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Subject: RE: How do you learn/memorize songs? From: GUEST,Jim Bainbridge (7 Jan 2015) Date: 21 Feb 15 - 09:51 PM Have a quick glance at the whole song, and aim at a verse at a time. If your wife will let you do the washing up (mine is generous in that respect) sing it to yourself till you know it- when you've got one verse, start on the next. If you are really ambitious, you can try TWO verses in one washup. Mind you, you may have to wait for a day when there's a burnt porridge pot AND a scrambled eggs pot to deal with. After a few days, you should be well on the way to the last day- putting it all together- good luck |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn/memorize songs? From: GUEST,Freddy Heady (7 Jan 2015) Date: 21 Feb 15 - 09:50 PM Stewart's link (Date: 31 Dec 08 - 09:04 PM) is interesting. And Frank's 20 x 20 x.... higher up, too but I'd be frightened to count how many repeats I need. LEARN IT BACKWARDS... Apart from listening lots and reading it several times, when I decide to learn a song/poem I can't do it all at once. I start with the last few lines(2 or 3) then, when I think I've got them, work back towards the beginning just 1 or 2 or 3 lines at a time. If I find I stick at the start of a particular line I'll repeat the the last couple of words of the previous line plus the first couple of words of the sticking line, over and over, till my mouth muscles just do it automaticly. Once I've got the whole thing it's lots of singing in the shower. (Oh, the joy of living alone.) The biggest advantage, to me, of working backwards is that I should know the words at the end better than the ones at the start. So when performing it I'm pretty happy that the further I get, the better the chances are of actually getting to the end. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn/memorize songs? From: Barry Finn Date: 31 Dec 08 - 11:05 PM Well I don't drive near as much as I did when I made my last post to this thread 10 yrs ago but I still love to learn songs while I'm driving. Stewart, thanks for the link, interesting & helpful article. Frank, I'm gonna try your 20 X theory, see if my lax muscle can't be put to some good use. I usually, like I said above I will have to write out the song while listening to it in free hand, over & over until I get all the words right & written out. This helps not only with my learning process of the song but also with the tune. I don't play anything besides a bodhran so I don't have the problems that's brought up by having to learn to play it out on an instrument. I learn one verse at a time & as I learn I add on the next verse till I have the whole song. Then I keep going over the song, repeating untill (Frank, I guess I do the 20 X thing anyway) the words & phrasing feel comfortable. I then try singing it in different keys & then try changing where the emphasis lays, then I play with the phrazing & the tonal quality. Then I'll play with the mood, by the time I'm done playing it's nearly commited to memory. The only thing left is to sing it in front of someone & then to sing it out in the open, like in a session or a party. I'll still play with it until I feel I've nailed it, sometimes that takes forever but once I get that far it's hard to forget, after that I'll usually feel as if I've made the song mine, though that may take a lot longer too. Above, Stewart in his article mentioned liking the song & choosing the ones to learn. There are songs that have choosen me. I'll hear a friend sing a song & say, Whoa, I like that but they sing it & I'm not gonna learn it becasue I'll hear them sing it again & I don't want to sing a song that someone else's has as their's. But damn if the song just doesn't keep at me untill I surrender & learn it & I'll tell the person I learnd it from them that I stole their stong but I won't ever do it in their presence or among their same crowd unless they've requested it of me, usually. I also have to make sure first that the song is one that fits me, my mood, my style, my vocal range & my taste, of course if the song choose me, like I mentioned above, it's settled. Do I like the story, do I enjoy the melody, can I relate, do I feel any emotional attachment to the song, is it interesting to me, is it interesting to others. I don't need a yes to each but each time I answer yes it helps with weither I'll pick that song or not to learn. My hardest songs are the ones I don't care for but my singing partner loves & wants to perform. I usually will only go so far, like learning the back up or the refrains or choruses or certain parts or some of the harmony but never the whole song, it just won't stay & there's no reason for me to go through the bother if that's gonna be the out come. Luckly our tastes are usually pretty similar but when they're not we usually figure out a way that makes my part in it more exciting & more interesting. If he's written it that's a really hard one. Barry |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn/memorize songs? From: Deckman Date: 31 Dec 08 - 09:49 PM Joe ... you caught me with my lack of research showing! I was just following through with a suggestion from Don Firth. As