What is muscle memory?

by Jessica Spieser-Landes with help from physical therapists Jason and Fabrisia Woollard

MUSCLE MEMORY WHAT!? “Muscle memory has been used synonymously with “motor learning,” which is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition.” (Wikipedia.com) What are some things that you may already do that require muscle memory? Riding a bike or drawing a picture are tasks where we use muscle memory to control the way we use our muscles. This is different than, say, the type of memory you use to memorize a fact like “a square has four sides.” In most cases when you understand that a square has four sides you can forget about it yet recall that memory in a moment when you need to weeks later. Muscle memory is very different from this.

WHY DO WE NEED MUSCLE MEMORY TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT? “(Motor learning) often involves improving the smoothness and accuracy of movements and is obviously necessary for complicated movements such as speaking, playing the piano and climbing trees…” (Wikipedia.com) Muscle memory is what helps us control the type of sound we create with our instrument. The more control we have over our muscles (i.e. the more we have worked on committing these motor tasks to muscle memory), the more beautiful our playing will be. If you want the sound you make to be just like the very first sound you ever made on your instrument, you don’t need muscle memory! But if you want your sound to be like those musicians around you who inspire you to play better -- people who have spent hundreds of hours and years of work to teach their muscles to be able to produce beautiful and diverse sounds -- then you need muscle memory.

SO HOW DO I GET IT? “When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems.” (Wikipedia.com) The good news is, everyone can do this! The trick is daily repetitive accurate slow practice and little by little your sound will change.

MAKE IT GO FASTER! Sometimes progress will seem so slow you won’t notice it. But eventually the tasks that you commit to muscle memory will become so automatic you won’t be able to play without them and you’ll be able to look back and say “wow, things HAVE changed!” (This is one of the reasons it is important to always practice slowly and correctly – once you commit something to muscle memory it is VERY hard to unlearn.)

LUCKY US One of the reasons listening to a good musician live is such an amazing experience is that playing an instrument requires a million muscle memory tasks. Okay, a million may be a bit of an exaggeration. But it is a lot! We know this because we play! Though it may be overwhelming to imagine learning a million little tasks, if one by one we memorize each new muscle memory task that our teacher teaches us, they all add up in the end without us even realizing it.

ONE STEP AT A TIME The Suzuki method takes each muscle memory task needed to play our instrument and breaks it down into small assignments that are manageable to master. It is imperative that these segments (and later pieces) be thoroughly mastered before attempting the next step, so as to engineer a “built-in” success for each step in the learning process and produce accurate muscle memory.

DAILY REPETITIVE ACCURATE SLOW PRACTICE makes accurate muscle memory!

WANT TO READ MORE? Check out Learn Faster by Playing Slower by David Motto and Muscle Memory on Wikipedia.

Welcome back!

Welcome back to all my students!  I am very excited to begin this piano teaching year in my new home.  I want to use this space to share tips and activities about the Suzuki method, piano lessons, and music in general.


  Back to lessons means scheduling regular practice times into your family's schedule.  Have you looked closely at your new Fall schedule?  Where will you add practice time?  After school?  Be sure your child has time to eat a snack and regroup so that they can concentrate on a new learning activity.
   In the morning before school? After supper?  If you are planning an evening practice time, be sure that your child will have the energy necessary to concentrate at that time and that it will not be interrupted by other activities such as sports or church events.  I do not recommend evening for young children since they are winding down from a long day at that point.  You may find you have more conflict and less concentration if your child is tired.


   Dr. Suzuki said, "Ability equals knowledge plus 10,000 times."  All of your children have the ability to learn and we are refining the abilities necessary to play the piano.  A friend of mine was talking to me recently about the book "Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell.  Gladwell researched highly successful groups of people and came up with the "10,000 hour rule".  According to Gladwell, the key to a high level of success for any skill is a matter of practicing that task or skill for around 10,000 hours.  He also highlights the importance of the community which gives him or her the opportunities necessary to hone their skill.


   I am intrigued by the similarities between Gladwell's research and Dr. Suzuki who also insisted that placing a child in an environment of knowledge and encouragement is crucial in developing ability.  The Suzuki triangle of parent-teacher-student is so important.  Let's work together to create an environment where your child can develop their ability to the next level in playing the piano!  You can start by scheduling regular practice times and by playing the Suzuki recordings daily in their hearing.  Include other types of music recordings as well, in a variety of genres, so that they develop more depth to their musical ear.  I hope to offer links to recordings and artists I recommend in the future.


  In my next post I will give you practical and fun ideas for practicing.