Any tips for visual learners?

Whistle
21

Moxy, I think we have some confusion here…I am primarliy( no one is ever totally one thing or the other) a visual learner…I have poor auditory memory, but that does NOT mean I do not have a good ear…I can HEAR the differences in notes..I can HEAR when a piece changes key…I can play a piece I know without written notes and I can HEAR if it is right or not…if I am singing and I go flat trying to reach a high note, I can HEAR that I have gone flat…I just don’t remember WHAT I have heard easily. People who do not have a good ear cannot tell if a note is higher or lower than another note or how many intervals bertween notes..for them I can imagine learning music would be really hard, so I guess i should not complain too much.

Here is another example of what it means to be visually wired…I can run into someone I have met once and I will remember that face and where I met that person..but for the life of me I will not remember their name. Visual learners are usually good spellers…they remember what the word looks like.

22

Most likely the confusion is on my part, because as I said, I have difficulty relating to people who are not like me. However, I do understand that some people will need the sheet music to get started. And to those people I wish they would get it, because it’s how they work, it’s what they need to get started.

However, as you’ve said, your issue is in the memorization of tunes. My memory works in shapes and relationships - how I get to those shapes and relationships is beyond me… I’ve been playing music for over 30 years, and perhaps that has something to do with it. But whatever means you need to get to that is what you should go for.

I can only make suggestions based on my experience. Sometimes my suggestions are really not apropos, depending what you’re like and what you need… Sorry about that, I know there’s more ways than mine to get to anything.

But it seems there are some really good suggestions being made on this thread, and you also seem to have a direction you know will work for you.

I support you in your quest for a solution!!

23

Ugh, I know just where you’re at with that. I think this is part of why I’m finding it helpful to switch around between several different tutorials – I get so sick of the tunes in one that I need to switch to another for a while.

Tony, I am not sure why using ABC notation would be better than using regular notation…

I was wondering about this too, but then I realized that I use ABC files in a similar way – I make BarFly play the tune several times before I pick up the whistle. And (somewhat unrelated to the discussion at hand, but interesting nonetheless) I find that I get a paradoxical effect from listening to the “uninflected” computerized version of a tune – my mind likes to rebel against the flatness of the automated version, so it adds lilt and ornamentation to it as I listen. So in a way, I get a more creative, personalized version from this than from imitating a human-generated recording.

Jeff….learning style theory is pretty well grounded…..I think it is much more than a habit….it is how your particular brain is wired…

I’ll second this – at the university learning center, they even had standardized tests to determine which learning modalities you’re wired for, then modules of suggestions to help you leverage the benefits and work around the drawback of your innate wiring style. I’ve thought about it a bunch, and for me at least, it feels as just as innate as being right or left handed, being able to run 3D calculus problems in my head, etc.

I find tunes with words are much easier to remember than straight tunes.

Me too. I’ve gotten a number of collections of folks songs from the library, because I find it easier to learn songs with words and play them expressively. When I feel like doing something mundane, I transcribe them into ABC, make the computer play them so I get the tune right, and sort of sing along inside my head (since my singing-out-loud is so ghastly).

I am not sure that ‘visual’ people do not have good ears…..at least not necessarily. ….it is just hard when you can’t remember what you have just heard…

Yeah, it’s more a matter of memory than tone recognition. I can tell if an instrument is is in tune or not, well enough to re-carve the holes on one of my whistles to bring it into tune. I even have a vague sense of absolute pitch, where I can recognize whether an isolated note is a D or C or whatever, but only when I’m feeling relaxed – if I get at all frustrated I get flustered and immediately lose the knack. It’s just remembering sequences of notes that mess me up – when I play with interval recognition software, I can often recognize the absolute pitch of one of the notes, but then fail to recognize the interval… or if I get the interval, I can’t tell the pitch. It’s kind weird, now that I think about it…

24

Hmm, all this has reminded me of something kind of weird that’s going on in my life as we type. I’ve spent the last 8 months or so as the voluntary subject of an ongoing psychopharmacology experiment, i.e. a long odyssey through various combinations of antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds. I was on massive doses of effexor through the holidays, and it had a most annoying side effect – wherever one goes that time of year, one hears cheezy holiday music, and it would stick in my head in absolute cheez-whiz detail, down to the oooh-aaah background vocals and sappy strings.

Now, starting yesterday, we’re re-trying Effexor as part of a different chemical cocktail, and I’m starting to notice that my whistle tunes are already sticking in my head much better than they did a few days ago. So maybe this musical memory stuff really is chemically hard-wired into the brain…

But on the down side, my train-wreck gawker status over on the Serpent Freebies thread has gotten Cher singing “Quadrapodes, jerks and snobes” endlessly looping in my head. Serves me right, eh?

25

Cool, didn’t know anything about that, as I’d always heard of “visual” and “aural/auditory” learning in a pretty informal context. Then, my post just boils down to, “I, too, am a visual learner, but I’ve found my aural learning skills to have improved rapidly by depriving myself of my normal learning habits.” Let us know how it goes for you!

26

Hi. I too am a visual learner. Don’t worry, it’s OK!

The method that I’ve settled on is to first get the tune from hearing it, whether from CD, class or session (tape it). I never start from sheet music. That way it goes into your brain through the ears first, not the eyes. I then transcribe the tune. The act of hearing it and then writing it down is part of the “fixing” process for me. After transcribing, I play along with the recording, or by myself. I only look at the music when I stumble over a part of the tune. Eventually the transcription is not necessary and it goes into the tune bank if I should ever need a refresher later.

It does take a lot longer to write them down. But otherwise, it flies right in one ear and out the other, resulting in much more (frustrating) time spent and fewer tunes learned. Sure I can hear it, and I can play it - I just can’t remember it! This way I can at least learn a few tunes a week when I’m being good and practicing!

One person’s tool may be called a crutch by another, but I try to avoid thinking in those terms. I think we should do whatever works for us. As long as we can get the results we want and have fun doing it!

Good luck and have fun!

Heather M.