Abstract
The intention of this basic qualitative study was to investigate the ways in which professional guitarists describe their musical memory, in an attempt to develop a conceptual understanding of musical memory from a guitarist's point of view, including the guitarist's experience and understanding of musical memory. Research into the experiences of professional classical guitarists is limited, and there is not necessarily agreement on which method is best for developing musical memory. While the process of musical memory has been investigated in other groups of instruments, similarities and differences between instrumental approaches are not properly understood. Data were collected through live online interviews conducted with 12 professional concert guitarists, purposely selected for their impressive musical memory. The findings revealed that the caliber of recall and remembering for the purpose of performing without sheet music is highly dependent on the quality of the learning processes involved and also on the extent of truly understanding the music. A conceptual model was identified in which five main themes emerged: pre-learning; active learning; understanding; performance: preparation, alterations, and learning; and remembering. The conceptual model describes a continuous, circular process that applies to the learning process both pre- and post-performance.
This study explores the experiences of professional guitar players with regards to musical memory. While memorization is sometimes understood as the final phase of the learning process in which a western classical musician removes the necessity of reading the score, in this study we call this the process of learning to play without sheet music. We understand memorization as a broader process of storage and recall that spans the entire learning process from the first hearing of a musical composition until after its performance. Learning to play without sheet music is an important part of memorization, but not the whole of it. Several pedagogical works explicitly written for classical guitarists discuss strategies relating to memory formation, including Azabagic (2003), Bonell (2012), Glise (1997), Provost (1991), Isbin (1999), and Käppel (2016). However, only very limited empirical research specifically investigates memory from the perspective of a guitar player, an observation borne out by Musgrove Stetson (2017, p. 17). In an analysis of 185 articles on the pedagogy of memory in music, of which the earliest dates to 1872, Mishra (2010) notes that within research on musical memory, guitarists have featured less than other instruments. This is significant, as MacIntyre and Potter (2014) found that “instrumental culture” differed between pianists and guitarists and affected their participants’ motivation to play. This suggests that there may be differences in approach between instruments, pointing to the need for further study of specific instrumental groups, such as guitarists.
Models have been proposed by Susan Hallam (1997) and Jennifer Mishra (2005) that give overviews of the process of memory formation and musical learning. These models suggest various stages in the learning process. Hallam (1997) focusses on the learning process of a music student and discusses presage (student factors and teaching context), process (learning activities), and product (learning outcomes) as stages in this process. Mishra (2005) proposes four phases (enculturation, preview, practice, overlearning), each of which consists of several processes that musicians use to form musical memory. While both models are developed to explain the learning or memorization process in general, neither directly use empirical data as a starting point, and neither specifically address the process from a guitarist's point of view.
The formation of musical memory is a complex process, and musicians use a range of approaches to help them form memories. Memory strategies (Zhukov, 2009) in music are understood as those processes that musicians use to develop muscle, kinesthetic, or motor memory; methods for recalling visual and auditory information; and methods for enhancing or establishing conceptual or analytical memory (Ginsborg, 2004, p. 124). In addition to these strategies, other factors, such as the emotions or feelings of the performer and the physical environment in which the recall takes place also inform musical memory (Mishra, 2010, p. 18). Performers must be flexible to the challenges of the audience, hall, and other aspects of each performance environment, and this flexibility should also form part of the preparation process (Ginsborg, 2017, p. 89).
Beyond specific strategies for developing musical memory, it is also vital for musicians to understand the complete process of acquiring, consolidating, and sustaining musical memory and to systematically investigate the actual process, rather than relying on conventional descriptions of learning to play without sheet music, because such descriptions may be misleading (Mishra, 2010, p. 17). In this vein, learning to play a composition without the notated sheet music requires managing “cognitive, emotional, motivational, and strategic” skills (Concina, 2019, p. 1). Musicians’ metacognitive competence allows them to effectively self-regulate (plan, monitor, and regulate their own behaviors) their learning activity while preparing for a performance (Concina, 2019, p. 2). Self-regulation, motivation for practice, and metacognition are strongly related, and all contribute to the process of learning and remembering (Benton, 2014; Pintrich et al., 2000; Zimmerman, 1995). It is thus not only necessary to be aware of the different phases and characteristics of the learning process and strategies that can be applied; it is also important to put these strategies into action and to monitor and reflect critically upon the current educational experience.
