Can you Play a Song from Memory?

In an Britannica article refuting Bach's belief that music can be taught, there is little to no justification for these critical skills: memory, repetition, practice and fingering. Where and how are these skills activated? My theory is that they come from listening followed by action taken and then stored somewhere in the brain. This is about brain fitness if you will. Next, practice.

Everyday requires motivation, warmups, determination and a set time for practice. Practice makes permanent. Mastery may seem to take forever but should happen based on these components: memory, psychological disposition, judgment, skill, and time set aside to practice. Practice time, like many things in life means there is a willingness to commit and determination to succeed. Thanks for listening.

“Ode to Joy” was written by German poet/playwright Friedrich Schiller in the summer of 1785. The ideal he described, of hope and brotherhood triumphing, was exactly what Beethoven wanted to convey in his Ninth Symphony.

By the time Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, with its huge 'Ode to Joy' climax, was premiered on 7 May 1824, the composer was profoundly deaf. Ludwig van Beethoven's revolutionary Ninth Symphony is, without question, one of the greatest works in classical repertoire. “He uses solo voices in a symphony for the first time, setting the words of Schiller’s poem An die Freude.

It is the longest and most complex of all his symphonies, which we may regard it as the pinnacle of his achievement, because it is his last symphony – but he was working on his tenth when he died. 

For almost 200 years, the famous hymnal theme to this symphony’s finale – the ‘Ode to Joy’ – has symbolized hope, unity and fellowship – across borders and through conflicts.

Here is is, performed by the ‘Global Insta Orchestra’, made up of musicians around the world, playing across the Internet.

Source: ClassicFM digital radio 100-102FM

Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ is arguably the greatest symphony ever composed: the summit of his achievements, a masterful musical celebration of the human race and a massive work that makes all who hear it feel better about life. And yet, Beethoven himself never actually heard it.

The man who had done more than anyone before him to change the way we hear music had become one for whom sounds could no longer exist – and the bitter irony of this was not lost on him.

Despite his deteriorating hearing, though, Beethoven persevered with writing this mammoth symphony. Encouraged, no doubt, by his status as the composer of the moment, he penned a colossal work.

But, when Beethoven conducted its premiere, he was famously unaware of the rapturous response his ninth symphony received. It took one of the musicians to alert him to the cheering audience – and that was only at the end of the second movement.

Here is the poem which translates from German into English as:

Joy, bright spark of divinity,

Daughter of Elysium,

Fire-inspired we tread

Within thy sanctuary.

Thy magic power re-unites

All that custom has divided,

All men become brothers,

Under the sway of thy gentle wings.

Triumphant words that perfectly match the power and scale of Beethoven’s immortal music.