Repetition and learning

Post Reply New Topic

I'm a musician with Asperger's Syndrome and I find that I learn and practice music differently to how my teachers advise. I'm expected to take the music one little chunk at a time, working on and perfecting each of these chunks and gradually sticking them all together in one piece. However, I find this way of learning hard. I learn far more rapidly if I practice by just repeating the entire piece from start to finish over and over and over for hours at a time.

Does anyone else with AS find that obsessive repetition of large amounts of info is a better way for them to learn than breaking up the work into sections and learning things bit by bit?

Absolutely! Just give me the whole mess and let me sort it out in a way i can understand, and at my own pace

It's important that we get our own space and time to do things! What works for us works well, and what doesn't just doesn't. I spent all year in college trying to practice the way everyone else was practicing and telling me to, but it slowed me down completely and I ended up deferring my exams so now I have to sit them in September when I go back!

I actually like the 'sticking little bits together' approach, but if your way works for you, have at it.

It just sounds like your way is more enjoyable, because you get to hear the entire piece. Repeating a section over and over does not sound like fun , and probably should only be done if you have a repetitive problem in that section.

I always prefer being allowed to find my own way of doing something. I hate micromanagers. If they want me to do it, then give me the materials and get the hell out. Someone standing over me and going "Okay, now do this" drives me crazy.

It seems to me that learning a larger work by memorizing smaller pieces individually would be harder, because I'd always have to stop and think at the end of each bit: "Okay, now which other bit comes next?" It would always seem like just a collection of disconnected pieces, rather than a coherent whole, because that's the way I learned it.

I also learn better, if I practice large chunks of music, repetitively. It also makes more sense to do it, that way.