An important area of research concerning musical memory has made use of performance cue protocols. Performance cues can be described as memory landmarks that form a mental map or conceptual memory of a piece (Ginsborg, 2017). Conceptual memory relies on the musician's existing semantic knowledge—held in long-term memory—of the structures that underlie the music, for example, musical genre, chord progressions, or rhythmic patterns (Chaffin & Imreh, 2002, p. xii). By using a conscious retrieval scheme, musicians can direct attention to different passages in the music at will and recover from mistakes. However, some kinds of memories are less explicit or declarative, and likely to involve implicit or procedural aspects (Chaffin et al., 2010). To commit sheet music to memory for performance, the musician must smoothly integrate declarative and implicit memory, involving different mental processes.
Only a handful of studies that focus on memory have included guitarists. Theiler and Lippman (1995) included guitarists and vocalists in their study on mental practice, but their interest was not primarily on the guitarists’ approaches. They found that mental practice is at least as good and, in some circumstances, better than physical practice. Holmes (2005) provided a more in-depth view of the various ways in which imagery and imagination are used in preparation by a guitarist and cellist, highlighting the ways in which physical movement interacts with interpretative decision making. She pointed to a general shared process between instruments, although some aspects of her participants’ approach were likely instrument specific. Other than these research works, most pedagogical literature specifically written for classical guitarists has focused on traditional conventions of learning to play without sheet music. Book authors who have devoted entire chapters, columns, or sections to these approaches include Glise (1997), Provost (1991), Isbin (1999), and Käppel (2016), to name a few. For example, Hubbert Käppel suggests combining different memory training strategies (2016, p. 234) to develop visual, cognitive, and muscle memory. A recent study closely related to our paper is Federico Musgrove Stetson's doctoral essay titled “Music Memorization for the Classical Guitarist” (2017). His purpose was to create an index of all the techniques for learning to play without sheet music that classical guitarists use and to describe an efficient musical memory approach for classical guitarists (Musgrove Stetson, 2017, p. 8). After reviewing some literature on musical memory and conducting interviews with professional guitarists, he suggests guitarists should attend to five stages in the learning process: analysis, fingering, muscle repetition, visualization, and varying of environment.
While it should be understood from the findings reviewed above that the process of memorization is in many ways similar for classical guitarists and other instrumentalists, there are some experiential differences. The differences lie in the physical and textural aspects of string playing and embody elements such as the visualization of the hands and the positioning of the performer toward the audience. The aurally perceived sound of the classical guitar as well as the acoustic effect of a venue can also be seen as a unique difference. All these external factors can influence a performer's memory recall and must be dealt with as part of the learning process and are thus important to consider. It is thus vital to consider the ways in which guitarists experience and think about memory processes in their playing. As such this study aimed to develop a conceptual understanding of the ways 12 professional guitar players describe and understand their musical memory.
Procedures
This study followed a basic qualitative approach that aimed to produce a richly descriptive final product (Merriam, 2002). Basic qualitative research seeks to discover and understand a phenomenon, a process, the perspectives or worldviews of the people involved, or a combination of these (Merriam, 2002, p. 6). This study involved 12 purposely selected participants (Creswell, 2013) whose details can be seen in Table 1. In qualitative research a sample of 12 is a typical size for obtaining data saturation (Boddy, 2016). A criterion for selection was that all participants should be well-known international concert guitarists. In total 30 guitarists were invited to participate, but 18 declined to join the study. This explains the discrepancy in the gender of the participants. The participants agreed for their names to be used.
Participants in alphabetical order by first name.
We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with the willing participants regarding their musical memory (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). Discussion topics included remembered and ideal situations of preparation for performance, as well as negative experiences. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. There were 13 interviews conducted in total as a test interview was conducted prior to the start of interviews, which helped to develop and elaborate on the interview questions and approach. The average time per interview was about 40 min, with the longest interview (with Tal Hurwitz) being 75 min and the shortest (with Eduardo Fernandez) being 25 min. We experienced some technical recording problems in the interview with Victor Villadangos, where we also made use of a Spanish interpreter.
