Greetings. Got some good comments on memorization. Here is one that I like and I thought I would pass it on. It was sent by Jeff Welty, an instructor in Tacoma, Washington.


Memorization
I believe the memorization of the forms aspect is so important for learning a new form, that I specifically go over a method of memorization to help transfer the form sequences from short term to long term memory — this is what I suggest my students do — the example is for an afternoon class.

1) As soon as you arrive back at your home, run through all the forms of the sequence you know, and the forms you learned today.  Don’t worry about perfection, the goal is not to get the forms perfect, but to do the sequence correctly.

2) Have dinner or a meal

3) Right before bed, do the sequence again.

4) Extremely important — first thing the next morning, do the sequence again.

5) Every day until your next class, do the sequence at least once, twice is better.

It seems like a lot, but when I point out that in the early stages of learning the 24 forms, you are only going to spend a minute or less in total each day!

My other tip is this: When talking about the long form, older students get intimidated about memorizing the large number of forms in the sequence.   So I ask them, do you know the national anthem?   Almost everyone does.   I point out the national anthem has about the same number of words in it as there are forms in the long form.  At that point about half of the students will instantly realize it is well within their capability to memorize the long form.

Thought you might benefit from hearing my experience on memorization.

May the new year bring wonderful things to you and yours!
Jeff Welty (Tacoma).

Best Wishes,