for just how do I memorize songs? ... Over the years I suppose I've tried most of the methods: posting the lyrics EVERYWHERE ... bathroom mirror, rear view mirror of the truck, kitchen walls, etc. Shutting off ALL outside communications such as radio, TV, etc. I also sometimes force myself to grab blank paper, several times a day, and write the words from memory. Above all, the method for me is to sing it and sing it and sing it again until it's drilled into my brain forever. Having just gotten back into performing over the last three years, since I've retired, I'm finding an interesting thing. The more I practice new/old material, the more the old songs are springing back to my memory. Now days, I surprise Bride Judy, as well as myself, several times a week as new/old songs jump forth from my memory bank. My only frustrations seems to be that I can't really seem to controll the process. Try as I wish, I still have to make last moment decisions to NOT sing a particuliar song at my next concert because I just can't get the words right. bob |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn/memorize songs? From: Stewart Date: 31 Dec 08 - 09:04 PM Very good question Bob. Well, a couple of years ago I wrote about this in the Victory Review. Here's the article (Feb. 2007). I'm not sure that's the whole story, but it sort of works for me. The biggest thing is not to give up. It's always possible - sometimes it takes longer. Cheers, S. in Seattle |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn/memorize songs? From: Joe Offer Date: 31 Dec 08 - 08:51 PM Hi, Bob - I moved you over to this thread, which was open just the other day. I learn a song most easily if I sing it in front of other people, using a cheatsheet until I have it down cold. There's something about the interaction of singing with or for others, that helps me memorize a song much more quickly. Singing to a mirror or in the car, just doesn't work for me. I have to see printed words and have somebody to sing with. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: memorizing songs? From: Geoff the Duck Date: 31 Dec 08 - 08:47 PM Hard work mostly.... Quack! GtD. |
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Subject: memorizing songs? From: Deckman Date: 31 Dec 08 - 08:41 PM So ... just how do YOU go about memorizing a song? Bob(deckman)Nelson |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Phil Edwards Date: 29 Dec 08 - 02:43 PM I still learn most of my stuff from records, usually in three stages: Stage 1: Listen to record [repeat until it feels like it's gone in] Stage 2: Sing Listen to record [repeat until it actually has gone in] Stage 3: Sing [repeat until performance is satisfactory] If I'm pressed for time I'll learn words from a sheet, but I find learning by ear much more satisfactory. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Ebbie Date: 29 Dec 08 - 01:16 PM I have a good memory for songs- it can lie dormant in my mind for decades and then when the trigger is pressed it comes back pretty much in its entirety. That is especially true of songs that I learned in my youth; my brothers and I sang wherever we went, practically. It is much harder for me to bring a tune to mind. I like instrumentals and played for dances for years but a title does not bring back a tune. The first few notes will do it but often I can't recall thsoe first few notes. Words are an essential component to me. Sometimes the only way I can bring up a tune at will is by assigning syllables to the first few notes. For instance, 'Mandolin Chimes' begins dut dut dut. lol |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Marje Date: 29 Dec 08 - 09:02 AM I thik I learn tunes in a different part of my brain from words, or something. If someone sings a chorus song that I've never heard before, I try to hum along with the chorus the first time, while my conscious brain is listening to the words. Then (with any luck) I'm ready to start putting them together next time round. I seem to learn the tune more intuitively and the words more analytically. If I want to learn a new song, I may get it from a recording in the first place, but I like to get away from the recording as soon as I know the melody, and learn to make the song my own, rather than absorb or copy the style and mannerisms of a particular singer. In many cases, I have no recording and have simply heard the song somewhere. This is where Mudcat is such a help, as I often find the words here and can print them off to learn them. I learned two songs off the page on a recent car journey (but I wasn't driving, I was a passenger!) As usual, I got the melody in my head first and then sang the words, looking at the page only if I got stuck. I also learned a new session tune that way, reading the dots and humming it through until I could remember it. I find I have to do that before I can play it. Anyway, it certainly helps pass the time on car journeys. Marje |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Stringsinger Date: 28 Dec 08 - 05:19 PM Here is a suggestion. Any word in a foreign language can be learned by repeating it 20 times. This could be true for each line in a song. The facial muscles remember what they've been taught as the fingers on a guitar. Print works up to a point. Actors will recite lines over and over until they have them on the lips, tongue, teeth and then in the brain associating the words with images, interaction and sense-memory. 