Scott, there?s little to add to post, it says it all. Years back I talked to a singers-singer, she was good. To put it her words, she would first learn the story and the emotion attached to the lyric ? then she would memorize.

The first 10 to 20 years of my playing career, having music while performing was a no, no. Now at age 73 I felt all the songs I had memorized were gone from my memory. Not so, If I do not push it the lyrics seem to come from nowhere. For all you younger musicians I?m still going at 73, Hmmmmm! Not bad.

I remember years back, going through the lyrics of a song in my sleep, I knew every word. When I awoke they were gone. I know the lyrics are in there somewhere, but you can not push to hard, just let them flow. The other day I was singing a song I had not done since I was 10 years old, it was still there.

This is a good one---- Year after year I would sing and accompany myself with my guitar?I played sang and played pro guitar for many, many years.
Now if you were to ask me for a lyric I knew well, and had performed many times, and I did not have my guitar in hand, I stumbled. I needed the guitar to remember the lyric. WOW

Last thought?I could go over a lyric 20 times and not really know it, play it once on the band stand and I had it, it stayed with me.

Just me, John C.

This is a good subject for me as I have trouble with lyrics. Speaking of phenominums, I can hear every note of thousands of songs, and how they were delivered,but I can't tell you even a small part of the lyrics. One reason is I never listened to the words. This is a shame because I am now endeavoring to sing and realize what an important part the "story" plays in a song.

The other reason,I suppose, is that it takes work to memorize lyrics.

Thanks Scott and others for the tips.
Bernie

I'm halfway through my psychology degree now and have already learnt loads on memory. Can't remember any of it though. lol.

One of the best tips for getting things in is to use as many different modalities as possible - some work better for different people. In other words, recite out loud so you hear the data (or record yourself saying it and listen to the recording), write it down over and over so you feel it, or maybe walk/move around whilst reciting (kinesthetic learning), read it over and over maybe written in different colours so you see it.

Another good tip that I always use is called semantic encoding, or associating the words you want to remember with other, more meaningful words. I like to make up silly stories using the first letters of the words I'm trying to remember, for example.

Repetition is still one of the best ways to get things from short-term memory into long term, but numerous studies have shown that repetition is only part of the story - that using the various modalities is just as important.

Ok, won't bore you any longer! This stuff really interests me. I'm currently working for a clinical neuropsychologist who works with brain injury sufferers, and the associated symptoms such as memory loss.

Carrie

Scott:

Interesting topic. I have enough trouble remembering lyrics to my own songs. Thank goodness I don't have to possess the talent to perform like you guys do, day in and day out. (Or should I say, "Night after night.")

All the best, RICE (The Lone Arranger)

double post

[This message has been edited by Route 66 (edited 08-09-2005).]

I've been going through the posts from the latest weeks and found this excellent post/thread. I strongly doubt that I will ever get to memorize the lyrics of my songs. For many pop songs that I perform using styles (songs that do not require more than Maj, Minor, 7ths, 6ths chords) I easily remember all the chords but I NEVER remember the words (even for songs that I performed douzens of times, I desperately need the lyrics in front of me!) and consequently carry my thick lyrics books along. My memorization capabilities are (and have always been, even in school) extremely weak, but I recognize that they can be improved with the proper proceedings. If I dedicate myself to this task one day, this is going to be the post to start! Thanks, Scott.

-- José.

Here's something else to add to my original posting on this thread regarding lyric memorization. I've discovered an advantage to memorizing the lyrics of 3-4 songs over a 3-4 day period rather than just one song over the same period. Interestingly enough, I'm getting nearly the same song lyric memory rentention results over a 4 day period working on 4 songs, as with working on only 1 song, spending say: 10 minutes/day on each of the 4 songs (40 minutes), vs spending 40 minutes a day working on just one song. Result: In 4 days, I've got 4 songs memorized vs one one. I think this goes back to the way our brain needs 'time' to synthesize & processes memory rentention.

That said, I too frequently forget the words to songs as well, so appreciate having My MusicPad Pro" convenient to assist me with the lyrics and/or leadsheet (especially for tunes with more complicated chord changes).

- Scott

I have had a helluva time remembering lyrics of my own songs. Embarrassing. I attibuted this to two things. First, I don't have that gene that many performers have where they readily soak up lyrics. Like 90% of all women. I mean ALL women. Women remember lyrics.

Bob Dylan made everybody mad when he arrived on the scene in Greenwich Village in the early 60's. He'd hear a new song one time and play it back to them. WOW! Of course, that guy's out there on some other plane.

Second thing I attibuted my problem to was that I have written well over 300 songs in four years. That's constantly writing. Almost every day for several hours. For four years. Many hundreds more unfinished. Writing. Re-writing. Writing. Re-writing. Re-writing.

These last six months, I've (thank goodness) slowed down my writing. And I've started to work at remembering my songs. Good news is that I am much better now. I'm making progress. I think, yes, my brain was indeed cluttered with so much new stuff, it did overload my memory bank.

I think the three day phenomena is real. I back that up.

The other thing is a DEFINITE COMMITMENT to MEMORIZE THE LYRIC. For instance, I have sung some cover songs hundreds of times but I still have not locked it in. Because I never sat down with that song and owned it. Repetition of singing the song alone (for me) does not work. Repetion of working on memorizing it does.

I look forward to confidently having an entire night's worth of material fully memorized. I don't like lead sheets by I have had no choice. I can remember most of the song but the 10% you don't, that stinks. Blows the whole song. Maybe by 1/1/2006 I'll reach the goal of an entire night's worth of originals.

The first two words of the next line are the most important. I tried just writing down the first word of every line or every other line and remembering that. I thought that might work. So far, I'm not convinced there is merit in that.


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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

I have always had a bad memory and trying to remember the words has always affected my performance.
Several years ago I started to have the lyrics in front of me like you do in a choir and haven't looked back.
It is possible to glimse at the words and maintain eye contact with the audience.
I am now 71 years old and most of my peers accept the situation.

Cousin Ken

How about a tele-prompter type thing. I've never actually seen one but isn't it a screen where the audience only sees a clear screen on their side and you can read from the other. If that's the case, then when your glancing at the lyrics the audience thinks that your still looking at them. I have no idea if this is feasible though.