There seems to be a bit of discussion about the value and technique of memorizing songs. I, for one, have never had any luck memorizing songs and so depend on tabs. I've always wondered what does memorizing actually mean in this case. Do you think of the hole number when you play, do you think of the note, do you not think of anything and just rely on muscle memory. And if the last case is so can you start in the middle somewhere if need be. Do some of you actually see the tabs in your "mind's-eye" and if that is the case, how does that differ from just reading tab.
For those who look at reading tab as a crutch, what about all the classical musicians who have the sheet music in front of them. I've heard it said that one can't play as well from reading music, but again, all the classical musicians ability to translate the composers wishes to portray the emotional content of the piece would proove that wrong.
Interestingly, the senses, i.e. sight and sound, etc. go through a gland that analyzes the danger in the signal before it actually gets to the brain. (fight or flight) and this may serve as a way to allow an instantaneous emotional addition to the playing. But I may be going out on a limb on this last point.
Any way, this is my defense of using tab. What do you all think about this issue?

I think that the main value of memorising tabs is that you do not need to take your music (be it on paper or laptop or phone) and that you just have the ability to pick up your harmonica and play. This makes easier/a lot less hassle.

For the songs that I do know without tabs, I play by thinking what the note should sound like rather than thinking next hole is a -4. That and muscle memory. From this, if I get distracted when playing by memory, I mess up and have to regain my thoughts, as it were, to continue.

You use the example of classical musicians. Firstly, I can garantee that every classical musician in an orchestra of a decent standard will be able to play their music without the sheets. They use it more as a guidline. I say this from friends who are in orchestras. Granted if they have not played something in a while they may prefer sheet music. But their standard is high enough that they are able to play the bits they can't remember by ear.

The reason why they have sheet music, is so that they know what is happening as far as everyone else is doing, and just in case they forget, which is always a possibility to matter how well one knows a song/musical piece.

Additionally, with the emotional content, there is the conductor. If you take the same piece of music with the same orchestra, but you have a different conductor and you hear the music twice. Each one, with a different conductor. The emotional content will be different due to the conductor.

But all in all, IMHO, without tabs, it looks better/more proffesional. Allows more versitility, since you do not need them with you all time - less hassle.

When I'm memorizing music, I remember what the song sounds like and which holes to play to get it that way. (So, yes. It means remembering the hole number.) This sometimes involves visualizing the tabs, which differs from just reading the tabs in that I only have to "see" the part that I don't yet have fully committed to memory. It also differs in that seeing it with the minds eye trains the mind to memorize the notes better than just reading each and every note. After a while, all that just fades away on it's own 'til you find yourself playing by muscle memory.

"I've heard it said that one can't play as well from reading music..."
Well, now wait a minute...If you're playing by yourself or if you're in a small band this would be true. You can prolong or shorten notes as you please and you can throw in extra notes...all to add your own inflection to the music. But if you're one of several horns (or whatever) within a band of a few dozen other musicians, you'd better not be doing your own thing. You have to follow the music and the conductor to a T. The sheet music is essential even if you have it memorized. Lindsi is right on target about the orchestral musicians. I can vouch for it from experience in high school band.

PS:
Don't try to learn the whole darn song all at one time. Just learn a phrase...Then the next phrase...Then put those two phrases together...Then learn the next phrase. How hard is it to learn "O, holy night?" How hard is it to learn "The stars are brightly shining?" Those aren't very complicated phrases, especially after you've memorized them. So how hard would it be to play together two simple phrases that you can easily play? "O holy night. The stars are brightly shining." Then learn "It is the night of our dear saviour's birth." Etc.

PPS:

While your mind is engaged in an intellectual activity such as reading, it's difficult to exude such emotion as this....OR THIS!!

"Hey, Walt, play 'O Holy Night' for us."

1. "OK. Let's see...Where's my tab..." (Then stares blankly and fixedly at the sheet of paper while playing, unable to close his eyes and play from the soul.)

2. Picks up harp and starts playing, unconsiously shaping eyebrows and swaying while soulfully wailing "Fall on your knees. Oh, hear the angel voices..."

Which looks/sounds better to you?



