If spaced repetition is the most efficient way of remembering information, why do people who learn a music instrument practice every day instead of adhering to a spaced repetition schedule?
Spaced repetition is the most efficient way in terms of time spent per item. That doesn’t make it the most efficient way to achieve a competitive goal. For this reason, SRS systems often include a ‘cramming mode’, where review efficiency is ignored in favor of maximizing memorization probability within X hours. And as far as musicians go—orchestras don’t select musicians based on who spent the fewest total hours practicing but still manage to sound mostly-kinda-OK, they select based on who sounds the best; and if you sold your soul to the Devil or spent 16 hours a day practicing for the last 30 years to sound the best, then so be it. If you don’t want to do it, someone else will.
That said, the spaced repetition research literature on things like sports does suggest you still want to do a limited form of spacing in the form of blocking or rotating regularly between each kind of practice/activity.
What about a goal that isn’t competitive, such as “get grade 8 on the ABRSM music exam for <instrument>”? Plenty of Asian parents have that particular goal and yet they usually ask/force their children to practice daily. Is this irrational, or is it good at achieving this goal? Would we be able to improve efficiency by using spaced repetition in this scenario as opposed to daily practice?
The ABRSM is in X days. It too does not care how efficient you were time-wise in getting to grade-8 competency. There are no bonus points for sample-efficiency.
(And of course, it’s not like Asian parents are doing their kids much good in the first place with that music stuff, so there’s even less of an issue there.)
Declarative and procedural knowledge are two different memory systems. Spaced repetition is good for declarative knowledge, but for procedural (like playing music) you need lots of practice. Other examples include math and programming—you can learn lots of declarative knowledge about the concepts involved, but you still need to practice solving problems or writing code.
Edit: as for why practice every day—the procedural system requires a lot more practice than the declarative system does.
I’m not sure that linear vs. logarithmic is the key.
With many procedural skills learning to apply the skill in the first place is a lot more central than not forgetting the skill.
If you want to learn to ride a bike, a little of the practice is about repeating what you already know to avoid forgetting what you already know.
“How can we have the best deliberate practice?” is the key question for most procedural skills and you don’t need to worry much about forgetting. With declarative knowledge forgetting is a huge deal and you need strategies to counteract it.
(Like the answer on declarative vs procedural). Additionally, reflecting on practicing Hanon for piano (which is almost a pure finger strength/flexibility type of practice) - might be also for physical muscle development and control.
If spaced repetition is the most efficient way of remembering information, why do people who learn a music instrument practice every day instead of adhering to a spaced repetition schedule?
Spaced repetition is the most efficient way in terms of time spent per item. That doesn’t make it the most efficient way to achieve a competitive goal. For this reason, SRS systems often include a ‘cramming mode’, where review efficiency is ignored in favor of maximizing memorization probability within X hours. And as far as musicians go—orchestras don’t select musicians based on who spent the fewest total hours practicing but still manage to sound mostly-kinda-OK, they select based on who sounds the best; and if you sold your soul to the Devil or spent 16 hours a day practicing for the last 30 years to sound the best, then so be it. If you don’t want to do it, someone else will.
That said, the spaced repetition research literature on things like sports does suggest you still want to do a limited form of spacing in the form of blocking or rotating regularly between each kind of practice/activity.
Thank you, this was informative and helpful for changing how I structure my coding practice.
What about a goal that isn’t competitive, such as “get grade 8 on the ABRSM music exam for <instrument>”? Plenty of Asian parents have that particular goal and yet they usually ask/force their children to practice daily. Is this irrational, or is it good at achieving this goal? Would we be able to improve efficiency by using spaced repetition in this scenario as opposed to daily practice?
The ABRSM is in X days. It too does not care how efficient you were time-wise in getting to grade-8 competency. There are no bonus points for sample-efficiency.
(And of course, it’s not like Asian parents are doing their kids much good in the first place with that music stuff, so there’s even less of an issue there.)
Declarative and procedural knowledge are two different memory systems. Spaced repetition is good for declarative knowledge, but for procedural (like playing music) you need lots of practice. Other examples include math and programming—you can learn lots of declarative knowledge about the concepts involved, but you still need to practice solving problems or writing code.
Edit: as for why practice every day—the procedural system requires a lot more practice than the declarative system does.
Do we actually know procedural knowledge is linear rather than logarithmic, unlike declarative knowledge?
I’m not sure that linear vs. logarithmic is the key.
With many procedural skills learning to apply the skill in the first place is a lot more central than not forgetting the skill.
If you want to learn to ride a bike, a little of the practice is about repeating what you already know to avoid forgetting what you already know.
“How can we have the best deliberate practice?” is the key question for most procedural skills and you don’t need to worry much about forgetting. With declarative knowledge forgetting is a huge deal and you need strategies to counteract it.
(Like the answer on declarative vs procedural). Additionally, reflecting on practicing Hanon for piano (which is almost a pure finger strength/flexibility type of practice) - might be also for physical muscle development and control.