Over the course of several careers I had the opportunity to work with some brilliant people. In 1997 I was sent out to Edmonton to work with a consultant on “information management”. I spent many hours with him over several days and weeks as we scaled a massive program into manageable (and understandable) pieces.

The principle question was simple. There are different ways to manage information, each based on a multitude of circumstances. So why do we approach every situation using the same set of tools? Our brains are capable of processing 400 billion bits of information each and every second, so why do we sub-vocalize each and every syllable of every word we read. You’re doing it right now. I know you are!

In this instance, it may be appropriate. This is what you’ve been taught to do. You may not know any other way to approach this. If you were so inclined, you might try jumping around, looking for something of value. You might be searching for something. You don’t know quite what it is, but you know it’s here. When you find it, you may read and re-read it a few times to fully grasp what is being said. This is the ultimate “Deep Dive.”

Here’s the point, and I’m jumping way ahead here. You don’t need written music to learn a tune. You need to use your brain differently. You need to teach yourself how to process information through sounds rather than sights. Once you have a sense of how the melody flows, use the sheet music to “detail” the melody.

I had a student this morning who absolutely blew me away. He sat with a piece of music that he’d never seen before and sang it quietly to himself. He then picked up his practice chanter and made his way through the tune with minimal difficulty, not because he’s an excellent sight reader, but because he already had a sense of how the tune sounded.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Find or develop special skills for specific purposes, e.g. learning and remembering new tunes. More on this tomorrow!