Msg #4B: One Guy's Learning Process

My music-learning process has changed a great deal since my first Harmony Brigade, and the difference is amazing.  I can't read music (or so I thought, because I was comparing myself to people who are really trained, and can sight-read like mad).

So I started out with learning tracks for my part, and nothing but repetition.   That worked - but it also burned my mistakes into my brain so fiercely, that fixing them was a nightmare.

Now, first of all - I use the music at least every few days.  Just because I can't sight read at speed, doesn't mean I can't learn something from the music.  (And looking at the music is improving my reading skills...)  I (like others) don't start out with my part-predominant track.  I put the song on full-mix and repeat, and listen for things like movement of melody between parts, pick-ups, rhythmic and dynamic changes.  Then I leave the music on repeat and just go about my business, and let my subconscious take over.

Then I learn my part.  And it goes a LOT faster.

I make a point of using part-predominant tracks by shifting right (to the other 3 parts) and left (to my own).  I listen to my left-shifted part as often as I sing it - I have learned I can spot my mistakes just by silently singing along, and hearing differences.  I sing with the 3 parts just to practice without leaning (and that's a good time to use Ted's learning information above.  I mark up my book - and then I check the marks to see if I'm still wrong.  (Since I mostly use pencil, I'm willing to erase those marks when I think I've fixed things.)

When words flummox me (and they do) I try anticipating the words phrase by phrase.  So, say the pitch blows on the track, and I quickly say "In the apartment above me, there is the lovingest (lovingest) pair.  I do that through the entire song - checking whether I know what's coming against what actually comes.

Then I go to a run-through - and discover that 95% accuracy isn't 100% accuracy.  And the first time I rehearse after the run-through, I focus on my book, and my mistakes.  That's the quickest way to fix them that I know.

I've shrunk my learning time by more than half since I started using these techniques.  By the end of this summer, I'll have changed or added to my methods.  Because, as I said in my previous post - Kaizen....