Memory retention for songs. Does it change with age?

[RABid]

For the past year we have been going to a church much closer to my house. They asked me to cover for the drummer this week. I had not played drum in public for 45 years and when I do play is it usually rock songs from the 70’s and 80’s. They sent me the list of song/artist for the week and I built a play list in Apple Music. Wow. I had never played modern gospel so it was new style, new songs, and I could tell a lot of the recordings were drum machine. A person only has two hands and two feet. These songs had a lot more. Anyway, …

 

When I came out of high school I could hear a song once and then play it on drums, something I could never do on keys. It was locked in my brain and I was ready to go. I listened to the playlist about 20 times, then Saturday I played drums along with the list 5 times. When I played keys in bands, and before that drums in bands, I played like the record. But learning these songs … wow. I sent the music director a message and he told me to just focus on tempo and dynamics. But, I am wondering, is my difficulty in learning and retaining new songs a product of playing a new style, age, or being out of practice? Do people over 60 have more difficulty retaining new music?

 

By the way, we had our only practice an hour before service. I was a nervous wreck until we practiced the first song. I then realized that no one was playing like the recordings so I emptied my mind and played the songs in my style. It seems to have gone over really well.

[Anderton]

1 hour ago, RABid said:

I then realized that no one was playing like the recordings so I emptied my mind and played the songs in my style. It seems to have gone over really well.

 

That's the real takeaway: experience is your friend.

[Stokely]

I have always had a good memory for the music, and an awful one for lyrics.  I've been singing Don't You Forget About Me since the late 80s and I still manage to mess up lyrics on it.   "Emptying your mind" is actually not bad advice, it seems the harder I try to remember words before I sing the worse I do at it.  And I've tried reminders with limited success--Once I'm reading, I need to read or I'm lost.

Our lead singer is always ready with a harmony line (whether there is one on the song or not) for every song I sing.  

I'm slowly improving at this, I think it's mostly a confidence thing.  If I think I'll remember words, I probably will  

[Notes_Norton]

I'm having a bit more difficult memorizing music that I did years ago.

 

I don't know if it's age, the song memory bank is full, the fact that we have over 600 songs in our book, I don't have the time to apply myself like I once did ... or ...

 

With >600 songs and a house gig, we constantly learn new ones, mostly audience requests mixed with a few we think they would like and a few for our own pleasure. I make our own backing tracks, so it's the drums, bass, keys, strings, brass, or whatever goes into the rhythm/comp section, leaving out the two most fun parts to play for Mrs. Notes and myself.

 

(or...) I put a chart or words/chords up on a laptop, and when I get to work, I read. The more I play it, the more I remember, but I think when reading, you never really memorize it well.

 

After a while I can glance at the first word or first few notes and sing/play a few lines and eventually an entire A or B section. The ones I learned years ago, and play again and again (audience favorites) are finally memorized, but the ones that we don't play every week still need a glance to get a part started.

 

I don't mind, and the audience doesn't seem to mind.

 

With backing tracks, you can't screw up, but we both occasionally do, and the other duo member usually helps the goofed up one back on track. Or else it's an adventure, a lot of ad-libbing until we recognize where we are supposed to be. The audience never knows.

 

So actually, I suspect it's a little of all of the above.

 

Notes ♫

 

 

[RABid]

You know, that is one positive with playing at church. You do have access to piano/lyric score. I might offer to play synth some time and see if having the music in front of me helps with the stage fright I feel when playing keys. 

[Nowarezman]

Could be your nerves were messing with your confidence - a sure-fire way to prohibit locking in and just jumping in and going.  

 

I do think, in very general terms, that there's a slow drift as you age from being aware of uniqueness to being aware of similarities.  The musician brain codes those early musical experiences onto a blank slate more or less.  As your memory collects over time a huge number of musical references, the songs kind of blur into each other a bit more.  Everything sounds a bit like something else.  

 

I think this change both gives and takes away.  Older artists can develop the ability to abstract rich essences in their creations with the simplest of techniques.   But it's very rare for older artists to just jump out at the audience with something blazingly new and obviously unique.

 

nat

 

 

[mcgoo]

I know for me, the better I've gotten at reading charts, the worse I am at memorizing. I do however try to only use charts as cheat sheets that I glance at as needed. I really hate the look of a rock band (worship or otherwise) with all the players glued to charts.

 

One thought when learning parts for a worship team. 90% (probably more) of the music is overproduced with layers & layers of parts. It's a losing battle trying to emulate the recordings, unless you go the modern route of playing with tracks (yuk! ... I know, get off my lawn...). However, in a worship setting, you're not playing Coldplay or Led Zeppelin (well, not typically). The point being, the music isn't as riff heavy & the parts aren't iconic. People won't notice that parts aren't verbatim. I tell my team to go for the big picture & season to taste. In rehearsal I'll ask players to adjust as needed to pull it all together.

[ProfD]

On 8/21/2023 at 4:25 PM, mcgoo said:

90% (probably more) of the music is overproduced with layers & layers of parts.

That's why default position when learning songs is to grab the harmonic and melodic elements using an electric piano sound.

 

Then, it's easy to go back and add the sounds that I call sprinkles (pads, bells, brass, etc.).

 

As far as memorization goes, sometimes it helps to have a cheat sheet with the song title, chord progression and key signature.😎

[KuruPrionz]

Some things are universal. 

People like to hear the chorus sung clearly, that is the part of the song that they remember and that matters to them.

People like a beat that feels natural and comfortable, not too fast, not too slow and not "tricky". 

 

If you provide both of those aspects, everyone will be happy. Relax and don't think too hard on this. You are not "lowering your standards" to play along with a group that doesn't spend much time practicing, you are becoming one with what is being done. There is no right or wrong if the music connects with the people. 

[George Toledo]

I think it’s probably more just being out of practice. If you had been playing regularly going into it, as you were listening to the material you’d be connecting with recent muscle memory. Put in the time playing along to the material, maybe even just tap along on a practice pad while listening a couple times, move to kit, run through. Make it a routine and you’ll just remember it without stressing the analytical part of the brain. I hope it works out!

[bill5]

No, that's ridiculous, it doesn't........I mean, it's.......

 

wait, what were we talking about again

[RABid]

Well, the church music director texted me during lunch today (Saturday) saying the drummer is sick and asking if I can play again tomorrow. I'm taking a much more relaxed approach this time. I guess last week was satisfactory.