Pranav Gopal - Week 16: Cumulative Memory and Playing Guitar
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| The B.C Rich Warlock |
This last blog post really stumped me. As usual I had no idea what to write nor did I have the motivation to unearth a memory based study from the depths of the internet. However, when it comes to memory, I have some significant memories from sitting at this desk in my room. Distance learning was quite a unique experience, and often times I find myself thinking it'd be so much easier to just have to be in Zoom calls all over again. I had time to do things and my memories of doing other things really revolved around one specific hobby: playing guitar.
I love music but probably not as much as one who practices it should, as I only manage to really get around to practicing every so often and for an hour or two at best. However, over the course of my many years playing the instrument I've had many memories revolving around it. It first started when I decided I was too bored of the piano and wanted to play guitar, a much more appealing instrument to me. I fiddled around with an Amazon acoustic guitar for nearly two years before receiving my incredible B.C Rich Warlock guitar for my 12th birthday. I'd spend the next year or so rotating through teachers before entirely becoming self-taught and self-practicing, and this "self-practice" would eventually turn into me almost entirely ditching theory and playing whatever songs I was listening to at the time.
Despite the years of alternative and shifting levels of education, it's not like I've actually ever become worse. Sure, my rate of improvement is significantly slower now, and had I practiced at the same level I did initially I'd be a lot better, which is a bit sad to think about. But the fact is whenever I feel the desire to play a song and I can find the sheet music or tabs for it, I can still play the song to a satisfactory degree with an hour or so of practice. Years of cumulative memories have stacked on top of each other to craft a sense of muscle memory and unconscious understanding that permits me to continue playing this instrument. From a realistic standpoint, my lack of practice should have almost entirely killed my ability to pick up my guitar and play a song again, but upon reading the first few notes of a song I played months ago, I can replicate it again with almost no indication that I'd stopped practicing.
What really allows this to happen? Muscle memory and cumulative memory. Years of tedious practice have culminated in my ability to play at a fairly decent proficiency even after months of putting it off and placing it lower on my list of things to get to. Each and every memory I've made revolving around this practice have added on top of one another to create this ability. Reflecting on it now, its really crazy how this sticks, when important events and emotions are barely memorable years after the fact. I couldn't really tell you how some aspects of Chem honors work now, but I can still play Shawn Mendes' "Stitches" fairly decently after reading the start of its sheet music.
I guess the more reflective and significant aspect of cumulative memory applies to each of us as people. Memories and experiences that happen tend to stack and add on top of each other, affecting one another in various and unseen ways, resulting in who we are as people. Everyone has this in almost every facet of their life. You remember the strangest things about people you were once close with years ago, or even how to beat levels of games you played nearly a decade ago. Shows and plots from the late 2000s stick when the plot to Beloved didn't. Memory plays an unusual but necessary role in our lives, and is definitely a note to conclude on for this year's blogs.
Hi Pranav! Even when I was first experiencing distant learning, I used to get bored of sitting in front of the Zoom screen all day, and getting accustomed to a single hobby of mine, which was learning Carnatic music. Although I was exposed to this type of music early on from my relatives, it was nearly eight years later until I started embarrassing the deep meaning that exists within the lines of this music. Although I had teachers in the past, my dispassionate mindset on practicing and attending performances for this music accumulated to decrease my interest level in practicing such music. I can definitely relate to you in that I struggled so much in Chemistry honors, but simultaneously learned how to play many new pieces on my Indian instruments. I ended up being able to play at a mediocre proficiency at the end of the day and was very proud of where it got me. Thank you for reminding me of my memories and I hope to read more.
ReplyDeleteHello Pranav! I always felt that there were some major issues that come with having so much muscle memory. My old coach used to say "practice makes permanent, not perfect." However, for me practice is super helpful with the things that I do not want to change. There are certain things that I juts have to memorize, certain things that I just have to deal with no matter what. For those, muscle memory is absolutely the way to go. For other things that need frequent change, I find that muscle memory is not a good thing to have. It really makes changing methods up extremely hard.
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ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! I’ve never played an instrument before, but your method seems like the best form of practice. Personally, I feel like it would be pretty easy to get burnt out if I had to consistently commit my time to a lesson. I guess individual practice is more of a double-edged sword because that flexibility also allows you to easily things off. I also don’t really remember much from honors chemistry last year, and this type of memory for me heavily depends on how interested I am in a subject.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! I have no idea what a B.C Rich Warlock is but it sounds fancy so congratulations on owning it. When I used to play piano, I would also enjoy playing whatever songs I enjoyed listening to, but I still had to take the Certificate of Merit tests, so my teacher would always get mad at me for not playing the pieces I needed to. Ever since I quit piano, I haven't played a single time, so I don't know if I got worse or not, or if I still have the ability to play certain pieces. To be honest, I felt motivated to try and play the piano again while reading your blog post, but alas, I was too lazy to get off my chair and walk to my piano. Near the end of my piano career, I wanted to switch to guitar/ukulele (I know they aren't the same thing but similar enough that I didn't mind playing either), so when I went to Hawaii for Thanksgiving Break, I bought a cute little ukulele and now its sitting in my closet because the middle of junior year is not the most friendly time for learning a new instrument.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, as a person who plays instruments and sings, I definitely relate to what you're talking about. I play the piano, and often times, I'll be able to play pieces from years ago even though I don't have the notes and I can't actually comprehend what I'm playing. My fingers just move where they're supposed to, which is pretty cool. Although you talked about instruments, it also applies to singing. Even though I have taken a break from singing over the past two years, I can still sing(to some degree) songs without it sounding too horrible. Anyways, this was a really interesting topic to cover, so thank you for your blog post!
ReplyDeleteHey Pranav, I really related to many of the thoughts you shared in this blog, even though I do not have any musical talent. Like you, I have also definitely wished we could go back to online learning many times this year because it seems like it would be so much easier. I remember last year, I had so much more free time to do things I enjoyed and still get enough sleep. Unfortunately, I didn't make use of this time, as much as I should have, which is something I regret. I definitely wish I had taken up a new hobby. I also really related to your comments on memory, because I too remember basically nothing from Chemistry Honors, despite understanding it pretty well last year. It is interesting how some things completely escape our memories, yet there are some random bits of trivia or random experiences that I think I will always remember. I also definitely agree with this idea of muscle memory and how repeated practice makes some things just stick. For example, even though I can barely tell you who King Louis the 14th is from AP Euro, I can still recite my English speech from last year or my Drama monologue from first semester - something I have not even looked at since then. Overall, I think Memory is a very interesting concept with many nuances to it, and I am really glad that we spent some time this semester exploring memory.
ReplyDeleteHello Pranav, I used to play the guitar as well, so I completely relate to what you are saying. The concept of muscle memory does not just apply to playing the guitar. When I was learning how to play table tennis, my coach was surprised that I had aspects of a tennis swing incorporated into my forehand swing. I told him that I played tennis when I was five, and so it was kind of surprising to the both of us that I still had lawn Tennis ingrained in my muscle memory without realizing. Even with basketball, I have not played basketball in five years, but if I were to play I would be just as decent.
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