...
Catherine Ndereba. Not a guitarist. But pretty handy at the marathon. Play like she runs and you’ll have no worries! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

more of this, more of that, quicker this, faster that, more, more, more, now, now, NOW!

And oftentimes this feeling, this sensation, of constantly wanting to have more, like, right now, can translate over into various areas of our lives. Our guitar playing and learning included.

I too have been guilty in the past of wanting to play super fast RIGHT NOW! I too have been guilty of wanting to play such-and-such piece like RIGHT NOW! Why can’t I make that phrase sound like so-and-so RIGHT NOW!

OK there are some things that don’t take too long to fix up or change. For example, some focused and concentrated listening in to the sound you’re making can really help to make a difference in your tone quality in a relatively short period of time.

But some things just take as long as they need to take.

Part of this is about the amount of practice that you put in. As I’ve also said before a lot of this comes down to consistent, very regular practice and focussed practice.

But a significant part of becoming a generally awesome guitarist is making those initial steps.

A marathon runner cannot hop straight to the end of the marathon (unless you get on the bus and cheat, but no one likes a cheat and you get found out in the end!). A marathon runner has to start the first of 42 kilometres with the first 100 metres, the first kilometre.

Perhaps even more importantly than that, they can’t really even line up on the start line on event day to run the marathon without having put the hard yards in first. There has to have been months of preparation in the lead up to the event. It’s all about the work that you’ve put in to getting you to a point.

Just to reiterate one of my favourite points about being consistent – can that marathon runner do sufficient training for a marathon by cramming it in a couple of weeks before? I would think probably not. Time is crucial – time for the body to adapt, time for the brain to adapt, time for the unconscious mind to adapt.

It’s the same with learning to play this most fantastic and wonderful of instruments. Nope we don’t have to go on a funny diet and have ice baths like the marathon runner, but we do need to take our time, we do need to take the first steps first and we do need to take each step at a time.

So guitarists, which step are you taking today in your practice?