Hi Dad!!
Think of your “repertoire” as a big circle on a piece of paper. Now inside that is a smaller circle that I call “active repertoire”. This means a piece you can always play no matter what. Often this means having played and/or practiced it so much over a period of time, it is always there when you call upon it.
The tunes not in “active repertoire”, I call “inactive repertoire”. These are tunes you know but can't always perform on demand cold. Some will be easy to add to “active” and others will feel like you are starting over with them. Going from inactive to active usually means repetitions, plus practice if something is not working. Keeping something active means playing it often enough you still can recall it instantly.
Please don't take this the wrong way, this is not a criticism! My guess is when you played Cherokee Shuffle, it really was not to the point of total confidence. At this less confidence stage, you need to keep playing it until you don't question anything about it. It is then in the “active repertoire” circle.
Don't know if you saw any of my Practice Strategies videos, but one of the earliest points was “practicing” and “playing” are totally different. How you set up your “practice” time is what determines how much you improve. Along with of course how much time you spend "behind the box" (to quote Norman Blake).
Covered in the video mentioned above. We each need to determine why are we playing the instrument and what is the fun of it? Then do this enough that it stays fun.
One other point: I can't tell you how often this has happened. I work like a dog on a tune and have it "cold". I call it in a jam and it falls apart. It really means I can play it at home after running through it a few times. BUT I can't play it cold at tempo. Now what I require myself to do is play it a few times as the first tune of the day. That tells me if I really know it or not...
Hope this helps.
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