Do you ever wonder how some musicians seem to make playing their instruments seem effortless? They not only know where to play notes on a page, chords on a lead sheet, and more, but they seem to be able to do it with their eyes closed. Apart from practicing 8-10 hours a day, which 99% of all volunteer church musicians don’t have time to do, how can you, as a musical servant in your local church even get anywhere close to playing like this? Muscle memory.
What is Muscle Memory?
Musical muscle memory is the ability to know where your fingers or hands go on any part of your instrument without even thinking about it. A definition of general muscle memory from Wikipedia says this:
Muscle memory, also known as motor learning, is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. 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. Examples of muscle memory are found in many everyday activities that become automatic and improve with practice, such as riding a bicycle or typing on a keyboard or playing video games. (read the rest of the detailed entry here)
The greatest example I can think of for music would be string players who play on fretless instruments. Violinists, cellists, and the like have learned from the beginning where to place their fingers on the strings. They have no keys or frets on which to rely. Many would assume that all string players have incredible musical hearing (which most do), but another thing they rely heavily on is training the movements of their arms and fingers so well that their muscles automatically remember where they need to go when they see a note on the page “allowing it to be performed without conscious effort” as the Wikipedia article mentioned.
Do I have Time to Develop Muscle Memory?
“So,” you say to yourself, “I’m not a string player, for one thing, and I haven’t had nor do I now have the time to train my muscles.” I say, “?Nonsense!”? (in a loving way of course). If you have 10 minutes a day, you can begin to develop muscle memory. Since I primarily play piano and guitar, I’ll share some easy ways to develop muscle memory on those instruments. I’ll start with piano today and share some ideas for guitar next week.
Exercises for the Piano
Help your muscles recognize the way each chord in each key feels and start with the basic triads. Each chord is going to feel slightly different because of where your fingers are placed between the black and white keys. Spend 10 minutes a day for however long it takes to get yourself used to how each chord feels under your fingers; 5 minutes for major, 5 minutes for minor.
Move on to inversions. Spend 10 minutes a day going through the inversions of each key. Move from the root chord to the first inversion to the second inversion and back down to the root chord. Remember that you are teaching your hand to ?feel these chords, but listen to them as you play as well.
Move on to some simple cadences (progression of different chords). Determine the major chords in the key. Start on the root cord and play it (c-e-g), then the second inversion of the four chord (c-f-a), then the first inversion of the five chord (b-d-g) and then back to the root.
Once you’ve mastered these inversions and simple cadences, search for more progressions, patterns, and fills that you can practice over and over while letting your muscles feel how they work. As I mentioned earlier, be sure to listen as you play as well so that your ear recognizes how all of these things sound.
Consistency is Key
Achieving muscle memory takes consistent practice. Even if you only have 10 minutes a day to practice, make sure you consistently do these exercises every day. If you consistently practice your muscle memory will develop and you’ll find yourself amazed at how much easier you’re playing things in every area of your musical experiences.
A fantastic resource for learning more music theory for worship is the Music Theory Made Easy With Paul Baloche Modern Worship Series (DVD)
(piano photo by lecates)
