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We listen, we hum, we read notes, we watch our hands, we practice and we repeat.
We've discussed how we learn and how we memorize in other threads here, but how do we take this to the next level?
I think many of us are proud we have memorized a sizable amount of music, maybe also in different keys, maybe also in different tunings.
What happens when you think you're starting to play a specific tune, but actually play a different tune that just happens to start the same way?
Or, you start playing that well-known-to-you tune (you just happen to be hearing in your head at the moment) when you suddenly realize you have no idea what the name is... but you know this tune well!
What happens when the titles of many tunes you've learned are in a foreign language - easier or harder to remember?
I shouldn't be laughing!
These are starting to happen to me!
...and I am only in my 18th month of playing!
Recently been talking to a few other members about these problems, when I realized memorizing pieces of music by title and how it begins just isn't enough to hold up in the long term memory.
I was hoping to try some of the other tunings, but think I'll wait a bit, now - until I figure a better way to organize music in my head.
Too many tunes even start with the same 1st couple notes, not a very helpful association. (sigh)
Not so sure pairing or grouping tunes really helps me remember the titles - maybe encourages me to restrict the keys I play in - only play in 1 or 2 keys for everything!
What really concerns me is I'll pick up "Mortimer" start playing/not really focusing, then realize I have no clue what tune it is - even if it is in a different key (because I play just about everything in multiple keys).
Was thinking I need to find a way to really cement the title/rhythm/sound together for each tune - do we take associations too lightly?
Maybe with more visuals or memories, etc...?
How should we discribe/associate the feelings we get from or about a piece of music we play?
Is it just a matter of making ourselves aware of everything we might associate with a specific tune - the reason we like to play it?
I'm hoping I don't have to resort to archiving sheet music, or video.
How would you keep from mixing up 200 or more tunes you've memorized?
- Emily
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LOLOL @ELCBK - I sum it all up in the following -
We're human, not synths - we're never perfect - we live with it - and besides -it makes it "interesting" Hahahaha -
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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probably when the group starts playing it helps bring it back...if you have already learned it. If by yourself..or for that matter even in a group..a cheat sheet of the first couple measures would help I think. Speaking for myself, I dont see getting to the 200 mark..but 5 seemed like a high number once so maybe. If I ever get to a place of going back to jams/sessions taking music isnt frowned upon. Learning it helps with speed though. I think the intervals of the notes in tunes are starting to get easier to hear so it seems with time Im more able to pick sections of tunes out and piece together. Think it just takes alot of time. alot of the greats and old hands have been at it for years so nit being to critical about our own progress at this stage in the game is helpful. but to keep things straight..maybe a measure or two of the notes organized by keys and/or tune type. jig/reel/waltz...
EDIT... I think I repeated what you do already so nebermindeded...😏😋
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I guess I'm going to have to ask Kevin Burke how he does it, but I havent really done an in-depth search, yet.
I suppose the folk-fiddlers of times past might have just played everything so much in the taverns, with enough musicians and festivities to make all it work.
@BillyG ... I watched that series when it 1st came out!
- Emily
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Jason Klien of fiddlehed has a video on remembering tunes in case you havent seen it.
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@ABitRusty -
Think I missed that one of Jason's, maybe because it was right when his cat died or else I just thought I actually had a handle on the subject.🤭
One thing he says about if you forget, don't beat yourself up over it & go look it up - well, that's hard to swallow if you are in the middle of a set or live streaming!
He's got some great points, though! Reading the song titles (and other pertinent info) out loud is MUCH better for memory - I have not been doing that. Where I'm really going to have trouble is with all the titles in different languages I can't pronounce - especially Gaelic!
I did catch some Gaelic lessons for the lyrics of one tune in Gaelic.
...just can't remember which one, now!!! 
- Emily
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One thing he says about if you forget, don't beat yourself up over it & go look it up - well, that's hard to swallow if you are in the middle of a set or live streaming!...
Wouldnt you want to practice a much smaller list of tunes for playing a live event?
Here lately Ive seen some youtube live streams where the artist would call out a tune and start playing something else. The big thing was they just finished and corrected themselves afterward.
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Without wishing to seem pessimistic, people with good memories will never understand bad memory (so they will never be good teachers), and people with bad memories will never be able to understand good memory.
Someone with a bad memory who had trained their memory might be able to teach, but I suspect most of them will have downplayed their innate abilities in the first place.
It's like colour-blindness, or blindness, or deafness. The other's perceptions can be impossible to fathom.
Or tone-deafness. I have only ever known one truly tone-deaf person in my life. But go on Youtube, and anyone who is not a great singer thinks they are tone-deaf.
Partly, though, it's about immersion. Psychologists have shown that white people can't distinguish black (or Asian) faces, and vice versa, until they have become very familiar with a lot of them. And I suspect much of the perceived similarity (i.e. failed perception of differences) in fiddle tunes is due to lack of familiarity. Become familiar with MORE and your ability to memorise will probably improve, if only by a percentage, because you'll know better when something is different from what it should be, i.e. wrong.
Andrew
Verified human - the ignominy!
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I may have selective memory then....names, dates, work, phone numbers, directions, books, deadlines for all our work etc...
.....can't remember the first note of the song I've been learning for 2 weeks - ugh!
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I sincerely hope we can still learn more ways to help us all memorize our music better.
