I just wanted to say thank you for this discussion. I can relate to so much you both are saying! Thank you also for the book recommendation!
I am curious about something – does it matter whether you learn the piece first through sheet music and learn it by heart later or if you learn it through hearing from the start and then maybe write it out later, as a memorization tool?
I wonder if there is some research on that.
I am currently trying to hit my “weaker” channel, just to see what happens. ANd I always found it useful to draw a map of the piece with little milestones, just to have a way to wander through the piece in my mind as I go…