Building Memories

Greetings, dear students!

Here we are, already up to the third Sunday of Advent!  How did 2011 go by so very quickly?

I'm guessing that many of you are headed into a week full of concerts, and almost all of you will be dealing with stir-crazy students hopped up on too much sugar and the promise of the imminent winter break.  This being the case, I'll try to keep things extra short and simple.

So, I was sitting in a church service this morning and we sang a hymn tune I particularly like (I've included it below for the rising level 4's), and I decided to see how much of it I thought I could sing from memory in letter names (and by sing, I mean audiate -- I think the person giving the sermon wouldn't have appreciated my little game very much if it had happened out loud).  It only took a few minutes, and I was able to do it in a moment when I had to be sitting someplace quietly, but where I could divide my aural attention -- this would be a great bus-riding activity, or possibly driving, but be judicious on that one...I don't want to be responsible for anyone getting into an audiation-related car wreck.  It's also nice to have a lovely new tune committed to memory, and that way you can share it with a friend or loved one.

The procedure will be basically the same for all levels.  Take a couple days with each of the steps below:

Step 1: Listen to the tune a few times until you have it memorized (words are optional for my purposes, but you will probably want to learn them for your own use).  Determine the form of the piece and start to think of it in phrases as you memorize, since that will help you with the steps below.

Step 2: Start to solmize the tune phrase-by-phrase.  The rising 2's and 3's will keep the same solfa all the way through, but the 4's may choose to modulate if they wish.  If you opt to modulate (which you could do more than one time, as it turns out...), be sure to keep track of where you've gone by remembering your original "do" -- otherwise, you'll be a little sunk for the next step.

Step 3: Once you can fluently sing the piece by memory in solfa, try singing it in rhythm names.  Then, find a comfortable key for your voice, and start singing the tune in letter names.  If things get muddled in the middle (especially for you 4's!), try for the first and last phrase and work inward.  Once you're pretty sure you've got it right, write it down and check your notation (I'll leave the tracking down of a notational source to you so as to reduce the temptation to give up too soon).

What tripped you up?  What was easy?  Did you find it easier to commit the notes or the words (if you used them) to memory?  Did you find that your memory of the tune was tied to your memory of the text?  My hunch is that they will go together, simply because of the kinds of tunes being used.

Rising Level 2's


Take a listen to this lovely tune from Annie Lennox's new album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7s_zaF74gc

Rising Level 3's


I'm not crazy about the long pauses at the end of each phrase, but I think the voice on this old LP is quite sweet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_u07i1YdGY

Rising Level 4's


Again, there are some funny phrase things happening here -- if you find a recording of the tune "Jerusalem" (which is the same tune) that's more straightforward, feel free to bring it to my attention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lpUk3UTJ14

I apologize for being so churchy...if you'd prefer to substitute something a bit more secular, but of a comparable level of difficulty, please feel free!

Enjoy!