Playing By Heart

There are many types of learners in our midst. We often describe them as visual or aural learners.  There are also kinesthetic learners who need to go through the motions of a skill before they can remember what they have learned.  I feel like there are also verbal learners who have to say out loud what they are trying to learn and retain.  I had a student once who would repeat my words after I said them.  I initially thought the student was being difficult and trying to annoy me. I soon learned that he was just trying to process the instructions I was giving him. 

At a Suzuki national conference several years ago, a Suzuki guitar teacher Michele Horner introduced her book, Life Lens: Seeing your Children in Color.  In this book, she describes seven types of learners and correlates them to the seven colors of the rainbow. She has an amazing sense of humor and as she presented her book to the audience of Suzuki teachers and parents, we laughed at the misinterpretations and misunderstandings that occur when two different types of learners come together.  However, learning and misunderstanding is not a laughing matter. What we learned was that understanding our differences is very critical.  Parents, Teachers and Students can all have different styles, and so difficulties and obstacles can be avoided if we come to understand one another.

I am a visual learner, but I can also memorize easily. Many people say they can read music but they have difficulty memorizing it. I have come to learn that memorization is a skill that can be learned.  Not only is there a technique that makes memorization possible, but it is like any skill.  It must be practiced regularly to be strengthened. For example,  people often write down the items they need to purchase from the grocery store. Why not memorize the list? Finding mnemonics to help memorize makes it easier to retain other things. Because I am a visual learner, I look at a telephone number or list written on paper before I memorize it. An aural learner will listen or say a phone number over and over, or a kinesthetic learner would pretend to tap the number on a keypad in order to retain the number. 

The technique of memorizing music comes mostly from a disciplined approach.  Learning by heart requires small portions and repetitions.  For example, one can take two measures and repeat it ten times.  By the tenth time, one can look away from the music score or close ones eyes, and try it by heart.  Next move on to the next two measures and do the same.  Play it ten times and on the tenth time, play it by heart. One can go on like this to the end of the piece. The second day, one should do exactly the same.  Just play short two measure "groups" at a time with ten repetitions.  What normally happens is that by the fifth or sixth repetition, the two measures are already memorized. The third day, combine two measures into 4 measure "groups" but still repeat ten times until the 10th time it is by heart. By the fourth day, longer phrases or sections can be practiced in the same way.  Usually by keeping to short sections with several repetitions, by the 6th or 7th day, one can remember each of the small individual sets of measures and the whole piece is roughly learned by heart.  Working systematically, and with the support of a teacher or home practicing partner (parent), memorizing becomes stronger and more easily achieved. As a visual learner, I am also remembering where I am on the page of the piece I am memorizing.  

Awareness of the type of learning we do best, is already a huge step in successful practicing and developing any new skill.

Sachiko Isihara

Executive Director

Suzuki School of Newton