Mental practice
A good way to memorize a piece of music is to sing it (in its entirety!) to yourself. If you have watched the movie The Red Violin, notice the part where the little boy and his teacher sings a symphony backwards. That is also very very effective and I have never seen someone do it.
So…
1. Start singing! Out loud better than in a whisper, and use Solfege if possible, or just “la” or “dun”.
2. Include all the articulations, dynamics, phrasing, etc. As if you were actually playing the instrument. This helps you to always think about these things, adding consistency to your playing
3. Be in tune. Pay attention to the intervals between notes. Instrumentalists (exclude pianists) have a hard time with intonation most of the times, so exaggerate the major and augmented intervals, see how they sound, and adjust until every note is in tune to the previous and the proceeding notes. If it sounds wrong in your head and when you sing it, it’s probably wrong (or even way off)
*Carry a tuning fork if you do not have perfect pitch*
4. Location: I like to sing while walking somewhere, or when I am taking a walk as my daily exercise (yesterday I was singing in an urban forest). The rhythm of my steps becomes my metronome whenever I am mental practising. If you don’t have the luxury to space out time to walk around, do pick somewhere where you can hear yourself.
I have to say sometimes this is way more fun than the regular practise routine. Great for travelling musicians, the injured, and extremely busy individuals, and it really works. Happy singing!
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