by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: December 26, 2010   Last Updated: December 31, 2010

As a musician extends their repertoire of music, it can be very tempting to be satisfied with having a pile of sheet music and just accessing it when needed by flipping through the available stock. However, this isn't the best or most productive way of handling music, and doesn't help the musician in their development. A much better way to do this is to keep an inventory of the music, so that it can be found easily and falls into different categories.

Since music comes in sheet format, or is printed onto A4 paper, the natural way to keep this is to have files for different styles and for different levels of expertise. This allows the musician to access those items which need more work, and to distinguish those which have been worked to perfection easily.

Use binders, and in the front of the binder, make an index. The binders used for a musician will consist of different styles of music, such as Folk, Rock, Classical, Oldies, etc., and a separate binder is useful for each. If ever playing at an event, this means that the type of music used can be accessed and practiced with no difficulty finding the appropriate music to the event.

Other binders should include works in progress. If a musician is having lessons, then the lesson notes should be kept in this folder, together with the songs which are not yet learned thoroughly. These should be kept in the education folder so that they are easily accessible for lessons. This also helps the education, since the musician is aware of what items need more work and is more likely to practice them if these are set apart.

Potential items

Making a folder of those songs or music sheets which are intended to be learned means that the music is put to one side until it becomes part of the learned, or about to be learned, music. There will always be new music to learn, and, often tempted into buying music which is beyond the present capability of the player, this folder can be accessed as and when they learn new methods which allow them to play the new music.

Having a recording of new songs to learn is a good idea, because listening helps to get the beat right and to know how the professionals play that music. If possible, with each item which is a potential, have a CD rom with that particular track on it in the same folder as the music sheet itself. This acts as an aide memoire, and enables the musician to listen to that music and to adapt their own version to the same timing and tune.

Chords, Notes and Practice items

It's good to have a folder for practice. This can include sequences which are used on a regular basis to exercise the fingers or the playing methods. No matter what instrument is played, there will be appropriate scales, arpeggios, and sequences which help a player to develop. Keep this separate to the music itself, because this will encourage playing of the exercises which help a player to develop.

Sorting out an inventory of each style of music and musical detail helps considerably in the progress of a musician. Notes can be taken, and indexes added to as the repertoire increases. There is nothing more satisfying than moving an item from the learning folder to the completed folder and seeing the progress of work done, and the repertoire of completely learned items increasing. This gives the player the incentive to work harder and to keep up with practice. Practice makes perfect, and as the perfected folder increases in size, and more folders are added for different genres, the musician is able to advance easily without scouting around for the next snippet of learning.

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