Singing Tips and Tricks: 6 Steps to Help You Remember Lyrics
Writing lyrics down can be a crucial step to help you remember the words!
For singers, half the battle of performing is hitting those tough high and low notes and the other half is actually remembering lyrics! Do you have a gig tonight? Are you worried about remembering the lyrics to your songs at an upcoming performance? Some songs are easier to memorize than others but inevitably there are songs that are more difficult. Also, sometimes we have time constraints to learn and memorize songs! As a seasoned professional, I have had to periodically crash course myself on song lyrics for performances that seemingly pop up out of nowhere. Below is my list of tips and tricks to help you memorize and remember lyrics:
1. Sing Along. Depending on your circumstances, I recommend singing along with a lyric sheet infront of you or a lyric website pulled up. Apple Music and Spotify both have lyric display options that can be utilized as you play the song you are working on. Repetition is of course key for memorization and remembering.
2. Look For the Patterns. Music is filled with patterns and repetition. Pay attention to the melodic structure of a verse and how it differs for a chorus or a bridge. Assessing this with the visual of the lyrics infront of you will help you to keep the two better associated.
3. Follow the Rhyme Scheme. Most songs have a definitive rhyme to the ending of each vocal line. Think along the lines of poetic analysis for Taylor Swift’s huge hit song, a verse from “Blank Space:”
New money, suit and TIE A
I can read you like a magaZINE B
Ain’t it funny? Rumors FLY A
And I know you heard about ME B
So hey, lets me FRIENDS C
I’m Dying to see how this one ENDS C
Grab your passport and my HAND C (near rhyme)
I can make the bad guys good for a weekEND C
4. Follow the storyline. Most songs have an element of story building at play. When you look at the lyrics and read them you can see that the story develops from verse to verse. The more you understand the layout of the story, the easier it is to sing the lyrics in the correct order and identify what belongs together in a lyrical sense.
5. Memorize first lines of verses as a priority. fr some songs it feels as if we can sing them out of order and it totally works, in which case the last step can be less effective. Step 6 will be the most important step in those cases however, oftentimes just putting a focus on getting the first line of each verse in the correct order will also help you to sing entire verses in the correct place as well.
6. Write down the lyrics. Do it repeatedly. This step to me is the most beneficial and critical step of all. When I personally have a song that I need to memorize in a short period of time I include this step repeatedly. I listen to the song and sing along. Then I pause the music and I sit and write down as much as I can retain from memory. In the early stages of this process I will allow myself to glance at the lyrics many times but as I get the song down more, I stop using the assistance of the lyric cheat sheet. Rinse, lather, repeat. Do it at least 3 times in a row of listening and singing with the lyric sheet INFRONT OF YOU then write down as much as you retain. Fill in the blanks with he cheat sheet. After 3 times through this process you will be surprised how quickly you have memorized the song. This process can and should be done multiple times. Writing the lyrics down is fantastic reinforcement for quick learning.
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