Speaker 1: 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, Caroline,
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
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 Sistine Chapel was performed each day a
Legre's Misserare, 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 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. Gotschalk, it is said, could
play for memory several thousand compositions, including many of the
works of Bach. The noted conductor Vannessi rarely has the
score before him in 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 hummet correctly. Then
a few more are added, and then a few more,
and so on. Each edition 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 edition 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 ie 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 student 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.