Memorizing a musical composition does not always come easily, but it is an endeavor that is well worth the effort. Music students will often have no choice: they are required to play from memory. But even if you play your instrument merely as a hobby, it is always a gratifying experience to be able to play a piece by heart whenever you feel like doing so.
Patience and consistency will prove to be your best friends when you set out to memorize a composition. True, on some days, it may seem that your memory is worse than ever. Don’t worry, though: that is a natural phenomenon. We all have good days, and bad ones. The important thing is to keep at it every single day, in order to make consistent progress. Even if, on a bad day, you only manage to memorize one short measure of the score, this is better than nothing. And almost invariably, the day following a “bad” one will be much better, and you will find it much easier to learn the next measures.
If you tend to anger easily, don’t waste your time getting mad because you can’t seem to remember a passage. Simply go back to the score, look it over again, find the part that you aren’t so sure about, and re-learn it. Patience is the name of the game. Dedicate a certain amount of your daily practice time to conscious memorization of some part of your piece, and before you know it, you will be playing the entire work by heart!
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