Singing Lesson & Voice Training Blog|
Feb 17
2011
|
With a student recital coming up in a week, all our lesson time is spent rehearsing these days. This is a good time for the students to practice the strategy for memorizing lyrics. I explain it in this way: When learning a song which has a recurring melody with different lyrics, plant visual cues at strategic points in the music. While singing the end of one phrase, mentally flash an image that brings up the next phrase. One student, Molly, aged 9, is learning “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid. It’s form is: Verse 1, Chorus 1, Verse 2, Chorus 2, Chorus 3, Bridge, Chorus 4, Coda
Every piece of music has a form.
Analyzing the form provides the road map to keep everything in place. For a singer who is expressing lyrics that tell a story, mentally triggering images is one of the most effective tools for memorization. Following the form of Under the Sea here are the image triggers that Molly is using. Verse 1:
While the piano intro is being played, flash seaweed, dream; while finishing phrase, flash look! wonderful things.
While the piano intro is being played, flash seaweed, dream; while finishing phrase, flash look! wonderful things.
Chorus 1:
While singing the first phrase of the chorus “Under the sea...” see in your minds eye this series of images: better wetter, then shore - work, sun-slave, floatin’
Verse 2:
fish happy:) fish ain’t happy :( Exactly what Molly chooses to visualize is up to her but I remind her to make the triggering image exaggerated and vivid. Next in Verse two comes two more images: fish bowl, boss hungry
This comical and lively song to a reggae beat continues with these images:
Chorus 2 :
(big stick?) beat us cook-hook troubles-bubbles 0000000000
Chorus 3:
life sweet (candy?) sturgeon-urg’n spirit (ghost?)
life sweet (candy?) sturgeon-urg’n spirit (ghost?)
Bridge :
newt-flute, carp-harp, plaise-bass(visualize fish playing bass), bass-brass (see horn), chub-tub (see bath) fluke-duke, ray (sun)-strings (violin), trout rocking, black singer, smelt (nose?) blow
Chorus 4 with coda:
sardines (can), sand-band, clam-jam, slug-rug, wailing snail, hot, luck-muck
The images should be vivid, brightly colored and cartoonish, as in a comic book or in a flashy commercial or video. Once the images are chosen, it takes practice to plant them at the right moment to cue the next phrase. The idea is to get the senses and emotions involved as much as possible, so that memorization is not just mechanical. the previous example is very visual. Some songs are more emotional-kinesthetic and one can flash memories that bring up the emotion that cues the phrase.
To illustrated this process I chose one of the most challenging and comical songs on the two programs that some sixteen singers are presenting on February 26th at the Danbury Music Centre. Many songs move along at a slower rate and have fewer images than this one. Nevertheless the image triggering technic is a useful tool for everyone when committing a song to memory.
To see an excerpt of Molly's performance click UNDER THE SEA.
Christina Rovics
The musical theater classic “My White Knight” from The Music Man by Meredith Willson is readily accessible in the key of C as published by Frank Music Corp. but a far better rendition exists in the key of D flat. Christina tracked this one down at the