Data were inductively analyzed to identify recurring patterns or common themes (Merriam, 2002, p. 7). Coding (Saldaña, 2016, p. 3) was used as an analytical tool, by means of the qualitative data analysis software Atlas.ti 8. The transcribed interviews of this study were each analyzed using a within-case analysis design. Each participant gravitated toward a few main topics. These topics coalesced into between two and five subordinate themes per participant. These subordinate themes were considered and combined in a cross-case analysis, which supported the emergence of five superordinate themes: pre-learning; active learning; understanding; performance: preparations, alterations, and post-performance learning; and remembering. Table 2 presents the subordinate themes derived from each participant together with a representative quote, as well as the superordinate theme to which the subordinate theme contributes. The ethics committee of our university approved the study.
Links between subordinate and superordinate themes with relevant quotations.
Findings
The research findings discussed below represent the cross-case analysis. The five superordinate themes discussed in this section have been titled: pre-learning; active learning; understanding; performance: preparations, alterations, and post-performance learning; and remembering. A graphic representation of the five superordinate themes as well as subordinate themes that relate to them is given in Figure 1. The figure is meant to indicate distinct processes that are deeply interrelated. Although there is some directionality implied in moving from one area to another, we have included arrows that point both ways to indicate the large overlap and mutual influence between events in different themes. The figure therefore does not aim to suggest a hierarchical or directional process, but to describe the flexibly adaptable ways in which these aspects were discussed by the participants.
Overview of musical memory as described by classical guitarists.
Superordinate Theme 1: Pre-Learning
Most of the participants held performing from memory as an important value: if they have enough time to learn a musical composition by heart, they prefer performing musical compositions from memory. The participants also regarded connecting to the music and the audience as an important value and felt that performing from memory helps to strengthen this connection. However, Fernandez argued that musicians should not make the process more complicated than it already is, and memorization should happen naturally: “I do not think it should be so important. I do not care if I go to a concert, and they play from memory or the score; it does not matter to me” (7:34). He also believed that a performer should not be afraid or ashamed to use the sheet music. Möller said that reading the sheet music can also be excellent, and in some cases if you are less secure about your memory, it produces a better result (9:4). He also said that sometimes it just makes no sense to memorize a musical composition because it is so complicated, “where it is filled with a lot of detail and variation, maybe it favors to read” (9:9). Using the sheet music in performance is also dependent on how well one reads. Hurwitz, Oser, and Garcia mentioned that performing ensemble music from memory will result in a more extensive connection to the music. Assad noted that most people playing trios and quartets use sheet music because it is harder to memorize those parts (6:40).
The conscious decision to have a positive attitude—to concentrate, learn with attention, or focus on what you are trying to learn—is a requirement for productive study. Steidl also referred to this concept as having a “big concentration” when practicing (4:53), because one needs to fully concentrated, and it is not possible to concentrate for too long. Assad confirmed that “if you are learning something, you have to learn with a lot of attention” (6:35). He said that if we are not entirely concentrated, we do not learn well, and that it is not necessarily productive to study eight hours a day (6:37). Garcia regarded the most critical thing about memorizing as being the way you are focused. If he tries to memorize something and he is not “200% focused,” he will learn only a bit, but by being “200% focused,” he learns a lot, and the difference is enormous: “this is about our will, about the concentration on the score and on the music” (11:7).
For most participants, memorization happens by itself when they are not consciously trying to remember. Gripper suggested that if memory is not happening naturally or if it happens with much effort, one should work out why this is the case: “Why is this thing that should be happening in a normal situation… Why is it not happening?” Gripper explained that if something is unnatural, it means that the musician is subconsciously doing something that is blocking the natural process (5:36). Examples of such obstruction include having personal or negative thoughts, feelings, or perhaps a subconscious mental block that does not allow you to commit sheet music to memory.
