Your method for memorizing tunes?

[osmarokuma]

Hey Janek
just wanted to ask you what your method for memorizing tunes is (changes, melody, transposing...etc). This has always been my biggest problem when it comes to music in general, I live with a real book and depend on charts constantly. Even though I have tried to make my repertoire larger I always fail. So I am going around asking people and teachers what their technique is for learning tunes, wanted to know if you do something different other than analyzing the chords and functions.

[janekbass]

I think the main tool has been repetition. I'm slightly unique in a couple of ways I think...

1) I am able, with great enthusiasm, to dedicate many many hours a day to working on music. There's the repetition.

2) I also have somewhat of a photographic memory which helps when I'm learning music that has been sent to me on paper. And it helps me to get away from the chart and internalize the music quite quickly. My memory for music that I learnt by ear has always been pretty good too, so once I've played something a few times I can normally remember it for quite a while.

But it's like anything, if you're doing it all the time then you're going to be fluent at whatever the repertoire is you're playing. I haven't played standards in a long time, and it's definitely something i would have to take a look at before I started performing them again.

Janek