How I Solved the Memory Problem

When I was young I had several traumatic experiences
with memory. On one occasion I stood up to play and
couldn’t remember the first note of the piece.

Not a very good thing for one’s confidence.

In fact it took many years before I felt at all ‘right,’
when performing, without a music stand in front of me.
Sure glad I got over it.

And here’s what I did.

I FORCED myself – and at first my little gray cells
strained with the effort – to ‘see’ the music in my
mind’s eye while playing. And I didn’t only do it with
the violin under my chin. At night I would visualize
myself playing through my newly memorized repertoire in
my head as I lay in bed.

Yes, it did tend to wake me up a bit.

Yet once I relaxed and fell asleep I slept great,
knowing there was something in my head I could recall at
will rather than only when the stars were aligned in my
favor.

I still do this today.

Over the years I’ve created new challenges to my memory.
I will count out loud while I visualize and play. I
will even dance hip-hop steps around the living room while
counting.

In recent days I’ve begun incorporating something new
into my arsenal of memory. Now I’m memorizing ‘the
changes,’ as jazz players refer to the flow of harmonies
that make up a piece.

If I know on which beat or subdivision of a beat each
chord changes, and can improvise on them without getting
hopelessly lost, then it really doesn’t matter if I
momentarily forget Mr. Beethoven’s notes or not - with
all due respect.

The show will still go on.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. This month I am donating 20% of what comes into
Violin Mastery to two string programs, one here in
Sedona and one in Puerto Rico. It’s a great time to get the course you’ve had your eye on.