Superordinate Theme 2: Active Learning
For most participants, deciding on a proper fingering was the first step in learning a new musical composition. Möller spent quite a lot of time with that and looks at all the possibilities, and in that way, he already has a clear picture of what he needs to do: “isolate the real problems and find the good fingering solutions early, because that is what you rely on; good fingering has a tremendous effect on the final performance” (9:18). Krivokapić noted that once he has experimented with a few different fingering solutions and decided which one to use, it is important to stick to that fingering; otherwise, it can confuse the memory process if one does not know or have not decided yet which fingering you want to use, or if you use a different fingering every time (3:16).
The goal of analyzing a musical composition is to understand it better, and when a musician understands the music or what they are learning, then learning and memory become less complicated. Krivokapić will first examine the structure and learn it part by part (3:13). Assad emphasized that having a basic knowledge of music theory and harmony is essential. He does not refer to chord labels, but “it has actually to do with sounds at the back of your mind, and that supports anything that you are doing with your fingers” (6:13). Garcia also observed that in the learning process of a musical composition, understanding the music is very important: “If you understand the harmony and the structure, it will be easier to learn the piece, because to you it will make more sense or if you understand the rhythmical structure” (11:18). Möller explained that it is problematic to learn sections that are too long: “The mistake is to memorize too long sections; then you rely too much on muscle memory flow or something” (9:75). Consequently, he preferred to memorize in small sections. Fernandez explained that memory works in “chunks”—if you make a block, it is easier to commit to memory (7:8).
Motor repetition leads to the development of an embodied or muscle memory. Steidl defined good muscle memory as being in a state where you know the music so well that it can just stream automatically without the performer needing to think about the notes (4:3). For Gripper, memorization is a natural process, a type of embodied analysis that can be described as analyzing a musical composition through repetition. Fernandez's strategy is to start repeating a musical composition many times only after he has done careful fingering and analysis: “Usually you begin to feel everything is logical at some point, and then it is a short road to memorizing it” (7:9).
Voorhorst described how visualization or mental learning happens automatically when he sees a music page or his hands while playing all the time. Mental learning can be done in various ways, for example without the instrument, just with the score, or without the instrument and the score. Other participants described visualizing their fingers or notes and the shapes on the fretboard. For participants such as Hurwitz, visualizing or imagining the music first is the key to optimal learning. What he called “imagination,” however, is not just about visualization but also audiation combined with analysis and fingering. Hurwitz explains his learning process when teaching students how to visualize: Starting only even by one bar, look at the bar, imagine how it sounds like, now you imagine the fingerings, imagine the right and the left hand; repeat this 10, 20, 30 times in your mind; repeat it after you decided your fingerings and you know how the music sounds; repeat it, visualize how you play it ten times and then play it;. Doing this works every time in one try (1:207).
Villadangos, Steidl, and Oser explained that singing the notes and focusing on the tension of the intervals result in more significant learning and in audiation or an aural memory that is more easily stored in long-term memory. Hurwitz strongly encouraged developing one's inner hearing. He said that if one can develop inner hearing, it is possible to enjoy the music making just as much, if not more. Villadangos says that the final type of memory that he uses is to sing the notes and imagine what it sounds like in his head. He called this a “nominal memory,” which is used to remember the names of the notes, to sing the notes using solfege: “When I sing these notes, I do not sing them aloud, I sing them in my mind because it is sometimes impossible to sing every note out loud. It is a lot easier to sing it in your mind” (2:20). Steidl uses language and develops a natural feeling for the intervals, which is something essential for him too: You feel if you sing the fifth or different intervals or intervals, which are the tension, is everything; it is again the singing. If you learn by memory things you can sing, you can sing the phrases (4:37).
Superordinate Theme 3: Understanding
Several of the approaches discussed under active learning are intended to help the participants develop understanding. Participants highlighted the strong links between understanding and remembering, and these ideas are highlighted in this section.
Analytical Memory
Hurwitz explained that the more you learn music, the deeper your understanding of musical structure will be, with reference to harmony and polyphony. Krivokapić has found that understanding a musical composition helps him with the memorization process (3:48). Krivokapić said that understanding structure is similar to when you try to memorize lines from a book or a poem. Garcia also differentiated between learning and understanding: “If you learn, you do not necessarily understand, but if you understand, you necessarily learn” (11:19). He compared it to a history lesson at school: If you learn the text, but you do not understand it, you will forget it; but if you understand its purpose, learning becomes less complicated.
