Strategies for Learning Music by Carl Seashore

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Strategies for learning Music

From 'Carl E. Seashore - The Psychology of Music'

7. Practice only by recall.

This was implied in rule three but is so important that we must let it stand out in a rule by itself. If you build in small units in which the first impression is trusted and immediately recalled in vivid imagery, a progressive mastery of such units should enable you to practice what has been learned from memory without looking it up again or being retold.

Doing this is the test of whether or not you are trusting your memory. Memory is like a friend; trust him and he will be true to you. This rule requires a careful planning and a. well-sustained policy in order that you may not have any difficulty in practicing by recall instead of by impression.

8. Rest economically.

So far our rules force the concentration of effort in doing a thing incisively in the first instant. Such effort cannot be long sustained; but it carries its own reward and more in that, when your effort has been efficiently concentrated in success-ful attacks, you will have accomplished in a very short time what the happy-go-lucky methods would take a very long time to do, and you are therefore entitled to rest.

Rest should be distributed throughout a learning process so as to occur in short periods after each small unit that is mastered and in longer and longer periods in proportion to the size of the unit that is mastered. Thus, instead of practicing a selection by the rote method for two hours, work by spurts, allowing yourself complete relaxation after each unit and you will have accomplished your task in but a small fraction of the hour, will have had periodic relaxation, and will have the remainder of the period for entire freedom.

The ability to do this is an art which not only saves time in learning but develops those traits of personality in which you show yourself master of the situation. Many a music student becomes a nervous wreck from ill-adjusted study methods in the violation of this rule. Many a student becomes disgusted with music because he cannot learn by dull drudgery.

9. Recognize what is learned and express it in action.

... When, as a child, you learned to walk, the best way of retaining that skill was to walk. So when you have acquired a skill of insight, knowledge, feeling, action, or interpretation of music, keep it alive in action.

Treat your music as a good friend; speak to him, work with him, play with him, laugh with him, do something for him. Let music function in your life.

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