How much is remembered as days pass

[elriba]

Hi,
Some time ago I read something that described how much we remember after one, two, three and four days.

One conclusion was that this showed why it is so important to practice every day.

Does anybody have the actual percentages that were posted?    I think it was something like 70 after the first, 20 after the second,......but I don't remember 


Thanks,
Edgard

[dan101]

Sounds like an interesting study. One thing that I can tell you is that once something is commintted to my memory, it sticks for years and years. Sure, after having not played a work for a great length of time, I return to it, I most certainly need a couple of days to refresh my memory. However, the given piece tends to come back extremely quickly.

[shortyshort]

I have myself worried about this.

Since moving house, I have had to spend many of my Piano Practice hours doing decorating and carpentry etc.

I am finding that my fingers are not as well trained as I thought.

[G.W.K]

I am finding that my fingers are not as well trained as I thought.

That can be fixed in several ways.

G.W.K

[shortyshort]

That can be fixed in several ways.

G.W.K

Yes. I could give up arguing with you, and practice more.

But, the former is much more fun.

[G.W.K]

Yes. I could give up arguing with you, and practice more.

But, the former is much more fun.

Hmmm, why don't you ask your wife how you could loosen your fingers? I'm sure she'll have a couple of suggestions...lol

G.W.K

[shortyshort]

Hmmm, why don't you ask your wife how you could loosen your fingers? I'm sure she'll have a couple of suggestions...lol

G.W.K

Stop being so rude, she is listening.

[javacisnotrecognized]

Does anybody have the actual percentages that were posted?    I think it was something like 70 after the first, 20 after the second,......but I don't remember 

I think it would depend almost entirely on the person remembering things. I imagine some can remember almost 100% with only a few tries, whereas someone else might take weeks just to get a small bit.

[G.W.K]

Stop being so rude, she is listening.

You misinterpretate them as rude. And she can't listen - she can watch.

G.W.K

[elriba]

I think it would depend almost entirely on the person remembering things. I imagine some can remember almost 100% with only a few tries, whereas someone else might take weeks just to get a small bit.

Yes.   However, someone (I think it was Bernhard) gave a general guideline which I found most interesting.

It was something like
After 1 day:  70%
After 2 days: 20%
After 3 days:   5%
After 4 days:   0%

And the argument was that practicing -for example- two times a week is useless...

Best regards,
Edgard

[elriba]

Hi all,

I found the original post.    It was from Bernhard, and it was:

After 1 day you remember 90%
After 2 days you remember 20%
After 3 days you don't remember anything.

This sounds about right, except that I would say that after 1 day you remember 70-80% instead of 90.  But that is just me :-)

Best regards,
Edgard

[G.W.K]

After 1 day you remember 90%
After 2 days you remember 20%
After 3 days you don't remember anything.

That is a bit of an exaggeration. 

G.W.K

[00range]

That is a bit of an exaggeration. 

G.W.K

It's a highly personal thing, but I think for some beginners, it may be true. Anyway, the point, and I think it an important one, is that daily consistent effort is more valuable than practicing the same amount of time with days off.

This has been proved true in other areas, such as language, reading, etc..

[db05]

I don't think there is an exact percentage. You will have to assume some values. I found this in How to Top Exams and Enjoy Studies, summarized and paraphrased.

"Throughout we will assume that it takes one hour to take your memory level to 20 percent so it will take 5 hours to take your memory to 100 percent...
Let us say the exam is on Dec. 31.

The date is Dec. 10. Mark studies for 5 hours and reaches 100%. Now as time passes by, he gradually forgets what he has learnt. (Graph) Now the date is Dec. 20. From the graph it can be seen that Mark has forgotten 60% of what he had studied. So he decides to work hard for 3 hours and push his memory back to 100%. On Dec. 30, Mark remembers only 60% of the subject matter. So he studies for 2 hours to push his memory level back."

So 3 revisions: 5 hours + 3 hours + 2 hours = 10 hours

60% in 10 days is more realistic imo, since I can remember about half of something I studied a week ago.

"Nicky decided to study on Dec. 10. After working hard for 5 hours, he knew everything so well. After that, he went to sleep. While he slept, he forgot 10% of what he had learnt. Next day, he studies again. It took him only half an hour. The third day when Nicky went to sleep, his memory level dropped to 95%. Getting up in the morning, he studied again! However, this time he was able to reach the optimum level in 15 mins."

3 revisions: 5 hours + 30 mins + 15 mins = 5 hours, 45 mins. Further revisions would be easier and take even less than 15 minutes!!

[ryanyee]

for me i'm totally dependent on my sightreading abilities but i always can't remember the exact notes i've played until like 20 times later. it depends on the way u memorize the notes too.