How to memorizie lyrics vs using prompters.

[Rockin John]

Please.....

At the ripe old age of 54, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to memorize lyrics (I'm doing bass / lead vocals / front man again in my new band). Not only am I starting to forget lines I've known for years, but learning new stuff is all but impossible, I've recently discovered.

Unfortunately it's not just in music that I forget stuff so have come to the conclusion that it's an age related thing.

Also, and even more unfortunately, the issue whilst playing really is starting to get to me. I'm fast losing confidence over it, and the whole thing is starting to build into some kind-a mental block thing that's getting out of proportion. I even offered to quit after rehersal last night, for that very reason.

So I wondered whether seasoned guys on TB have any proven (or unproven!) methods of memorizing lyrics.

Or ...

I wondered what thoughts might be on the use of prompters. By that, in this case, I mean some sort of unobtrusive music-stand-type-thing, possibly at roughly floor level ,that holds lyric sheets.

It struck me that as a boogie/blues pub-type band, lyric sheets and the like are a bit laughable. But I'm genuinely desparate to find a way around this issue cos it's affecting the band, and I'm starting to feel so stupid over it.

Wisdom sincerely appreciated.

Ta.

John

[T-Bird]

Hi John.

That's a bummer. Fortunately I'm not there yet, but it seems that I do need more and more rehearsing time nowadays.

Prompters and cheat sheets are somewhat laughable for the type music I play (classic rock, blues) IMO, but if they're the only way, then go for it, it's the music that counts after all, right? Then of course, not counting our current female vocalist, people won't be coming to look at us, but to hear us and of course do that being very,very drunk at the time .

The method I use is just repeat after repeat, with and without the sheets, until I get it "right". By "right" I mean all the verses and the structure. Only a few of the tunes we play actually have a continuous story, so quite often I sing verses in different order. NO-ONE notices if I don't let it show.

Regards
Sam

[lawsonman]

At age 55 I'm in the same boat.I sing 48 songs,play Bass and I'm the frontman.I can remember most of the old stuff but for the new songs we do I have to have a cheat sheet.I put the lyrics (or sometime just the first line of each verse will be enough) in a black book and have it mounted on the top of my floor monitor which I usually have on top of one of the drummers cases.Works out good.

[nsmar4211]

Seen lots of blues people with the three ring note book on a music stand with the lyrics and keys trick. One group I know between the three string instruments knows over 500 songs.....so when one is called the singer doesn't remember quick the guitar player starts it out with a small jam giving the singer time to glance over the lyrics.

Don't feel bad.....its not always age! My 24 year old singer forgets lyrics too...heck I've forgotten what entire songs sound like and had to poke the guitar player for starting notes. If you panic you then get a giant mental block and the whole head goes blank...and you're screwed. If you feel yourself forgetting, relax. If you have to sing a verse twice and skip the one you forgot, oh well . My singer is lucky cause she can usually turn to me and I can give her the first line, and that's enough to prime the pump... perhaps someone else in your band can prompt you?

Something to check is that you're healthy, getting all the nurtrients you need, not diabetic, etc...... if your body's balance is out of whack it can affect your memory .

[Rockin John]

Well it's true I'm not in the best of condition atm. And I've had a dreadful 5 years with health issues and other stuff that culminated in a divorce. But I dont think that's the root cause of forgetting lyrics.

I've even given up fretless to help me sing (cos it means one less thing to distract me) and have gone back to the Jazz: this is something I've detested having to do, btw.

The board at floor level holding prompts sounds good, though, and I guess an audience will accept it, esp if it means the words keep on coming....

Best.

John

[Howlin' Hanson]

Back in the day (eons ago) I used to pick up the tone arm and replay the lines as I wrote them down. Later I would type them up for my binder. I believe the fact that I actually wrote the words, then typed them up helped to reinforce they lyrics in my memory.

