Teaching 'Memorise Music Quickly & Reliably" course

[JayeNM]

I dunno folks, I mean yeah there's some fluff but the course is cheap and he does really point to the idea that it is an exercise course in memorizing based upon neural pathways. That concept has some foundation behind it. May be bunk, but again, it's not a huge investment (if memorization is important to you...personally, to me, even as a performer, it's not. A cellphone holder clipped to a skinny stand pole isn't much of a visual distraction to an audience the way, say, a traditional music stand with sheet paper on it is..

 

[LostCircuits]

Is that like saying "send me the $34 and I'll do something you'll never be able to forget ?" 😳

Muahhh!!!

 

[mizmar]

Yeah, well, for half the price, I'd recommend

Saxophone beginners - Bill Hilton’s new book, How To Be A Better Musician

Disclaimer: I've no relation to this chap - other than having used some of his Johanna learning material. But this book seems to me to be quite useful, for beginner / intermediates. It's not music theory nor instrument specific; it's ideas, exercises and some background on techniques on how...

cafesaxophone.com

Which includes how memory works and lots of other ideas in his to practice - work - efficiently.
But people want magic bullets

 

[cappers]

Today I tried to play by ear and from memory without the dots.

I started with Oye Como Va. It's simple, just repeated A and G# for the first four bars then variations of B C# D E with the odd F# and A for the intro & chorus, solo, DC al Coda. The cha-cha-cha timing is fun but we have practiced it a lot in rehearsals.

Did it all correctly! 🙂 I felt it an achievement for me. The thing that amazed me was that I didn't think about what notes to play, just heard the song in my head and my fingers pressed the correct keys at the correct time 😳

Feeling encouraged I attempted Summertime next. A few errors but mostly there. Fly Me To The Moon was OK too, not perfect but close.

I haven't actively learned or memorised the songs but have played them many times on the horn and in my head, so something is sinking in. I really want to develop this; playing the dots is fine for the band but I want to be able to play spontaneously, by ear and/or memory.

The other thing I noticed is that my solos are much 'better' if I just listen and play what comes to mind. I tried writing out a few riffs and phrases but playing them from dots seemed to stifle the flow a bit. I guess if I played them more they might sink in but to be honest in my humble novice opinion, a prepared and rehearsed solo isn't improvisation (I'll get my coat.....)

 

[PiccoloPirate]

"to be honest in my humble novice opinion, a prepared and rehearsed solo isn't improvisation"

It is when you first prepare it.
And the next 300 versions.
Then you can pick up your horn, and do an improvised mind dump. 🎶🏴‍☠️🎶

 

[LostCircuits]

Today I tried to play by ear and from memory without the dots.

I started with Oye Como Va. It's simple, just repeated A and G# for the first four bars then variations of B C# D E with the odd F# and A for the intro & chorus, solo, DC al Coda. The cha-cha-cha timing is fun but we have practiced it a lot in rehearsals.

Did it all correctly! 🙂 I felt it an achievement for me. The thing that amazed me was that I didn't think about what notes to play, just heard the song in my head and my fingers pressed the correct keys at the correct time 😳

Feeling encouraged I attempted Summertime next. A few errors but mostly there. Fly Me To The Moon was OK too, not perfect but close.

I haven't actively learned or memorised the songs but have played them many times on the horn and in my head, so something is sinking in. I really want to develop this; playing the dots is fine for the band but I want to be able to play spontaneously, by ear and/or memory.

The other thing I noticed is that my solos are much 'better' if I just listen and play what comes to mind. I tried writing out a few riffs and phrases but playing them from dots seemed to stifle the flow a bit. I guess if I played them more they might sink in but to be honest in my humble novice opinion, a prepared and rehearsed solo isn't improvisation (I'll get my coat.....)

You can think of it as a frame work for a solo (I mean it's not really a solo if there is a backing or other musicians but that's hairsplitting). In other words, you have the outline of what you are going to do with your improvisation but you move freely within that outline, where you switch things around if you want to, repeat some phrases, omit others. Sometimes you think something is very cool until you play it for the 5th time and you realize that it sticks out like a sore thumb and then you realize that there is that one little phrase that just hangs in there and grabs everyone's attention and you repeat it and vary it rhythmically or change just one note and repeat it alternatingly to create "a groove"