Playing by ear does not mean that we now start memorizing the tunes.
Students taking traditional piano lessons are often encouraged to memorize their pieces for their recitals.
Whenever they practice, they play the same notes over and over again until all the notes are memorized correctly.
We may think that if we play a tune often enough, we will memorize it and be able to put away the score sheet eventually.
What is memorized today will be forgotten tomorrow unless you keep practicing it.
When you don't practice something that you memorize, you will soon forget.
This is what make many learning piano students frustrated.
What they could play a year ago, they can't play anymore now because they had only learned to play by memory.
My playing by ear method does not require you to memorize.
There are far too many tunes for you to memorize and our memory bank does not have that much disk space.
What is more, playing a memorized tune is the same as sight reading from sheet music.
Your mind rather than your ear is your guiding force.
When you understand the principles to playing by ear, you will always use your ears to guide you in your playing.
It's like talking.
You learn the basic vocabulary and you know how to speak the language without memorizing any words or phrases.
Play by ear works the same way.
When your ears are fully involved, you are not working from a memory bank.
Whatever is copied or memorized is mechanical and devoid of life.
Only when you use your ears will you be able to play tunes differently each time.
You connect to the sounds that you play and the music will lead you forward.
Playing by ear is truly fantastic as you do not memorize any tunes.