A system of memory-building, like some we've discussed - tools we can use right from the very moment we begin to learn a tune, are important.
I don't think having a "good" or a "bad" memory has much to do with it - but maybe if we can learn some of what a "good" memory person unawarely takes for granted, those tools could be beneficial to everyone.
I think we have, so far:
- Say the title out loud
- Read the sheet music if available
- Recite what key it's in and the first few notes
- Hum the tune
- Hear the tune in your head
- Practice the tune, along with all the above
- Maybe play in a set of similar tunes
- Repeat (out loud) the tune names at the end of a tune, set or performance
Any more suggestions?
-
- Emily
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Emily @ELCBK we could stick to just Baleydesmond for polkas and Paddy Fahey reels and jigs..would always get the name correct. 
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@ABitRusty -
I suppose that could make my life easier if everything I played was called Fahey's... or Baleydesmond's...
Still, think I'd probably lose my mind by the time I made it to Baleydesmond's no.36 or Paddy Fahey's Jig no.27 and Fahey's Reel no.32!
Besides getting the numbers mixed up, I have a hard enough time even telling the difference between a Jig and a Reel - let alone remember which is what!
I'm thinking I need to add either some visual imagery to the list of tools, like what kind of dancing do I feel(?) - or make a memory seem hyper-important, like maybe who I learned the tune from or what was in a video, etc...
Simple, unique information helps me to remember well, but my learn-to-play list is growing out of control!
I may just have to concede the need to keep a cheat sheet nearby - to reinforce my memory. (sigh)
- Emily
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Names of tunes are really getting to be more of a problem for me - I don't know if it's because I place no restrictions on where I learn music from, or what... my next favorite tune could come from anywhere.
I know it all started with names I couldn't pronounce, but it's happening more & more.
Think I'm starting to focus more on what's special about each tune I play, maybe a tricky part, type of bowing, or just the way a few notes are played in a certain key - if I play some of that part, the rest usually falls into place.
Now if I want to tell someone what I'm playing - I'm in trouble & really have to try to think about what kind of tune it is.
...some style of Critter? ...popular when? ...composer? Genre, or at least what Country did it came from? Key, mode? Who did I hear play it?
If I still can't remember the name, then some of the other clues lead me to topics here on the forum or places on YT.
There's older tunes I recognize by name, but some I need to hear the beginning before I recall it all... guess I expect the internet to last FOREVER. 🥴
Not sure which is worse - a name is easier to look up, but I'm really lucky if I remember even part of a name that isn't in English.
I still don't even have any real system of how I rotate older tunes in with the new, because so many have a special feel for me that it depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Sure hope I can get into some kind of mood other than the one I've been in this past week!!!
...maybe I just need to keep up with my list, but go over it more often.
...can't really see myself making a virtual tune book, but that would probably be the smart thing to do (duh).
Some of you folks have been playing for quite a few years - how are you remembering all your old favorites?
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Help for remembering tunes was recently discussed on The Session (tune book aide memoire). As much as I fight to not learn/use ABC notation, Michael Eskin is again a savior - making a very easy to use tool!
'Incipits Builder' - ABC Transcription Tools
...now, if I could just get myself motivated. 🫤
I was contemplating the benefits of physically writing down incipits in a tunebook (cause I don't like to rely on my phone for everything). The extra personal investment might help my memory... just wish I could find a pocket size blank staff notebook that is spiral-bound. omg - there's a music composition/notation stencil! ...oh well, way too many tunes to hand write - PITA just to hand write titles!
Having this small amount of info handy for each tune could be a memory lifesaver!
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@ELCBK said
... just wish I could find a pocket size blank staff notebook that is spiral-bound.
Haver you thought of just taking staff paper, have it cut to the size you want, allowing for some to be in the left margin, and then having it spiraled with a cover put on it at a place like Staples? A swing arm paper cutter would do a great job cutting pages of regular size staff paper down to size for you. Staples does a great job and reallh do not charge much.
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The incipets version would be good to have and arrange different sets Id want to start, and also have a page or 2 with tunes by mode, maybe tunes by style... etc. yeah i could see using this. alot of times ill have something picked to play and itll be called ahead of me and i just get bogged down thinking if things to play. im better when others start. in that scenerio its not as handy because i can let them play enough of the tune to either recognize it and atart playing along, or know i dont know it.
since its in digital form i can put on my phone and not lug around a notebook or flash cards. If playing at home this wont be useful for me... i can just use the full score if i need it. Recalling them isnt a problem... i can just either go to the session or look through my notebook or tune books
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@ABitRusty -
There was talk of another app specifically for sets in that discussion on The Session - not completely sure of the benefits of one over the other, but you might want to check it out.
@Mouse -
Oh yeah, first thing I thought of was to cut the spiral binding in the middle of a larger journal & chop it in half - we have one of those old super heavy duty paper cutters that looks like you could chop your arm off with it, but think a thicker one could be clamped & cut with a fine sawblade (both would be quick/cheap). ...would give me 4-5 staves per page, which would be great IF I was just starting out - but now I have close to 250 tunes!!!
I can't even stand the thought of typing in all those titles anywhere!
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@ELCBK I wasn't saying cut a bunch of papers at time, just s few sheets at a time of loose staff paper, not cut down book. I never cut a bunch of pages at a time with my swing arm.
I think Staples would do the cutting and spiraling. But, you decided not to do all that writing, anyway, 😁.
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