Karaoke is a great way to bond with your friends & family. There’s always good vibes and absolutely NO PRESSURE (unless of course you put it on yourself). It’s a time to laugh, goof off,  entertain and be entertained together. It’s all about fun!

   Performing however is a whole other story! With karaoke you don’t have any of the pressure of creating a flawless performance. You don’t even have to memorize your lyrics. Live performing not so much. It definitely produces it’s own set of challenges, one of those being remembering those lyrics!

   I thought long and hard about this, as I am a performer myself. Of course as I get older I find it more difficult to not only memorize things but also to find the time to actually practice to perfection! Who else is with me on this? #oldpeopleproblems. So my friends, I sought to find the answers that will help myself with this.  Now because i am just generous like that I am sharing my findings with you too. 

   Of course we are all different and because of that we all learn in different ways. The first step in understanding how to memorize your lyrics most effectively is to understand how you learn. This link will allow you to take a quick quiz to tell you what sort of learner you are.

Despite what kind of learner you are every performer should do a few things the same,

1) Think about & understand the Lyrics

2) Make a Personal Connection

3) Create (non- consequential but somewhat stressful) Situations for You to Practice In.

 *See more about these in a later post.

   With the above tips in your arsenal and a plan for execution, let’s get into how you would practice for your specific learning style.

   We  are all unique, even in the way we learn. The more you get to know your style of learning the better as you dabble in your interests and such. Also, anytime we can learn more about ourselves we are better able to embrace who WE are and not hold ourselves to the standard of others.

Okay, so the learning styles, let’s get into it shall we:

The Auditory Learner

   The Auditory Learner learns best by verbal instructions from others or themselves. They just need to hear it out loud for it to stick. Some things that an auditory learner can do to remember their lyrics is:

• the obvious is listen to the track on repeat. 
• understand the meaning of the lyrics and explain each line to someone.
• create a recording of yourself  in the way you would like to sing it on stage and then listen to it over and over again whenever you get a chance. 

The Tactile/ Kinesthetic Learner

   The Tactile/ Kinesthetic Learner learn by doing, they need hands-on activities or direct involvement to effectively learn. Here are some tips for the Tactile/ Kinesthetic learner:

• Write all your lyrics down on another piece of paper (yes I know you probably already have a printed copy, do it anyways!)
• Put notations in the margins where, for example, the dynamics change. you can come up with any other notations as you go through your piece. 
• Adding to the notations idea, don’t forget highlighting and underlining. This is also an effective way for you to learn in this learning style. 
• Roll playing or acting it out is another effective approach for this learning style. you can either act out the lyrics in silly ways based on the words or you can just pretend you are on stage. As you sing, practice how you would like to actually perform it. What will you do with your hands at certain parts? How will you stand at this specific moment? etc. 

The Visual (non-verbal) Learner

   If you are a Visual (non-verbal) Learner you learn best by visual cues. looking at pictures, charts, diagrams, illustrations etc. help you learn the most. Some tips for those in this group are:

• Visualize the lyrics and the meaning behind it in your head
• draw pictures of the actions happening in your piece. Make a story board as if you are creating the music video for the song is a good way to do this.
• use highlighters and pens in bright colors for changes in dynamics 
• write lyrics in piece on flash cards preferably in different colors
• if it’s not an original song watch it being performed by many other musicians. If it is an original film yourself performing it and watch it back over and over. 

The Verbal/ Visual Learner 

   These learners learn best by reading. Watching films, YouTube instructional videos, documentaries etc. are also a great way for you to learn if you at a Verbal/ Visual Lerner. Anything that presents verbal and visual information at the same time is perfect for those in this category. Here are tips for your group:

• Review lyrics over and over again. look at your paper while singing it and listen to the track all at the same time
• At some point (sooner than later) take out words from your lyrics only using the first word as your visual cue. (example: if the lyrics of one line is ” Then I will love you forever even when we’re old and gray” your new notes would say “Then I will…”). Those few word should be all you need to remember that line. You will then start taking more words away until you don’t need them. 
• Create notations as you go through your piece. practice it out loud after each notation is created.
• Visualize the meaning of the song as you sing it.
• use arrows to remember.  For example, if you need to go back to the chorus again but it isn’t noted use an arrow or some other notation to relate that information. Also, note things such as “2x’s” which would indicate you will repeat that verse. 
• In your practice sessions try to get as much visual and verbal information happening at the same time.

 

Hopefully you are able to use some of the tips above and improve the mastery of your lyrics. Let me know if they helped. 

Do you have anything to add to the list? Share, share, share in the comments below. We would LOVE to hear it!