Understanding Music and Structure

Musical form often incorporates hierarchical structure that enables us to understand music, know how material is related within a piece, and prioritize what is most hierarchically important. Since we recall music the way we learned it, learning by thoroughly understanding structure is key. In planning during a performance, we can follow associative cues and starting spots, together, for secure memorized performance. Knowledge of structure and the structural layers of music also underlies how we interpret music and create our own musical expression. Musicians gain expertise from building context memory. We need context memory to inform us, create expectations, guide practice, and to help us choose and create convincing musical interpretations. Working memory and attention underlie our planning, recall, and execution during performance when we learn and practice using the best methods.