When I was in school, I did well in subjects where I could figure out the answer on the spot (e.g., math), but was terrible at memorizing (poems, dates in history, etc.)

When I finished school, I spent several years trying to become a professional singer, and eventually developed a repertoire of 200-300 songs, all of which I could almost *always* sing correctly and completely, with all the verses in the right order, etc. Plenty of my songs were short, simple and/or long-familiar, of course, but a good number of others were long and wordy (e.g., Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb Blues," "Like a Rolling Stone," etc.)

My newfound ability to learn by rote must have been partly due to a better attitude -- doing something I enjoyed rather than being coerced to learn -- but *repetition* had to have been the key -- just doing a lot of singing, hours and hours every day, every song I knew over and over. Also, of course, I didn't learn all those songs at once, but gradually built up an ever-larger repertoire.

I was working almost exclusively on streetcorners -- busking -- plus one or two evenings a week at "basket clubs," and I was putting in *long* hours. As soon as I felt completely confident that I had learned "x" number of songs, I couldn't wait to add a few more, just to avoid boring myself. I was more-or-less driven to become able to go for longer and longer periods of time without repeating myself. I would put in close to 12 hours (noon-midnight) some Saturdays, repeating only a few favorites.

Even though I haven't done it myself for years (or, indeed, done much public performance at all), I still recommend streetsinging as an ideal way to develop one's skills as a singer, player, and performer. Once you get over the initial "stage" fright, it's a very low-pressure context in which to practice working in front of an "audience." If you forget a line or get some verses out of order, who will know or care? Just do it over again until you get it right!

(Inasmuch as I even *have* a current repertoire, it's still heavily skewed towards 60s/70s hippie culture, and consists of no more than half the numbers I once had at my fingertips, plus a very few additions since 1973.)