Möller described a similar scenario as Hurwitz: “I know the building process, I know the structure, I know why the structure is that” (9:68). By the time he has finished writing a new musical composition, he knows most of the composition quite well and will be able to perform it from memory. Oser agreed that a performer should make a musical composition his own: “Imagine that you composed the piece yourself” (10:6). As a composer, Kinsey is intrigued by how a composer works: “I will think like a composer when I am exploring a piece for the first time; I get intrigued at how and why that works and where does that come from, why did he invert that motif, and so on” (12:7).
Steidl claimed that making associations through dance movements, language, making up a story, or imagining colors can help you understand and remember specific passages better. For Fernandez, the more detail there is and the more you can structure what you are learning, the less complicated the process becomes, and “the more depth you give to the music in terms of emotion and structure and logic,” (7:35) the better the memory formation. Voorhorst confirmed that the more associations you make, the better it is in your memory (13:27). Some people use their visual memory to make such associations, while others find it easier to do so through their aural memory.
Combining Methods
Assad emphasized that we should know how aural and analytical memory are connected. He always remembers the notes, but it depends on the process of how one learns. If he stops performing a musical composition for some time, he no longer remembers it (6:25). Assad combined his aural memory (remembering what it sounds like) with musical structure (what the harmony implies and what the notes and the musical structure are). He aimed for a complete understanding of a musical composition—not only the musical structure but also control of the sound.
Hurwitz combines aural, visual, and analytical memory learning methods. Villadangos uses aural memory in combination with analytical memory learning methods. Steidl uses the different memory methods when learning a new musical composition, but when he performs, he trusts his muscle memory; if problems arise in a performance, he will rely on his visual memory to cover that. Assad relies on different memory methods in cases such as where a composition is in a nonstandard tuning (scordatura) or if he has a particular issue that needs to be addressed. For some participants, the memorization strategy depends on the difficulty of the musical composition.
Superordinate Theme 4: Performance
Preparation
The participants engage in trying out performances in dress rehearsals or informal concerts before playing them at important events. Garcia explained how debriefing after a concert helps him learn and see what was good and what was not, and to improve his next concerts. The audience's reaction also needs to be considered, as Krivokapić described how all the sounds and silences from the audience affect how you perceive a specific musical effect and how a performer remembers a musical composition. Voorhorst mentioned that the response of the audience is essential to know whether a composition works or not.
Alterations
Fernandez said that the experience of performing forces listening. Each performance is different because one notes something that could be better: “It is a question of accelerating the process, not changing it.” It is therefore a way to “accelerate the process” of learning a musical composition (7:25). Performers must also be responsive to the audience, the hall, and their own mental and emotional state in each performance. Each of these variables requires the performer to alter small details in their playing: details such as articulation, phrasing, and emotional shaping can change between performances. For Garcia, the stage is the best school for improving a musical composition: Every time you play on stage, you can feel what works, what does not work, how is the feeling of the hall, how are the feeling and the reaction of the audience; it is like a crash test so that you can fix the things after (11:14).
Post-Performance Learning
According to Krivokapić, when you perform a musical composition, you will subconsciously always refer to the last time you performed or practiced that work and then you change your performance accordingly (3:39). Gripper noted that “different things are emphasized in different performances, and different performances will also make you find different things” (5:30). These differences are also part of the learning process and contribute to the growing understanding of the music.
Garcia experienced that making recordings is a similar way to learn the musical compositions that you play well: At the end of three days of recording, I play differently, and it is so much better; when you work with an artistic director, that person is your ears, listening behind the mic; so, he is telling you many things, many details; it is the best way to practice (11:15).
Superordinate Theme 5: Remembering
Recall and Mental Associations
Fernandez said that the more detail one can add to the music, the more it helps one to remember. He indicates that he remembers best the things he is moved by (7:29). Consequently, if you can associate something emotional with the phrasing, it will help your memory.
