musical memory
1
4.1
- noun
- /ˈmjuːzɪkəl ˈmɛməri/
:
memoria musical
- While many authors and instructors urge students to try to remember more of an exercise with each successive playing, students must be taught how to increase their musical memory.
Examples
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My earliest musical memory is singing along to my favorite songs during family gatherings.
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The marvel of musical memory dawned on me one day when I realized I could often join in after hearing only three or four notes of classical music on the radio.
Academic text (1990) -
You have said that your most cherished musical memory was hanging out with Prince.
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Musical memory is among the more difficult and elusive skills to develop.
Academic text (2006) -
That was when my musical memory began slipping, and memories from the past began intruding.
Fiction book (1997) -
Another memory, not much studied, is musical memory, displayed, for example, by a virtuoso pianist who can play hours of the most elaborate piano music, all without a page of music.
Academic text (1990) -
My favorite live musical memory, though, was seeing Janis Joplin live at the Fillmore in SF when she was just the singer for Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Blog text (1) -
One of the most effective ways to increase musical memory is through the process of "chunking," where the listener segments the flow of musical events into more easily remembered units according to harmony, meter, and rhythmic patterning.
Academic text (2006) -
Another example includes the sound of the sarangi, a small stringed instrument, famous for its melodic lead in folk songs such as "Resham firiri," which is part of the collective musical memory of every Nepali child.
Academic text (2016) -
He surprised everyone with his impressive musical memory, recalling entire symphonies after hearing just a few notes.
Synonyms
1
8.5
A way of hearing music or words inside your head
How Vivid
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'ability to remember and recognize music' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'musical' (related to music) with 'memory' (the ability to store and retrieve information). This simple adjective + noun composition is descriptive and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should understand the MWE.
Etymology
Musical memory paints a simple picture: musical is the tune and memory is the mind that keeps it. Imagine a song saved in your head like a short recording you can play again, and that's why it means 'the ability to remember and recognize melodies and tones'.