Today the lyrics are on the Internet, and all we do is copy and paste (and enlarge). We aren't quite as close to the words, so we don't recall them.

Anyway, that's another bogus theory from deep in the heart of Texas. I wish I had TIME to retype all my lyric sheets....

[Rockin John]

Thanks Howlin'. You may have something there. Writing the words - writing anything I suppose - does reinforce it in the mind.

I'll give that a go.

Thanks.



John

[baalroo]

If you're going to spend the time to write them out, try to do it from memory rather than copying from an existing lyric sheet... when you hit a "memory blocker" look up the line but then don't write the line down: instead move on to writing out another song. each time you hit a blocker keep looking up the line, but not writing it down and shifting the lyric page to the "back of the stack." By the time you have all the songs fully written out I betcha it'll all be iron-clad in your old dusty cob-webbed mind.

[mrpackerguy]

An old trick from when I used to do high school and college community theater was to highlight the lines in yellow. Somewhere I remember that the yellow marker helps in the memorizing process.

Us guys in our band our pushing our 50's. The singer and I are co-front men. We're getting two of these band stands you see big bands put their music on. We're having our band logo put on two of those. We figuring it will look better than the music stand we use now, they look kind of cool and will actually hide our "words binder".

[Rockin John]

Well, FWIW, I tried one thing. I took half a dozen songs and copied the important lyric from each verse of each song onto a piece of paper: I actually wrote them by hand with a thick, black ink, fibre tipped pen.

At priviate practice, for an initial try-out, I put the sheets on a music stand lowered to it's shortest position so that the lyric sheets might be about as low as they would be on some sort of stand (say) attached to the top of a monitor cab. I played and sang along to a song on a CD that I didn't know too well so that reference to the sheets was needed.

It didn't really work. It seemed probable that, however neat my handwriting, I had trouble reading the lyric at swift glance.

Next move was to print out on the computer what I had written so that, at least, the writing was clear to read. This did work. I found I was able to visually pluck words from the sheet which did enough to prompt my memory of the line and, in some cases, the whole verse.

So far so good! Prompt sheets at floor level look promising. I'll certainly try the idea at next rehersal. It'll need honing and modifying until it's right for me but, thus far, it does look promising.

John

[jmorbita]

Just make sure that you always have proper light when playing live... the sheets at a distance with poor lighting might be a problem...

I find writing anything out helps me memorize it too... since i don't have a printer at home i almost always do it, and i always memorize easier things i wrote down than what i just read and didn't write down.
Also, i suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask a doctor wether you need to have some studies done or it's normal. But everyone forgets a line from time to time!

[JmJ]

Recite the lyrics to yourself when you are well away from your instrument, while driving your car for example.
It also helps to reinforce memories to do this while falling asleep, helps your subconscious to mull over the "problem". Hope all our advice helps.

[peterbright]

Use an in the ear prompter.

[The Golden Boy]

The only way I've been able to learn stuff is through repetition.

[nsmar4211]

"Just make sure that you always have proper light when playing live... the sheets at a distance with poor lighting might be a problem..."

Yea, you will want to invest in a clip on booklight if you go the sheets routine. The stage *will* be darkest when you really need to see the sheets. Bookstores have all sorts of cool battery operated LED ones, the old stand types that pit orchestras use have a tendency to *ahem* catch on fire (not fun) or over heat or burn out....

Keep on writing em over and over and eventually they'll stick

[Rockin John]

Well, at first time of use at rehersal, the prompt sheets made a huge difference. I'll have to experiment with viewing distance, lighting, etc, but they restored that bit of confidence I was fast losing.

When I get time I plan to write my weakest songs out longhand as has been kindly mentioned on this thread.

I'm gonna see if I can construct some kind of lightweight stand with good lighting, as also mentioned.

One thing I've decided to do is not rely on the sheets too much - and not at all if possible.

But we had the best rehersal for ages last night. I even used the fretless P and the results all round were a vast improvement.

Thanks guys.



John