One of the approaches that Kinsey follows to commit sheet music to memory and to help her to recall is to construct stories in her mind. She finds that having a story for any musical composition—with elements like a beginning, a middle and an end of the story—helps you to be less concerned about the details, because the details have been worked out beforehand. Kinsey wants to get into the musical composition's atmosphere, for example, in the way she did for one of her compositions, Modjadji (the Rain Queen). For this composition she visited the Rain Queen in the Limpopo province of South Africa. She experienced the drumming in the bush with the local Balobedu tribe there, and in her composition, she relives and recreates that atmosphere (12:21). To be 100% involved in one's music, she says that you must try to use your imagination and to be submerged in your own story.
Aural Memory
Villadangos recounted that “the great thing about singing the notes is that coming back to a piece maybe after 10 years, you will pick it up again from memory very quickly” (2:56). After a period of remembering the music and being able to perform a musical composition by heart, it will become quicker to repeat it. This is possible if one can learn to sing the notes and rely on aural memory. Steidl also claimed that singing the notes and focusing on the tension of the intervals results in more significant learning and in an aural memory that is more easily stored in long-term memory (4:37).
Confidence
A performer can gain confidence by performing a program many times, keeping some older repertoire in their programs, and constantly performing repertoire in front of familiar people in a relaxed setting before a formal performance. Garcia felt that memory recall always works on stage if he is confident and relaxed. It is when one starts to be stressed and nervous that memory can fail. He suggests that if one is confident, performance fear will decrease, and the performance will be more effortless; one will remember or recall the music better, and the performance will overall sound better.
Discussion
The model presented and discussed above paints a picture of a deeply interrelated process of memorization that starts before the first note is played and continues after the applause has stopped. It provides an overview of the concerns that guitarists have in this process, but also of the ways that these processes are not necessarily linear, nor isolated from each other. Below we discuss the findings of this study in relation to the models of memory and practicing strategies implied by Hallam (1997) and Mishra (2005).
Pre-Learning
Hallam (1997) divides the learning process into presage, process, and product. She argues that presage consists of the learner characteristics, the learning environment, and task requirements. This corresponds well to findings in this study that point to attitudes, values, skills, and task requirements as necessary pre-learning conditions. Hallam's model seems to have the student in mind (she highlights teachers, schools, assessments), aspects that the professional performers did not raise. Mishra (2005) highlights enculturation and experience as the starting points of the memorization process, as performers draw on previous learning to facilitate the learning process. The participants in this study acknowledged their experience as supporting their learning, and their familiarity with the music that they are learning. A type of pre-analysis takes place even before the first note is played just through familiarity with the style involved and often the composition.
Active Learning
Participants start the active learning process with finding suitable fingering solutions and analyzing the composition, because they find it easier to learn the notes within such a structure. This is a guitar-specific aspect of the model and corresponds with a phase in Musgrove Stetson's (2017) approach; however, he suggests beginning with an analytical approach, and not with fingering. It may be better to consider fingering an aspect of analysis, and not to confuse the kind of analysis that the guitarists perform on their guitars with a theoretical analysis. Fingering affects interpretation (Käppel, 2016, pp. 218–228), and the analysis needed for performance is primarily intended to support interpretation. This aligns with Mishra's Preview phase, where performance overview, notational overview, and aural overview take place.
While Hallam's (1997) model merely lists the process of practice, participants emphasized this phase by repeatedly returning to the learning process. Motor repetition, visualization, and audiation form the basic aspects of the learning process for the participants, as also noted by Mishra (2005). Participants used several approaches and relied on different kinds of information to support their memorization process; this agrees with Ginsborg's claim that “auditory, visual and kinaesthetic strategies are in truth inextricably tangled, since our experiences of hearing, listening and performing music involve embodied cognition” (Ginsborg, 2017, p. 89).
Mishra's model also highlights additional ways of processing (segmented, holistic, serial, and additive), and many participants spoke of different ways of dividing the music to facilitate learning and rehearsal. In addition to physical practice, several also made use of visualization or audiation.
