How to play the piano
I read recently that mental decay begins before 40. Apparently we can stop the rate of decline and ward off dementia by learning new things and continuing to challenge our brains through things like hobbies, mental arithmetic, puzzles, or learning new languages or musical instruments. I believe the theory is that we form more connections and pathways in our brains by doing this. So, if one of the pathways we have breaks down due to age and infirmity (say at, oh, I don't know, maybe when we're really really old at 42 or 43 (!!!! ;-) ), we have other pathways available for those important messages and memories to travel along.
Anyway, I was thinking about this while I was playing the piano the other day. I find it far easier to play stuff that I learnt 20 years ago than learn new music. Partly this is because I think I learn best when I hear a piece played. I can then "copy" it without having to read the music from scratch. If I don't have the sounds in my head, it's harder for me to make sense of the notes on the page. When I was a teenager, my music teacher would always play the song first, and then it would be my turn.
Usually I play from memory, even when I am reading the music in front of me. Sounds strange I know, but I regularly have to stop because I have no idea where on the page I'm supposed to be looking. When I do find it, I am embarrassed to admit that I have to think carefully about what notes I should be playing ("Er.....All Cows Eat - oh, a "G"! No, a G sharp). I seem to play most fluidly when I don't think about anything at all. If I try and read the music and focus, I seem to lose the plot entirely. Having said that, I can't play from memory without the notational prompts. It's like I need the first word of each paragraph, so that I can recite the rest of it.
Which seems to indicate that I have these old pieces hard-wired into my brain somehow. With a gentle prompt, I can sometimes unlock where they have been lodged, even when I thought they were long forgotten. I guess that's what repetition does. It sets something solidly into the brain (if you only repeat the thing often enough). It's a real drag while you are doing this repetition, but it is very pleasant when something flows out in a (relatively) uninterrupted fashion.
It's a bit of a worry though if I find it harder to create new music memories - decay already! Or maybe it's just that I don't have the time to do those repetitions anymore, or that I don't have the patience. I choose to believe the latter two!
Now what was I saying again? Oh, yes, that's right.....
Anyway, I was thinking about this while I was playing the piano the other day. I find it far easier to play stuff that I learnt 20 years ago than learn new music. Partly this is because I think I learn best when I hear a piece played. I can then "copy" it without having to read the music from scratch. If I don't have the sounds in my head, it's harder for me to make sense of the notes on the page. When I was a teenager, my music teacher would always play the song first, and then it would be my turn.
Usually I play from memory, even when I am reading the music in front of me. Sounds strange I know, but I regularly have to stop because I have no idea where on the page I'm supposed to be looking. When I do find it, I am embarrassed to admit that I have to think carefully about what notes I should be playing ("Er.....All Cows Eat - oh, a "G"! No, a G sharp). I seem to play most fluidly when I don't think about anything at all. If I try and read the music and focus, I seem to lose the plot entirely. Having said that, I can't play from memory without the notational prompts. It's like I need the first word of each paragraph, so that I can recite the rest of it.
Which seems to indicate that I have these old pieces hard-wired into my brain somehow. With a gentle prompt, I can sometimes unlock where they have been lodged, even when I thought they were long forgotten. I guess that's what repetition does. It sets something solidly into the brain (if you only repeat the thing often enough). It's a real drag while you are doing this repetition, but it is very pleasant when something flows out in a (relatively) uninterrupted fashion.
It's a bit of a worry though if I find it harder to create new music memories - decay already! Or maybe it's just that I don't have the time to do those repetitions anymore, or that I don't have the patience. I choose to believe the latter two!
Now what was I saying again? Oh, yes, that's right.....
posted by Mary at 1:33 pm
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