Post Edited (2011-05-14 22:06:30)

When I play a song from memory, I think of the tune in my head and don't think of the notes or which hole I am playing next, I just play along, although both those are stored in your brain but since you have memorized them you don't actually realize that your brain is going the whole process of telling you what note or hole is next and how long to hold it. I don't see sheet music as a crutch, I also agree with 03lindsi, as I also played in an orchestra, we used sheet music at every concert, but sometimes in practise the conductor would make us play a song that everyone had to memorize, and although we could all play the song someone would always get a little behind or ahead of everyone else, his point was that yes you can memorize a song and it sounds good to you, but when it comes down to playing with a group you all need to have the sheet music in front of you along with a conductor to make sure that everyone is doing the right thing at the right time. I remember my first duet, I played the violin, but was just learning the viola, and one of our two violaist couldn't make a concert, so I got to play the duet, I was nervous because if I made a mistake there was only two of us playing and on different sides of the stage so there would be no doubt who made the mistake, I was really glad to have my sheet music and my conductor, who actually gave me the courage to get up there and play, and because of both I made it through what seemed like 5 hours of playing, it was actually 2 minutes, without a mistake.

Gee Walt, the value for me is in the ability to just pick the thing up and play my favourite tunes. The ones that I never get sick of no matter how much I listen to them. I have enough of them stored to go through my list in about half an hour. So whenever I have some time, I just play them each once. I would like to think that it was so I could play some tunes in front of friends when camping or the like, but the reality is that I am just not brave enough to do it.

When learning each song, I visualize the tabs. A handful at a time and keep adding until it get it. After an unknown period of time I don’t think about the tabs and I think about the song. I like this part because I get to mess around with the song a little depending on my mood, like holding parts longer, speeding up in bits. I make the song what I want and how I remembered them but I tend to keep to the correct notes. Others may think I have wrecked the song, but who cares, it’s the way I want it. Again, at some point unknown, I know it well enough that I can start at any point within the song but it is well after the point of just remembering the tabs. Eventually the tabs go from the memory and I would have a hard time putting a song from the head onto paper.

I know if I ever had to play with someone else, I would need the tabs in front of me, if for no other reason than to read the words to get the timing. But sadly that scenario is unlikely.

Be careful of Gene’s comment or suggestion about O Holy Night, if some of us fall to our knees, there will be Knee/Hip replacements required. At the very least the embarrassment of requiring assistance getting back up again. Add a few Christmas drinks and it could be a disaster.

"...Be careful of Gene’s comment or suggestion..."

The trick is to let them think you're crying over the song...not the pain.

I'm not sure how common this is, but memorizing for me looks like this in my mind when I'm playing:

Start on 7. Blow, blow, suck, down one and suck, blow, blow, down one and blow, blow, up one and suck, blow, down one and blow, down one and blow.

I guess my thought pattern is sort of like a busy porn star at work >.> But yeah, there aren't actual numbers in my mind other than the starting point, and from there I just remember how many I have to go up or down, and if I have to suck or blow. What's so funny? >.>

But I really don't see any value in memorizing anything unless you're a professional musician, and I very much am not. If I'm going to bring my mouth organ anywhere it's not a big deal for me to bring a few tabs with me too.

In the end, it looks like memorizing is very individual thing and not all that important to many. Important thing is that we keep picking up the little bugger, playing it and challenging our skills from time to time.

i see numbers in my head but well limited 30 notes per / song ehh short memory

First of all, I want to thank every one for such thoughtful comments on this topic. I'm a living room player for the most part and I love having access to a thousand or so songs that I play regularly. I do love to play Oh Holy Night and I feel I can put a bit of emotion into it, probably because I feel so much emotion about it. I've found that playing by tab for so many years there is a lot of muscle memory kicking in. The whole issue of being able to play a song as I walk down the road, or sit by a campsite is what I give up. Until I get those magic goggles. I would reccomend to any new player to memorize secondly and learn to play by ear, firstly. All that being said, if the playing is good enough no one is going to care if you have a music stand, computer, or a little thing to clip on to the harp.
Again, thanks everyone
Walt

LOL..."A little thing to clip on the harp."

Wow! Now THAT'S what I call near-sighted!

