It’s on the Tip of My Fingers: Techniques for Memorization

It’s on the Tip of My Fingers: Techniques for Memorization • Texas Music Teachers Association Convention 2005 • Dr. Dawn Harmon McCord, Presenter

Music Music Everywhere . . . . . . But not a sound to hear.

Multimodal Musical Experiences • Auditory • Visual • Cognitive • Affective • Motor • Memory • Donald Hodges: Neurological Research and Music Education, 1996

Effective Teaching Strategies… …actively involve the student in the learning experience. This is the first step towards facilitating memorization.

Basic information is easy to talk about! • You can tell that the: • melody is mostly conjunct and diatonic • form is ABA • harmony is in a minor modality • rhythm is compound duple Could you help them discover this information in ways other than lecture? If so, they will own the parameters of the repertoire.

Where to start with active learning and listening? Have student: • Focus their attention to some specific detail in the music • Listen for that detail as they play • Respond to the discoveries that surface

There are many resources available to the teacher that will help the student focus on specific parameters necessary for memorization.

Learning and Memorization Activities • Guidance • Schumann “Papillons” from Carnaval, Op. 9 Is this piece: • Fast or slow? • Quiet or loud? • Like a butterfly or an elephant? • Guidance creates active listening which empowers the learner to access great hooks for memorization.

Learning and Memorization Activities • Modeling • Mini-teaching Moments • Questioning

Learning and Memorization Activities • Storytelling • Visitation Rights • American Idol

Learning and Memorization Activities • Listening Maps • A listening map is a visual image that highlights important stylistic parameters in a given composition. Examples of these images can include: • Pictures • Graphics • Shapes • Short musical themes or motifs • Source for ideas is Rebecca Payne Shockley’s Mapping Music: For Faster Learning and Secure Memory

Learning and Memorization Activities • Call Charts • Visuals A B A C A B A Robert Schumann: Frightening from Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15

Listening Map Example Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in A Minor, K. 149; Longo 93

Now it’s your turn • Select a piece to map • On your blank paper provided, create a map for your selection. Let the following guide your choices for visualization:

Mapping Repertoire W. T. Skye Garcia: Cat Walk Susan Ogilvy: Toccatina Martha Mier: Morning Dew

Now it’s your turn Set your imagination free. • Create a map for your selection. The following guide provides some of the ideas for mapping:

Coda and Overture • Set ‘em up • Let the learning begin • Let the listening begin • Begin appropriate and multimodal activities • Memorize at all levels and modes of learning • Where there are insecurities, expand the activities • Learning activities will put it on the tip of your fingers!

It’s on the Tip of My Fingers: Techniques for Memorization