I've been a choir singer all my life, so I ordinarily use a hymnal. I suppose I have to go through a song ten times before I can sing it well from a hymnal (although I often have to get by with going through it once or twice when it's new material). After I've sung it a hundred times, I pretty-much know it by heart, and I'll glance at the hymnal once or twice during a verse - usually just at the beginning. Still, it helps to have the hymnal open for those spots where my mind goes blank.

I've sung from the Rise Up Singing songbook for almost twenty years, and I know most of the songs in that book that I'd want to know. So again, I merely glance at the book once a verse or so, and look at my audience most of the time. But the songs in Rise Up Singing are very well-known, to the point of being worn out. So, I like to learn new stuff. I keep a black folder of song lyrics, one song per page, printed in 16-point type or larger. You can see me singing from that folder here (click). I know this may be hard for some of you to believe, but I've come to the point where people actually request me to sing "Key of R," and I no longer need my lyrics page.

I refrain from using the Rise Up Singing songbook in many situations, because so many people speak of it so disdainfully; but I rarely get negative comments about my lyrics folder. I'm sorry, but I just don't have the time or patience to sing a song a hundred times to myself before I sing it for somebody else. Besides, I've found that I learn a song much better and much faster when I have an audience to interact with.

I try to sing so I'm not a slave to my songbook or lyrics sheet, but I think I sing better without the fear of forgetting lyrics.

One thing I enjoy very much is spending time with a friend or two and singing our way through a songbook, seeing how many songs we know or can learn.

-Joe-