Playing without tab is just like humming a tune for me. I have a notebook with about 150 tunes I like to play and it just has the title and the first note (which hole and which direction). If I get the first note right the rest falls into place. I don't use that notebook a lot anymore. I am starting to learn to read tab better and use it more. I have tabbed out about a hundred tunes but rarely read my own tab, I did it to share with new players. When I started playing 10 years ago I learned my way around the diatonic using tabs from the internet so making some tabs now is just paying it forward for me. I played guitar and mandolin for 30 years, 6 in a band without a music stand to read from, so perhaps I've trained myself to memorize. It certainly wasn't any natural talent I was born with.

without realizing it, everyone plays music by Memory as much as they can. Written music, whether tabs or sheet music, becomes nothing more than a "reminder on the way" while You are playing. You study a piece of music first, get your head around all the riffs, note-patterns etcetera, and in the end You just use Your piece of paper like "what's next again, Ohhh yeah, that's it", like "talking You through it" so to speak.
That's what I think anyway.

I'm horribly bad at learning tabs by hard. I must confess I only know 3 phone numbers by hard, and a tab is like a REALLY long phone number, so no success is to be expected there. But in a way, I think I do sort of memorize songs. I know how they should sound, but to make them sound like that I need a tab.

i usually memorize my song...but in my brain is not thinking what the next i must blow...i only thinking the next more higher or lower, something with memorize u can add the emotion u fill in it(add higher blow or isn't ) ... so if i must wrote it i usually need time to translate it to note... i must try it one hole by one hole and write it...cuz i not really memorize what hole i blow but the sound itself, and the movement of my mouth

Well my grandpa - when he sang opera arias he always were studying sheet notes every time he had to sing again same roles Otello, Turandota, Nabucco, Aida, Il Travotore, Tosca and his role list going to 60 roles sure he sang Otello for 40 years but he still had to read sheet notes every time before he had his performance.

My grandpa
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My grandpa is second best Latvian tenor
First one was this guy but he died at age 37 from brain tumor
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What a beautiful post and thread! I've been practicing away, bin' getting pretty good at jumping in while other people are playing and singing songs, but never been all too great at memorizing them perfectly myself. Im going to put more of an effort on trying to learn a few specific songs I love oh so dearly!

Im going to try to hear the tones in my head!
Cheers everyone!

I normally print a tab sheet begin playing by reading the tabs. I do this just to get a feel on how it sounds. I might even try playing on different harps. Eventually, I write the tabs done in a notebook and begin memorizing segements as I play. Nontheless, I slowly begin see the tabs in my head as I play. It does help to have the lyrics below the tabs especially when dragging out a word with more than one blow or draw.

When I am able to play with not much thought, it is fun to try playing the song in a different posistion. Like others mentioned in the thread, keep picking up the harmonica and play.

I am hopeless at memorising, but the very few songs I did manage to remember was from continuous practice days on end.

Normally take in tabs to play - make an excuse and hope that my playing 'makes up for it'.

Nothing wrong with a 'cheat sheet' imho

For what it's worth, here's my 2 drachmas: I don't read sheet music worth a flip. I CAN read it, but not fast enough to play a song from it. When I took piano, I would learn the song from cover to cover and then play it from memory. I have forgotten most of the songs that I learned, but that's another story. In the same way, harmonica tabs help me pick up songs for playing on the harmonica that aren't already ingrained in my repetoire. I haven't played in a while, so I'd probably have to brush up on most of the songs that I used to play.

Part of the appeal of a harmonica, at least in my opinion, is that you can play it anywhere and at practically any time, so for that kind of impromptu performance, having songs committed to memory is the way to go.

The way that most tabs are written here, you need to be familiar with the song in the first place, as rhythm (note length) isn't always easy to express, so if you don't know what the song is supposed to sound like, knowing which holes to blow/draw isn't going to do you much good.

Most of the tabs I've contributed, I either wrote them down because I knew them well enough, I didn't have to stop and think about it, or it was a song I was trying to perfect, so writing it down as a tab helped me put it into memory.

Tabs are useful tools for learning songs, especially since it doesn't necessarily matter what key your harmonica is in. As long as the tab was written for a major key harp, you can use any major key harp you please, and the song will sound fine. Likewise if it was written for a minor key harp, pick any minor key harp you choose. Unless you have a need to be concerned with playing in a particular key, then you need to know which harp will allow you to play that song in the appropriate key. (Just because you're playing on a C Major harp, doesn't mean you're playing in C Major. ) This doesn't mean, however, that you necessarily want to play from a tab when performing, so use tabs as a tool to help you get the song into your mental database, so you don't have to use it when you decide to impress your friends with a rousing rendition of "Goober Peas."

Adieu! (Or is that, "Adoughnt"?)

PCGuyIV