Am I just getting old ?

[Uncle Markie]

I made a lot of my living by using and developing my memory - not just for melodies, but chord changes and bass lines with "strong" notes.
One of my teachers, Jimmy Burke (long time cornetist of he Goldman Band) admitted to me he had 65 cornet solos memorized. He also had memorized the entire Arban book. THAT's practicing!
My method was to work up a solo (I started playing H.L. Clarke solos in front of bands on tuba as a kid) by memorizing a section at a time, and putting it together. Also I would play a tune, turn the music over and see how far I could get. Eventually you get farther and farther along. Of course I started with dixieland bands in high school.
You should be able to sing anything you're trying to play. You don't have to have a decent voice, but at least emit the tones. Do that for starters - sing your parts at home, then practice them.
The late Art Lehman who played euphonium in the US Marine Band for many years made it a habit of memorizing anything he played incorrectly in rehearsal the day before. This covered his butt working for Col. Albert Schoepper who was a notorious tyrant... Artie used to memorize his solos by copying them out by hand. Worked for him.
Pee Wee Erwin (Google his name on Youtube and enjoy) had a very acute ear, so much so that he could pick up just about any other trumpeter's jazz solos and play them back for years later. He figured that out as a kid and it helped him when he followed Bunny Berigan on Tommy Dorsey's band. He could also play the Charlier etudes from memory...
The point is, everybody does this a little differently. I suggest you try different techniques (like those I described here) - but WORK at it and be patient with yourself. Start off with your part to the National Anthem in B-flat.

Good luck!

Mark Heter

[GC]

Hmmm . . . on tuba I still have much of the music from my high school band shows and some of the concert pieces memorized even though it was 41+ years ago. I remember a fair amount from college. After taking 24 years off from tuba and restarting in 2001, I have very little of the stuff I've played the last 10 years memorized. But I have 200+ tunes memorized on bass guitar that I've been playing the last 37 years in the same band. In my current tuba playing, I just read and have no desire at all to memorize. I may have to change that if my presbyopia keeps growing.

The most irritating thing the last 5 or 6 years has been a tendency for my mind to wander in rehearsals after the first time through a piece. I start to fill in from memory or play by ear, and I will more than occasionally fill in the wrong thing. Just as bad or worse, I tend to get badly distracted counting rests, and sometimes get WAY off.

Getting older definitely has its irritations, but it's been a lot of fun getting here, it'll hopefully be more fun as I keep going, and it sure beats the alternative.

[Ian Stewart]

Recent research has shown that although brain cells do die with age, the fact that we have so many, and get better at using our brains, more than compensates for any cell loss. It is also now generally accepted that the memory does not have limits to how much it can hold; the old analogy that it is like a box room, to put more in you have to throw something out, is now known to be wrong.
There is a lot of information on the web about the brain and memory and it is possible to develop incredible memory techniques, irrespective of age. As one writer said, go to an infant school after the children have left and see how many coats, pencils, bags etc. these 5-7 year olds have left in the classroom, because they had forgotten to take them.