20 times per line and then 20 times per stanza and then 20 times per song. Try it. Frank Hamilton |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Joe_F Date: 28 Dec 08 - 03:38 PM When I was in grade school in the 1940s, we had a singing class in which we learned songs from aging 78s on which the words were just barely intelligible. The teacher would play a song, and if you thought you understood a bit, you raised your hand & recited it, and the teacher wrote it on the blackboard. The teacher replayed the song until the whole thing had been deciphered. By that time, everybody knew it. Perhaps phonographs could be provided with a special lo-fi setting for that purpose. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Ebbie Date: 28 Dec 08 - 03:31 PM "The Carter Family pioneered modern country music by setting folk songs to string-band backup, and were one of the most popular groups in America from 1926 until they disbanded in 1943. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thecarterfamily/biography They recorded hundreds of songs that A.P. Carter collected - and in some cases, wrote -, songs that have become standards in America. One can see and hear the influence of the Carter Family in many modern songs. You may have heard of Country music's Johnny Cash - he was the son in law of 'Mother' Maybelle Carter. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Suegorgeous Date: 28 Dec 08 - 01:57 PM Who are/were the Carter family? |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Gurney Date: 27 Dec 08 - 08:17 PM When I was in my 20s I learned songs aurally, words and music together. Two to four repetitions gave me the words. The guitar part was much harder. Now that I'm in my 60s, the best description is 'with great difficulty.' I have no problem remembering songs I've known for 40 years, but learning new ones is next to impossible. My advice? Learn lots of songs now! |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Ebbie Date: 27 Dec 08 - 07:02 PM Glad you refreshed this thread, kat. It's a good one. I discovered that it is easier and probably faster to learn one song at a time. The first time I heard Ginny Hawker sing (she was the featured Guest Artist at the Alaska Folk Festival some years back) I fell so in love with her voice, her interpretation and the songs themselves that after that week was over I found myself learning SEVEN songs at the same time. I eventually got it done but it took a week. On the other hand I've never forgotten them. In reference to 'making it one's own', I had an epiphany one day regarding the Carter Family recordings. As you know, they are frequently just plain wrong with some of the words and phrases they use; they used precious little quallity control, one might say, they did little editing. But they are an invaluable resource and I am more grateful to them than I can say. One day I realized that a Carter Family recording is a baseline, enabling one to learn hundreds of 'new' songs. It is not meant to be the definitive version. We are meant to make each song our own. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: katlaughing Date: 27 Dec 08 - 01:13 PM Good stuff in this early thread. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Bert Date: 23 Dec 98 - 08:50 AM Richard, You say....but sometimes it is hard to distinguish variation of the tune from decoration. I'm glad I'm not the only one with that problem, When I sing a new song that I've heard, I have to consciously ask myself, 'Now how would this sound if Bert was singing it'. Otherwise I find myself copying the performance instead of singing the song. Bert. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Richard McD. Bridge Date: 22 Dec 98 - 07:18 PM 3 things. I would always be very wary about singing a song in a language I didn't know fairly well. I even have trouble with American sometimes, and it's very similar to English most of the time. I would also be wary about using someone else's decoration - that way lies the peril of trying to sound like Bert Lloyd or Peter Bellamy, but sometimes it is hard to distinguish variation of the tune from decoration. Once upon a time we were trying to recruit a fiddle player. He ran a construction company. He used to practice the violin on the M25 - mostly in traffic jams but he claimed he could steer with his knees. Now that's harder than learning lyrics in the car.
