to my STUDENTS,
I am not developing your memory, but rather the ability to benefit from your already, highly developed memory, and I'm training you to focus your remembering abilities when playing the piano.
Your ability to memorize extends far beyond your capacity to use that ability. You routinely live out each day, from beginning to end, doing tens of thousands of things that flow seamlessly and invisibly from our memory.
As Neil Moore has said, "And from the moment we awaken it begins - demonstrated in our knowing how remove the covers from the bed; knowing in which direction the bathroom is; whether the door handle turns left or right; whether the door opens toward you or away from you; how to remove the lid from the toothpaste; how to brush your teeth; how to shower yourself; how to shampoo your hair; how to shave; how to put on your socks; how to tie your shoe laces; knowing the difference between hair spray and insect spray; knowing how to do up your shirt buttons; knowing where the kitchen is; knowing where the cereal bowls are kept; where the cereal is; where the milk is kept; how to peel an orange; how to make juice or coffee or scrambled eggs, or any one of the vast multitude of things that we are doing at any given moment, minute by minute, hour after hour, every single day, on and on and on it goes, relentlessly and reliably drawing from our vast, vast, inexhaustible memory."
"In concert with this, all human beings are pattern-seeking, memory machines that have been set to music. We are steeped in rhythm and intonation in our gesture, motion, functionality and communication, and we would lose our ability to operate in the world were we not."
"That some people believe that they don’t have a 'good memory' is quite amazing. It is as much an illusion as is believing that we are unmusical. And as we know, no person has the capacity to communicate their belief of being unmusical, without doing so via the use of complex variations of rhythm and pitch that are embedded in the very words that they use in an attempt to communicate their lack of musicality!!! Truly a vaudeville parody!"
Is there a problem with your memory? Are you too old to remember? Are you just not that good at memorizing? Don't have time to memorize? Well, if you believe even half of what Neil said above, you might want to consider that the problem with your memory isn't a result of an inherent flaw in yourself, but that it is a problem with the WAY IN WHICH YOU GO ABOUT TRYING TO MEMORIZE.
When I teach, I have 4 goals.
- That the student develops a huge repertoire covering classical, popular, blues, jazz and accompaniments
- That the student experiences playing as a natural self-expression
- That the student has a highly positive, self-affirming experience with music learning
- That the student develops the ability to self-generate, i.e. the ability to progress independently. This includes building a strong foundation in music reading and theory, and having the ability to “figure out” pieces on their own.
Playing the pieces I teach you is huge. What a wonder it is to have at your fingertips a repertoire of all different kinds of music, including the ability to read and play every chord symbol out there! Yet, playing the music isn’t my number one focus. It will always be the joy of piano lessons, but my number one focus in lessons is to TEACH YOU A WAY OF LEARNING . How...why...what are you learning? How can you use what you are learning?
Did you know that I am not responsible for your success? Ultimately, as long as I teach you according to the materials and method that I’ve been trained in, the rest of the responsibility lies with you, and if you are a minor, with your parent(s). We are partners, and when I provide you with all the raw materials, and the instructions on how to process them at home, all of the burden of learning is then transferred to YOU!
With every song I teach you, there are learning strategies I intend you to master. Things like verbalization, sentences, fragments. I point out patterns, and ask you to look for your own. I simplify, and insist that you slow down. I call your attention to where your hands are in relation to each other, and even what they feel like in a position I want you to remember. Every single one of these ways of looking at, feeling, seeing, and hearing a song you are learning is a strategy that you must become good at, in order to become the musician you dream of becoming. Playing the song isn’t the goal - mastering HOW TO LEARN the song is our goal, because you’ll be able to transfer what you’ve learned to learning other songs.
