10 Tips To Memorize Music

Learning to play an instrument is a fun pass time and a good life skill. No matter what instrument you decide to learn though, you will need to memorize music. That also includes learning to sing. Memorizing isn’t always easy and memorizing music is included in that. How do you learn to memorize music?

Choose The Right Practice Area

Sure, if you are in a band, you might end up playing in a loud environment. For most of us, that isn’t true. Especially when we are trying to memorize music. Make sure you have a quiet environment to start learning your music in. You want to minimize distractions and maximize the sound quality of your instrument.

Learn It Three Ways

The best way to memorize something is to learn it through the three learning methods: visually, audibly, and through doing it. That means you should read the music, listen to the music, and play the music in order to learn it. A minimum of three times each way should have you started.

Every time you practice the piece, practice each way at least once. It helps if you also practice writing the music down. This will show that you have it visually memorized.

Write It Down Yourself

Sometimes the best way to learn a piece of music is to copy it. Take some blank music sheets and copy the song. Do it a couple of times and make sure every note is right. This will help you to solidify the piece in your mind.

Analyze The Piece

Take the piece and write down all of the information that you can, for example what chords that are used, hand positions, and patterns. Anything that can be interpreted from the music will help your brain to retain the music. But more than that, analyzing a piece forces your mind to take in what you are looking at and think about it.

Don’t Be Afraid To Mark It Up

If you are just learning to play and/or read music, it can be helpful to mark up your music sheets. Make a copy of the paper and right down the notes. Maybe make a fret diagram if you are playing guitar. This shows that you have analyzed the music and gives you a cheat sheet.

Listen To Someone Else Play It

Unless you wrote the song yourself, chances are that someone else has played it. Take a moment to listen to them play it. Then try playing it yourself. Finally, try listening to the music while you read it. If you are confident enough, you can play along with the music. Just hearing the music though should help you to memorize it.

Speak Out Loud

When you talk while you are playing you associate the music with what you are saying. One method is to count out loud while you are playing, this helps you to be focused. Another method is to say the chords as you play them, this helps you to remember what should be played in what order.

Hum The Piece

Some musicians find humming the piece to be a good practice. As they are reading the music they hum what they are reading. This allows you to memorize the hum and recite it again as practice.

Practice Section By Section

Learning is always easier when you break down the subject material into parts. Music is easy because most pieces already have sections. Learn to play each section by itself thoroughly. Then it is just a matter of stitching it all together.

Don’t Move On Right Away

Don’t move on to the next part of your practice until you can play the part you are practicing three times without an error. If you are just learning the piece, you can slow it down or just play a section so that you can get it right three times.

The point is that you don’t leave an improperly played piece in your mind as the last thing you played.

Memorizing music doesn’t have to be hard. Utilize these ten tips to help you get the song in your head. Comment down below what song you are trying to learn right now.

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