Recording thoughts while memorizing music: a case study

Abstract

Musicians generally believe that memory differs from one person to the next. As a result, memorizing strategies that could be useful to almost everyone are not widely taught. We describe how an 18-years old piano student (Grade 7, ABRSM), learned to memorize by recording her thoughts, a technique inspired by studies of how experienced soloists memorize. The student, who had previously ignored suggestions that she play from memory, decided to learn to memorize, selecting Schumann’s “Der Dichter Spricht” for this purpose. Rather than explicitly teaching the student how to memorize, the teacher taught her to record her thoughts while playing by marking them on copies of the score, adapting an approach used previously in research with experienced performers. Over a 6½ week period, the student recorded her thoughts during practice (five times) and while performing from memory for the teacher (three times). The student also video-recorded 3 weeks of practice, three performances, and the reconstruction of the piece from memory after a 9½-weeks break. The thoughts that the student reported were prepared during practice, stable over time, and functioned as memory retrieval cues during reconstruction. This suggests that the student memorized in the same way as the more experienced musicians who have been studied previously and that teaching student musicians to record their thoughts may be an effective way to help them memorize. The speed and durability of her memorization surprised the student, inspiring her to perform in public and to use the same technique for new pieces.

Training thought and action for virtuoso performance

“…The technical difficulties become invisible and the musical thoughts and feelings make the performance seem magical. Lisboa et al, 2015. )…”

“…This suggests that use of PCs might be beyond the capabilities of many musicians. We explored this possibility by trying to teach the use of PCs to a music student of average accomplishment and motivation (Lisboa et al, 2015). The student's success suggests that a better understanding of virtuosity may lead to improvements in music pedagogy of benefit to musicians of all levels of ability and training.…”

The Role of Metacognitive Skills in Music Learning and Performing: Theoretical Features and Educational Implications

“…Because musical activity may be both an individual and a collaborative task, metacognition can be recognized as a specific sub-competence of individual learning and a sub-dimension of social interaction and collaborative learning (Benton, 2014). Metacognition in musical performance is characterized by several components related to knowledge about the cognitive process and learning strategies (Nielsen, 1999; Hallam, 2001; Abushanab and Bishara, 2013), the abilities needed for effectively selecting and using these strategies for learning and memorizing the musical material (Nielsen, 1999; Ginsborg, 2002; Lisboa et al, 2015), and the ability to evaluate individual musical practice, learning outcomes and performance (Peynircioglu et al, 2014). All these features are summarized by the three dimensions proposed by Benton (2014) for metacognition in music performance, namely reflecting upon the task and the individual cognitive process (self-reflection), regulating individual activity (self-regulation), and evaluating individual performance (self-evaluation).…”

“…In reality, memorization techniques can be successfully taught. Lisboa et al (2015) studied a young pianist memorizing a new musical piece. Her teacher presented her a learning strategy often used by expert musicians.…”

Mental Control in Musical Imagery: A Dual Component Model

“…An early study assessed when using mental rehearsal is beneficial (Rubin-Rabson, 1941). While learning a new piece, musicians either (1) completed 5 physical practice trials, 4 min of mental rehearsal, and continued physical practice until completing one memorized trial; (2) physically practiced until completing one memorized trial then completed 4 min of mental rehearsal; or (3) physically practiced until completing one memorized trial and an additional 4 min of physical practice.…”