How to remember music. Like all of the other faculties of the mind,
that of music or tune is manifested in varying degrees by different individuals. To
some, music seems to be almost instinctively grasped, while to others it is
acquired only by great effort and much labor. To some, harmony is natural
and in harmony a matter of repulsion, while others fail to recognize the difference
between the two. Except in extreme cases. Some seem to be the very
soul of music, while others have no conception of what the soul of music
may be. Then there is manifested the different phases of the knowledge of music.
Some play correctly by ear, but are clumsy and inefficient when it comes
to playing by note. Others play very correctly in a mechanical manner, but
failed to retain the memory of music which they have heard. It is indeed
a good musician who combines within himself or herself both of the two last mentioned
faculties, the ear perception of music and the ability to execute correctly from notes.
There are many cases of record in which extraordinary powers of memory of music
have been manifested. Fuller relates the following instances of this particular phase of memory.
Carolyn, the greatest of Irish bards, once met a noted musician and
challenged him to a test of their respective musical abilities. The DeFi was accepted,
and Carolyn's rival played on his violin one of Vivaldi's most difficult concertos.
On the conclusion of the performance, Carolyn, who had never heard the piece
before, took his harp and played the concerto through from beginning to end without
making a single error. His rival thereupon yielded the palm. Thoroughly satisfied of
Carol and superiority as well, he might be. Beethoven could retain in his
memory any musical composition, however complex, that he had listened to, and
could reproduce most of it. He could play from memory every one of the
compositions in Bach's well tempered Clavichord, there being forty eight preludes and the same
number of figures, which, in intricacy of movement and difficulty of execution,
are almost unexampled, as each of these compositions is written in the most abstruse
style of counterpoint. Mozart, at four years of age, could remember note
for note elaborate solos and concertos which he had heard. He could learn a
minuet in half an hour, and even composed short pieces at that early age.
At six, he was able to compose without the aid of an instrument,
and continued to advance rapidly in musical memory and knowledge. When fourteen years
old, he went to Rome. In Holy Week, at the sixteen Chapel
was performed each day Allegre's Miserrere, the score of which Mozart wished to obtain,
but he learned that no copies were allowed to be made. He listened
attentively to the performance, at the conclusion of which he wrote the whole score
from memory without an error. Another time, Mozart was engaged to contribute an
original composition to be formed by a noted violinist and himself at Vienna before the
Emperor joseph On. Arriving at the appointed place, Mozart discovered that he had
forgotten to bring his part. Nothing dismayed, he placed a blank sheet of
paper before him and played his part through from memory without a mistake. When
the opera of Don Giovanni was first performed, there was no time to copy
the score for the harpsichord, but Mozart was equal to the occasion. He
conducted the entire opera and played the harpsichord accompaniment to the songs and choruses without
a note before him. There are many well attested instances of Mendelssohn's remarkable musical
memory. He once gave a grand concert in London, at which his overture
to Midsummer Night's Dream was produced. There was only one copy of the full
score, which was taken charge of by the organist of Saint Paul's Cathedral,
who unfortunately left it in a Hackney coach, whereupon Mendelssohn wrote out another score,
a memory without an error. At another time, when about to direct
a public performance of Bach's Passion Music, he found, on mounting the conductor's
platform that instead of the score of the work to be performed, that of
another composition had been brought by mistake. Without hesitation, Mendelssohn successfully conducted this
complicated work from memory, automatically turning over leaf after leaf of the score before
him as the performance progressed, so that no feeling of uneasiness might enter the
minds of the orchestra and singers. Gotzchok, it has said, could play
for memory several thousand compositions, including many of the works of Bach. The
noted conductor Vannessey rarely has the score before him, and conducting an opera knowing
every note of many operas from memory, it will be seen that two phases
of memory must enter into the memory of music, the memory of tune and
the memory of the notes. The memory of tune, of course, falls
into the class of ear impressions, and what has been said regarding them is
also applicable to this case. The memory of notes falls into the classification of
eye impressions, and the rules of this class of memory applies in this case.
As to the cultivation of the memory of tune, the principal advice to
be given is that the student take an active interest in all that pertains to
the sound of music, and also takes every opportunity for listening to good music
and endeavoring to reproduce it in the imagination or memory. Endeavor to enter into
the spirit of the music until it becomes a part of yourself. Rest not
content with merely hearing it, but lend yourself to a feeling of its meaning.
The more the music means to you, the more easily you will remember
it. The plan followed by many students, particularly those of vocal music,
is to have a few bars of a piece played over to them several times
until they are able to hum it correctly. Then a few more are added,
and then a few more, and so on. Each addition must be
reviewed in connection with that which was learned before, so that the chain of
association may be kept unbroken. The principle is the same as the child learning
his ABC, he remembers B because it follows a. By this constant addition
of just a little bit more, accompanied by frequent reviews, long and difficult
pieces may be memorized. The memory of notes may be developed by the method
above named the method of learning a few bars well, and then adding a
few more, and frequently reviewing as far as you have learned, forging the
links of association as you go along by frequent practice. The method being entirely
that of eye impression, and subject to its rules. You must observe the
idea of visualization, that is, learning each bar until you can see it
in your mind's eye as you proceed. But in this as in many other
eye impressions you will find that you will be greatly aided by your memory of
the sound of the notes, in addition to their appearance. Try to associate
the two as much as possible, so that when you see a note,
you will hear the sound of it, and when you hear a note sounded,
you will see it as it appears on the score. This combining of
the impressions of both sight and sound will give you the benefit of the double
sense impression, which results in doubling your memory efficiency. In addition to visualizing
the notes themselves, the students should add the appearance of the various symbols denoting
the key, the time, the movement, expression, et cetera, so
that he may hum the air from the visualized notes with expression and with correct
interpretation. Changes of key, time, or movement should be carefully noted in
the memorization of the notes. Memorize the feeling of that particular portion of the
score, that you may not only see and hear it, but also feel
that which you are recalling. We would advise the student to practice memorizing simple
songs at first, for various reasons. One of these reasons is that these
songs lend themselves readily to memorizing, and the chain of easy association is usually
maintained throughout. In this phase of memory, as in all others, we
add the advice to take interest, bestow attention, and practice and exercise as
often as possible. You may have tired of these words, but they constitute
the main principles of the development of a retentive memory. Things must be impressed
upon the memory before they may be recalled. This should be remembered in every
consideration of the subject.