Some thoughts on memorization.
I've come to memorization rather late in life, since I've always been a
good sight-reader, and only in my late 30s found how to sing soloistically
(still learning, of course). I've never found memorization easy. Here are
some of the things I do/think:
1. *Understand* what you're singing, and why. This can't be stressed
enough. If there is any doubt about a meaning you probably don't know it
well enough yet. I'm likely to look up most of the words in a dictionary,
and make sure I have the right definition. This is particularily important
in texts which are in an older form of your own language, since many words
have shifted in meaning.
2. It really does take time. Often lots of it, therefore:
3. It helps if you care about it, instead of feeling it's a chore. (It can
take hours to prepare minutes of music. For me it usually does. I have
spent >30 hours on a two minute song, though the average is probably more
like one hour per minute of music. For me. We're all different!)
4. Mental imagery, so that a consistent story unfolds, pictorially is good.
5. In fact, any kind of mnemonic device will help. Some I have used are:
writing or typing the text to be memorized and working on the words
separately from the music (when I do this I also note the text of
cues);little drawings in the margin of the text; associating physical
objects with portions of the text - for instance the panes in a window each
with the lines of a Lied text. Some poetical lines are easily
interchangeable with others, then you just make a mental note of which one
comes first, or if there is a lot of repetition, understand the pattern of
repetition.
6. It is really important in drama to just drill it. Again and again. For
some fortunate people this might not be necessary, but I doubt it. A
sympathetic helper who will read the cues for you is a great boost.
7. What the other person sings (in duets etc.) is important - remember the
cues verbatim, but if you want to be dramatically efffective it's important
to be able to react to every nuance of what the other person is singing, so
you should have gone over the other's text with understanding, and perhaps
highlight words to react to (even close direction is not likely to dwell on
all such details unless there is a noticeable lack of them). You *don't*
have to know every tiny detail to be effective, but if you have the time(!)
it can be very rewarding.
8. When you feel you know something, test yourself (not while driving!) in
odd moments of the day. Try jumping in in odd places. Anything that doesn't
come immediately still needs work. Isolate those parts and find out if
there is any lack of clarity or understanding. There's usually a reason why
a line won't come.
9. I've concentrated on text memorization, since that is what I find
toughest. Much of this applies to the music too, though music has a more
necessary logic than text, unless the composer (often in the 20th C.) has
his own obscure language. *Frequently* read your part on any instrument you
can, to make sure you haven't 're-composed' note lengths, rhythms, pitches
etc.
10. It is important (in languages not your own) to make sure that
pronunciation is correct at an early stage since things learnt quickly
early may need to be laboriously re-learnt later.
11. Look for patterns. There are more than you might see at a glance.
12. When you are singing it is important to have a majority of your
practice in the key (and at the same speed) in which you will be performing.
13. The performance situation is likely to feel quite differently from
practice. Don't expect it to be the same. Allow for *everything* being
different and don't be freaked out by, for instance, the fact that a
half-full hall can seem to suck away all the resonance you were used to in
rehearsal. If you think you might forget things in performance (almost
everybody does), have strategies that will minimize the result: have clear
in your mind what comes next (when I sing one line I'm already "loading"
the next one, rather than relying on muscle memory), but don't clutter your
mind with anything too big, or anything that won't help you. Only look as
far ahead as you can do comfortably, but nevertheless look ahead. If a line
or word doesn't come, either repeat a word to the new tune or make
something up - but if you are likely to do so, understand that it may throw
another performer off, and *will* throw someone off if it is an expected
cue. Remember: once you've sung your line, it's done, past, finito, next
please. Don't dwell on any mistake and the audience won't either.
14. If it's not fun or you don't anticipate getting a great deal of
satisfaction out of it, find something else. But if you have made a
committment, honour that first!
15. I know that wasn't anything to do with memorization.
16. If you have a lot of stuff to work on, you may wish to save your voice
by memorizing silently. It's possible. Domingo does it. You would just have
to get used to it!
17. I haven't mentioned listening to recordings so far because, as a mature
thinking adult, I prefer to form my own interpretations. You can often tell
exactly the recordings that young singers (including professionals) have
been listening to. Even famous people do this. For example, a lot of pro
Marschallins sound like Schwarzkopf, and I suspect that she herself
modelled her interpretation closely on an exemplar. Perhaps I'm old
fashioned, but I leave listening to recordings until I already have a
pretty good idea of how I want something. Many would suggest doing this at
an early stage, particularily if a professional wanted to get a quick idea
of whether a role would suit her voice or not. It may be the only way for
singers in some circumstances to hear the right pronunciation, though be
warned: my wife(fluent in Russian) and I watched a video of Lyric Opera of
Chicago's Eugene Onegin - only the Italian prima donna (the consummate
professional Mirella Freni)and the Bulgarian Gremin (her real-life husband
Giuarov) sang in acceptable Russian - *everyone else* had very poor
Russian. And sometimes unwanted regionalisms creep into even the singing of
a native speaker.
17. That's enough, dont you think?
john
At 06:10 PM 6/6/01 +0000, you wrote:
>Just wondering if anyone has any "helpful hints" for the
>memorization of opera arias. No matter how hard I try, can't seem to
>remember the words. I usually stumble on a word or two, and then the
>whole thing falls apart. It gets worse when I actually add the
>accompaniment. Is there a way to memorize lyrics quickly and
>easily? If so, I haven't found it!
>
>Thanks,
>Howard
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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