Lesson 36 - How to effectively remember songs

Introduction

In this lesson you will learn how to create multiple memory associations in order to remember songs more effectively. This lesson will be more of an introduction into the process rather than a detailed analysis.

The pros and  cons of our serial memory

A brain is a serial memory devices, memory events trigger other memory events, in a serial fasion, one at a time. This is very benifical because it desn't require much concentration and feels very natural when playing piano, how it can be unreliable when the serial memory is interupted. 

How we hear melodies

The way we hear melodies is through relative pitch movements, interval distances relative the the last interval distance heard.

Harmonic interval memory association

Our brain is very good at remembering melodic pitch movement, however we need to create associations so we can translate the melody we hear into finger movement on the piano.

The song skeleton

A song skeleton is a powerful tool to help our fingers find the melody. It give our brain access points to trigger our serial memory.

Understand the flow of the melody over the chords

A melody may be harmonized and flow over a chord progression. Our brain will focus and hear the harmonic interval at the chord  change, highlighting a harmonic change in the music.

Chords

Knowing all the chords for any one particular songs requires a repetative process. If you want to remember many songs by ear, the best place to start is with lyrics and chord charts.

Lyrics

Lyrics offer a very good memory association, they work together, they're a powerful combination. If you remember the words and melody of a song, you are off to a great start in learning how to play the song on the piano.

Visual memory

By looking at your hands, you'll learn the shap of chords and how your fingers move over those chords and the melody.

Hand flow

The visual flow of your hands, moving up and down the keyboard also offer another good memory association.

Composition knowledge

By learning many songs, you develop a knowledge of the tricks composers use to help you predict melody movement.

Muscle memory

Muscle memory is a good way to learn songs, however it isn't flexible and it's very unreliable as it only relies on the serial memory of your brain.