Muscle Memory effecting playing of other tunes

[Victor F]

I am still a beginner player and I was curious if anyone else has experienced the issue when playing a new tune that has a similar note progression that muscle memory takes over and starts playing a different tune that I'm more familar with.

[Roo boy]

Not with the concertina, but with other instruments, yes. The start of the A part in a few of the tunes I play are very similar. To break out of the muscle memory issue, I play the B part before I start. Even if just a few notes as a very brief warm up. It seems to tell my brain 'this is the tune you should be trying to play'. After doing this I can usually jump into the A part with no issue

[digver]

Victor, that's funny - I'm a beginner with the anglo and occasionally having the same experience. Not when practicing with the tutor in front of me, but when I'm just sitting and messing around. I'll start off with one tune, end on another, and scratching my head about what it was I was playing.

 

digger

[Stephen DOUGLASS]

Generally when this happens the tunes you conflate tend to work well with each other. I identify the offending interloper, and play then them back to back to see which combination has the most pleasing transition. From then on I probably always play together.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I know others disagree with my opinion, but I do not believe in "muscle memory" theory, as I think the mind ( or brain);is still engaged in storing knowledge, even at a very basic, feint range we are unaware of. I think that the tendancy to play a similar tune after another one is probably a familiarity in the memory taking over briefly, then being realised by the player. (Maybe not the muscle memory though)🌝

[Łukasz Martynowicz]

This happens mostly at the early stages of learning how to play, when you are generally less conscious of what exactly happens. My advice is to play offending passages a lot, lot slower and repeatedly in the proper neighbouring context until you no longer make this mistake. 

[gcoover]

I know we often use the term "muscle memory", but I think it actually has a lot more to do with the subconscious. I think it is a matter of convincing your subconscious that you really want to do something (through repeated practice) until it finally says ok and then directs the muscles to do their thing without much conscious thought.

 

The suggestion of looping troublesome areas for a full 5 minutes (no cheating, time yourself) has done wonders for imprinting difficult passages to the point where I can eventually play them through without thinking. It's the same process for tunes - once you get it in your head, really in your head, then the semi-automatic systems take over.

 

Some people can even develop the ability to have a full conversation while playing difficult tunes at the same time. I doubt I'll ever be able to do that, but it's an impressive accomplishment that a Chemnitzer-playing friend of mine used to do - making it look absolutely effortless while playing complex accompaniments and never missing a note!

Gary