Memorize music the right way!

WARNING: I go through these pretty quickly so please pause or rewind as needed. I will post detailed videos on each strategy in the future so make sure to subscribe!
In this video I cover 11 reasons we have trouble memorizing music in the practice room as well as strategies that we can use to memorize faster and retain more effectively. These reasons include not listening enough, serial vs. additive and holistic practice, mnemonics, spaced practice, blocked vs. interleaved practice, variable practice, elaboration, reflection, calibration, generation, retrieval practice and too much stress.
Make sure to take a look at the links below for references and useful information. I also highly recommend buying and reading the book Make It Stick (amzn.to/3AJe1Lp). It's awesome and I know it will help you a ton with your memorization. Enjoy!
😁 MY STORY 😁
diegoalonsomusic.com/mystory/
🕸 WEBSITE 🕸
www.diegoalonsomusic.com
📕STUDY WITH ME 📕
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AUDIGO MICROPHONE
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🔗 AWESOME RESOURCES 🔗
- Make It Stick (Book): amzn.to/3AJe1Lp
- Bulletproof Musician by Noa Kageyama, PhD (Website): bulletproofmusician.com
⏰ TIME STAMPS & REFERENCES 📚
• 0:00 Intro. to Memorization Strategies
• 1:58 Listening
• 2:29 Serial vs. Additive & Holistic Practice
• 3:51 Mnemonics (Performance Cues)
• 4:59 Spaced Practice
• 5:31 Blocked vs. Interleaved Practice
• 6:30 Variable Practice
• 7:09 Elaboration
• 7:28 Reflection
• 8:09 Calibration
• 8:26 Generation
• 8:56 Retrieval Practice
• 10:08 Stress
REFERENCES
• bulletproofmusician.com/to-li...
• doi.org/10.1177/0022429413520409
• bulletproofmusician.com/the-t...
• bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wile...
• bulletproofmusician.com/regul...
• www.jstor.org/stable/40539318
• www.jstor.org/stable/23484712
• www.jstor.org/stable/26267749
• amzn.to/3AJe1Lp
• amzn.to/3AJe1Lp
• bulletproofmusician.com/evide...
• • 4 Incredibly Easy Tips...
• www.annualreviews.org/doi/epd...
• doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00777
• www.annualreviews.org/doi/epd...
• amzn.to/3AJe1Lp
• www.annualreviews.org/doi/epd...
• www.jstor.org/stable/48645695
• doi.org/10.1525/mp.2007.24.4.377
• amzn.to/3AJe1Lp
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB...
• bulletproofmusician.com/stres...
• doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5067
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Other than my camera info, I have all of my recommendations listed on my website store:
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- Camera 1: iPhone 12 Pro
- Camera 2: iPad 11 Pro
- iPhone Tripod: amzn.to/3NMDMig

[@edcohen9843]

Thank you, Diego! I'm not a guitarist, but a saxophonist. And I appreciate your excellent, clear discussion on the techniques of memorization.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thank you so much!

[@musicd3vil]

As a Classical pianist this has helped me to memorize difficult peices.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

That’s great to hear! I’m very happy to have helped. Thank you for your comment. 🙏🏽

[@gv1014]

Great strategy. Thank you.

[@katiastefanova7600]

amazing teacher

[@jimperonaguitar]

Wonderful, Maestro!

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Jim!!! Thanks so much! Please share with your students :)

[@johnwisdom5213]

Your videos have some seriously good content. Thank you!

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thanks so much John! Glad to hear you like them. Comments like yours motivate me to create more more of the same. :)

[@nickk8416]

Thank You for these ideas! Outside of muscle memory I don't have one. :) Maybe some of this will work. I'll try these many ideas.

[@gtberg]

Mnemonics is good. I used that through college to help me memorize things in history classes. Got an A from it. Songs with a lot of chords give me problems. I'm working on creating pictures representing the chords, so I can create movies in my brain to help short term memory.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Great idea! Memorizing the chord shapes visually and by touch is very helpful. Thanks for commenting!

[@johnnyjaime123]

This is the best produced lesson I've seen on KZbin. Concise, yet complete explanations. Time markers with proper titles to remember the topic. Proper visual cues. Clear language. Perfect video. I hope you get more subscribers someday so you can make more videos like this.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thank you so much for such a nice comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the video!

[@jillmcaleese6514]

I appreciated the clear concise well paced presentation

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thanks so much for commenting! Glad you liked it :)

[@jeffh5388]

Thank you for such a professional and accurate explanation. It’s nice to hear advice from a real pro. Thank you Diego “10 stars”

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thank you so much for your comment!

[@billclarkcomposer7719]

Excellent video.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for commenting!

[@StevenBrener]

Should really bookmark this one. Lots of great material and suggestions in here - but need to view many times for it to start sinking in.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Great suggestion, Steven! I just made the timestamps much clearer. I appreciate the feedback! I’m also planning on making more detailed videos on each strategy at a much more natural pace. This one came out a bit rushed!

[@RanBlakePiano]

Helpful!

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thank you so much!

