Thread: Memorizing
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Old 01-17-2021, 12:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andyrondack View Post
Apparently the research shows that to retain the memory of a piece once learned the music needs to be played just before it is forgotten, how we are supposed to know when a particular tune is due to be consigned to memorial oblivion I have no idea.
This is likely referencing the "space repetition" idea. There's no alert to tell you you're about to forget :-), but what you do with this approach is repeat something often when you first learn it - even multiple times a day. Once you aren't forgetting at that frequency, increase the time between trying to remember, every day, or every 3 days. Once you can do that successfully, you go to maybe 10 days, and so on. If at any time you find you aren't remembering everything, you basically start over.

There are apps that will handle all the details for you. I've used (sort of...) just a deck of cards with tunes on each card. Pull a few off the top of the deck each day. If I can remember if play it well, it goes to the bottom of the deck. If I can't it goes back on the top, so I'll play it again tomorrow. Sort of works as long as I actually do it.
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