Performance: Preparation, Alterations, and Post-Performance Learning
Both Hallam (1997) and Mishra (2005) have strongly goal-oriented models, in which the performance is the final outcome (in Hallam's terminology) of the learning process. However, the participants of this study viewed performances as milestones in the learning process. Of course, performances are goals for the participants, but they view performances as part of the process of learning. This aligns with Mishra's idea of overlearning, or perhaps it can be viewed as learning to perform, as separate from learning to play the compositions. For Käppel (2016, pp. 236–237), the most important form of preparation for performance is to perform regularly.
The participants agreed that every performance would be different, that different musical aspects will be emphasized in different performances, and that musicians grow in their perception and understanding of a musical composition. In addition, performers must be flexible to the challenges of the audience, hall, and other aspects of each performance environment (Ginsborg, 2017, p. 89).
Understanding and Remembering
In addition to three superordinate themes that correspond well with the models suggested by Hallam (1997) and Mishra (2005), as discussed above, participants highlighted understanding and remembering as motivations and goals within the learning process, and these have been highlighted as separate aspects of the musical memory process in Figure 1. They are, however, considered as simultaneous, interrelated processes, and not as steps in a sequential process. Remembering is an evident, integrated, or interactive part in the learning process, as is the process of developing understanding: Understanding leads to remembering; learning phases lead to remembering; remembering strengthens understanding. This aligns well with constructivist understandings of the learning process—a performer is actively constructing their understanding based on previous experience and information in the setting (Webster, 2011).
Understanding is based on an analytical memory, which may include some formal or functional analysis but primarily consists of a musical understanding of the sounds and movements and how they relate to each other. The analytical understanding is supported by combining various forms of memory to build a whole. When it comes to remembering, participants highlighted strategies that they use, such as remembering cues, fingerings, shapes, sounds, and mental associations in ways that resemble the findings of Chaffin and colleagues (2002), but also the psychological support of having confidence that is built through regular repetition.
Conclusion
The model we have developed describes the perspectives of the 12 participants regarding musical memory. It presents their emphasis on a process of learning that is underpinned by understanding, and in which remembering is both a goal and a process. The model resembles previous attempts to delineate such a model and adds to those previous attempts in the inclusion of performance as part of the learning process and in the emphasis on understanding as part of the memory process. The model is guitar-specific in some respects, such as the role of fingering, as well as some aspects of performance and remembering. It is, however, also general enough (demonstrated through the overlap with the models of Hallam and Mishra) to probably be applicable to other instruments. The aim of the study was to describe a guitarist's perspective, and it is not possible to compare instruments on the basis of this study. This could be an area of further investigation. Subsequent research could also explore the process of how understanding is developed by musicians and the forms that it takes. This research points to musical memory as a process that involves a lifetime of work and the whole person, and this broader perspective requires further investigation.
Supplemental Material
sj-pdf-1-mns-10.1177_20592043241274968 - Supplemental material for Learning, Understanding, Remembering: The Collective Experiences of Musical Memory of Twelve Professional Classical Guitarists
Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-mns-10.1177_20592043241274968 for Learning, Understanding, Remembering: The Collective Experiences of Musical Memory of Twelve Professional Classical Guitarists by Thinus Boshoff and Albi Odendaal in Music & Science
Footnotes
Ethics Approval
The study adhered to the ethical procedures and guidelines of North-West University, based on approval by the Arts Research Ethics Committee (AREC) on 29/10/2019, ethics number NWU-01491-19-A7. Ethical issues, such as informed consent, confidentiality, and consequences should be considered with any qualitative interview process. Participants in this study were not exposed to the possibility of harm outside of average daily risk. No sensitive topics were discussed, and the participants were not exposed to topics removed from their expertise. Prior to the interviews, we fully informed all research participants, we gave a clear and detailed description of the project, and we obtained written permission and consent for inclusion, collection/use of data or samples, and/or publication, as applicable.
Action Editor
Elaine King, School of the Arts, University of Hull.
Peer Review
Jonathan Leathwood, Lamont School of Music, University of Denver; Matthew Jimenez, Louisiana State University.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data Availability Statement
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Supplemental Material
Supplemental material for this article is available online.
Notes
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