[@stevegardiner8627]

This is my favorite video on memorizing music and I've watched alot of them. Two music books that I have found helpful on this subject, are 'Practicing Music By Design' by Christopher Berg and 'The Musicians Way' by Gerald Klickenstein.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Both of those boos are wonderful. Check out Peak and Make it Stick as well. Thanks for commenting!

[@joel6427]

That is excellent information, Diego. Speaking of memory, you reminded me that I have the book!

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Ha! That’s a great book. One of my favorites.

[@alvendi2012]

You forgot that you had the memorization book? 🤣

[@rafaelgomez1989]

Just discovered your CHANNEL = 5 STARS indeed, high-quality content. Will do all your recommendations. Gracias Diego !!!! - you just won a new subscriber here

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Awesome, thank you!

[@elenamusic763]

Great tips

[@alexpishvanov736]

Forced to reduce speed of the video to 0.75 to catch the info. You are speaking so fast ))) Thank you for clear explanations ) will fix some of my wrong habits in memorizing music )

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Good to know! I’ll be posting detailed videos of many of these strategies in the future as well so please look out for those. Thanks!

[@RobBudge]

Lots of great info. I will be trying this with piano music. Thanks.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thanks Rob! 😃

[@ayarezk8684]

You are a fantastic teacher! I started playing music after the age of 30 and it feels really tough. These tips actually helped me through medical school but I never considered them for music. Such a great insight, and your evidence-based scientific supplement material is the chef's kiss!

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thanks for your comment Aya! :)

[@eugeniustheodidactus8890]

My piano life is _a recall attempt!_ I only memorize music, and have never sight-read anything. I use the "Rubenstien Method" of playing it 5x correctly, using 5 coins. If you practice with stress... you will learn to perform it with stress, and this is an awful trap.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Yes! Totally agree. Thank you for commenting!

[@samrogers9515]

very good video

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thanks for your comment!

[@sovereign142]

I thought that musicians had a special talent and I should not try to memorize the music. How wrong am I I hope my teacher notices!!

[@LibertyWarrior68]

Backed by science, doesn't give me a lot of confidence, but let's continue.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

I know what you mean. There’s a lot of pretty bad “science” out there that isn’t empirical or isn’t carried out using proper statistical tools. There’s also the problem of having too much confidence in single-study results. Because of this I make sure to only list top-tier research and do my best to list validated results when possible. Of course, some studies are new and are, consequently, single-result publications. As long as we understand that all properly executed empirical research simply suggests a probability of results rather than definitive or absolute results, than we can try out the strategies presented knowing that there’s a fair to high chance that they’ll work for us. I like to find good publications that may give most people a high probability of success, but of course, nothing is guaranteed. Thanks for commenting!

[@guitarplay888]

Really informative and substantial practice information. Very fast 💨 in explaining it all though. It’s hard to catch all that your saying.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Thanks Guitar Play! I know 🫣 I tried to go through it pretty quickly to keep the video succinct. But don’t worry; I’m planning on posting detailed videos on each of these strategies in the future! Thanks again for your comment and support!

[@jrcello]

Noah is a violinist

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Oops, I misspoke. Just fixed it. Thanks for letting me know!

[@Krzyshtoph]

why does it say it was released 5 days ago? I've been seeing lots of his videos what were supposedly released in recent days that are older videos. What is going on?

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Hi there! That’s very strange. On my end YT displays that my video was posted on July 16, 2022. Not sure why you’re seeing a release five days ago. 😵‍💫

[@lunchmind]

chunking and chaining. hOlistic.

[@guidofeliz8384]

What is your nationality?

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Hi Guido! I was born in Peru and raised in the US. :)

[@guidofeliz8384]

@@DiegoAlonsoMusic : Peru? Are you a Trump or Biden guy?

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

I prefer to keep my channel non-political.

[@guidofeliz8384]

@@DiegoAlonsoMusic : Your answer is very political. I can see right through the words but whatever.

[@sandrafrancis3631]

​@@guidofeliz8384No sane person would support Trump! Why even ask? Does this guy look crazy? I don't think so!😅

[@stevensynhorst1217]

Diego: Great concepts and video production. ---- But you talk too fast - much too fast. Maybe not for fellow musicians, but for we pupils. we need a bit of time to absorb the brilliance of what have just said. Poor instructional technique. You advise mini breaks in practice; I advise it in your presentation, after each paragraph or key phrase. That is when we might learn a bit. If you rush us on we will retain little. And we may search elsewhere.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Hi Steven! Thanks for your feedback. You’re right, I definitely rush through these concepts. In retrospect I should have broken this up onto 2 parts. But…I am planning on making individual videos on many of these concepts to help break down some of their nuances (at a slower speaking speed)! :) Thanks again!

[@williamash6776]

I liked that you presented quickly. We can always stop to read, or go back to repeat. So many too wordy presentations on Youtunbe. You're always on point, thanks!

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

@williamash6776 Thank you so much for your comment! I was a bit worried about my speaking speed, but you’re right. The option to slow down the video is super helpful when needed. Thanks again!