How to Learn Music Quickly

You can acquire techniques for learning music quickly just as you can any other skill in music. The ability to take a piece of sheet music and play it from memory is based on a number of different steps that you need to learn slowly and thoroughly. Consistency and repetition are essential as in the learning of any new habits. There are three types of memorization for musical performance: visual (imagining the page in front of you); tactile/motor (your fingers remember what to do next); and aural (you know the intervals so well you can anticipate the sounds you need to produce). (See Reference 3.)

Instructions

  1. Learning a New Piece

    • 1

      Play through the music so you know the character, feeling and tempo. Divide the piece into formal sections (intro, first subject, etc.) then into subdivisions at phrase level. (See Reference 2.)

    • 2

      Carry on organizing the piece in your mind by marking in the fingering so there is absolutely no doubt what your intentions are. Only learn what you will not be changing.

    • 3

      Start a section, choose a bar and play slowly three to five times, with less time spent looking at the music each time. Add bars to make phrases. Stop when you are making mechanical errors or feel that you are "spinning wheels." Take a break or go to a different section.

    • 4

      Work on tactile memory, aural memory and visualization of the score in order to develop and reinforce your learning. (See Reference 3.)

    • 5

      Practice playing the piece in your mind while resting -- you do not need to be at the instrument all of the time in order to learn the music.

    • 6

      Gradually increase the speed to the final tempo, but only when you can play it note perfect at the lower speed. (See Reference 2.)

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