If you are a student here at Rhythm and Tunes Piano School you will be memorising 30-50 songs in the first year or so of lessons. 

What!!!!? 

Yes, 30 – 50 songs. I know it sounds like a lot to remember. However, it is possible, and believe it or not it’s actually pretty easy once you become familiar with the the tools and strategies that help you to achieve this outcome.

Once we have a solid playing based relationship with the keyboard we would then start a reading program and commence looking at the music on the page. It doesn’t matter if you are a perfect beginner or have played for years, you would go through this same process. 

Obviously, the time frame in which you achieve this would certainly differ and be dependent on your prior experience. I had 16 years of traditional piano lessons and I was SO happy to start at the beginning of this program as I could see I was going to learn a new way of perceiving and digesting music and that was very exciting. 

I just ‘got it’. 

I ‘got’ the power of these new skills and how they would release me from needing the sheet music. 

Some people can’t see it, and that’s fine. I’m not interested in convincing them. 

Anyway, one of my favourite songs is Honesty by Billy Joel. I can play it easily enough from the music but I’ve been wanting to commit it to memory for a long time and finally sat down this week to decode it off the page. I have the first two lines memorised already and am going to have to set a timer to stop myself playing, as the sense of FREEDOM to just play, without relying on the music, is intoxicating.

You really should try it. Email joanne@rhythmandtunes.com.au with your best contact number and I will be in touch!

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