Before you play a single note, decode the tune on paper. Print the music, highlight the repeating two-bar phrases in matching colors, mark the beats down to the gracenote level, and find a recording that matches your sheet music. Most tunes have far less to memorize than they appear to.
The number one job when learning a tune is to learn no mistakes. Play slow enough that everything stays accurate and your hands stay relaxed. Bad habits learned in the first five plays get sticky fast, and undoing them costs far more than taking it slow ever will.
Every tune deserves its own page of notes. Keep a Tune Success Log with a Good column and a Needs Improvement + Solution column, dated in different pen colors. Students who write it down fix things; students who trust their memory repeat the same mistakes.
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How to Learn a New Tune the Right Way
1h 0m · Full class available to Inner Circle members
08:466/8 Archie the tune: Beag, jig Meet a classic🔒
09:38two-bar phrases Highlighting repeating the🔒
14:46matching make) Find recording a (or🔒
16:34and explained signatures compound time Time🔒
20:41the marking slow First beats play-through and🔒
25:46learn Rule mistakes no one:🔒
29:36and for: notes noises watch crossing Bad to grace scrambled habits🔒
31:57embellishments the slow chunk down, strip it, Simplify:🔒
37:26spots Drilling the pipes and on getting early trouble🔒
39:27the and Clapping trainer reading rhythms sight🔒
46:03every notes page of a The tune Success Tune for Log:🔒
53:23and checklist Lincoln tune Center Inside my binder🔒
57:15project: is a Every the wrap-up tune🔒
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About this class
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