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: DonMeixner Date: 20 Dec 98 - 11:15 PM I have always been blessed with an excellent memory. Not always a blessing as I tend to remember moments my kid would rather I never mentioned to their dates. My memory for lyrics tends to be aural. If I hear something its there forever, or pretty close. But like every one I can hear things wrong like singing "Wild Shepards washed their socks by Night" or " My Goat knows The Bowling Score, Ally oops sala.". Thats why I ask for lyrics from people on the list. Mary Black sings "Men of Worth" beautifully, but she has such a high voice that it tends to be unclear in a few areas. Christy Moore sings so low and records the music louder than he sings, I need help with words from time to time. MUDCAT is great for me in this regard, and I've meet some fine and generous people as well. Don Meixner |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Dave T Date: 20 Dec 98 - 08:05 PM My preference is to learn from 1) other musicians, 2) recordings, 3) sheet music, in that order. I have problems remembering lyrics unless I write them down. I'm generally a visual thinking type and can often "see" the page of lyrics in my mind when I'm singing. Repetition is really important for me. Some songs stick in my head easily but most of the time I need to hear, play and sing songs a lot before I know them. I too, use the car to learn songs. The shower's OK but personally, I'd have to use it solo (sorry Alice) for learning songs, otherwise I'd probably get too distracted. BTW, what time signature should you use for shower duets? Is it OK to change timing in mid-stream? Should you put your instrument in a case? So many questions... Dave T |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Jen Date: 19 Dec 98 - 10:08 PM I usually learn them from the radio, or a recording, first. I listen to the song with earphones, and type the lyrics while I'm playing the song(I can type really fast!) The verses I don't know I wait until next time, and play it again. I do have a habit of leaving a CD on repeat all day long, and I love getting movie soundtracks with songs before the movie, so I can sing at the movie...*g* And singing in the shower is great!! I wish I could sing in the shower(or sound as good as I sing in the shower) on Christmas Eve. I'm singing 'I Wonder as I Wander' a cappella (or however you spell that.) Wish me luck. Jen |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Harald Schmidt Date: 19 Dec 98 - 09:14 PM I also tape the songs I have to learn. I play guitar and I sing in 2 different bands, so I can listen to my own recordings when I'm on the road or when I'd like to take a walk (i. e. shopping). I always carry my walkman with me and often I have to look to the lyrics which I also take with me. That is the best way for me to learn songs. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: phinque Date: 19 Dec 98 - 01:51 PM I tape it, sometimes several times on a "to learn tape." Then I can easily play it at home, or in my car to memorize tune and words. If I know the song but don't know the words well I use a printed sheet and just play it as often as I can to practice. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: The Shambles Date: 16 Dec 98 - 06:19 PM Great stuff all. A round John Virgin! Reminds me of the story of the Nativity Play where the ad-libbing young lad playing the inn-keeper tells Joseph that “the Inn was full up until after Christmas”. Just a word here for the long-suffering partners/etc of all of us. They have to listen to the same songs, over and over, whilst waiting to use the shower, sitting in the car and in all those other strange places. I would suggest that they know the words far better than us so why not let them sing the songs instead. On a more serious note I would hate to see an end to the requests for songs, no matter that they could find the answers in the DT or elsewhere. The questions and the answers prompt memories and lead to all sorts of unexpected places, where we all go and in the process the new posters find out the way things are usually done, the best way to do it, I would suggest. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Frank in the swamps Date: 16 Dec 98 - 04:19 PM Most of what I play is jazz and some of the chord progressions give me a devil of a time if I'm trying to memorize from the written page, perhaps it's just too easy to "get it" for the tunes to stick, but when figuring things out from recordings I seem to get the tune halfway memorized just through the process of working it out. Best of all for me though, is live transmission. If somebody plays a song for me, then with me, it comes across real fast. Not easy, it demands concentration, but it's fast. Lyrics to songs are a different thing for me though, I keep a written copy handy and just keep trying to recall it over and over, if I'm stuck, I reference the paper just for the line or phrase that jammed me, then try to recall from the beginning again. Frank i.t.s. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Ewan McV Date: 16 Dec 98 - 12:15 PM As Martin indicates, yet another complicating factor is the assumption that the tune is the same / works the same way for each verse, when consideration of the song in action shows so many subtle variations and possibilities, e.g. Susan-Marie's 'weary farmer' phrasing. One of the joys of working from the printed page can be the creation of such 'interpretation', and often the conscientious editor emphasises that the tune as shown is a sketch / outline / averaging out of verses. Whereas the recorded version can trap you in the moils of some other singer's personalised version. This of course is an argument for working from the printed text - the opposite of my above expressed opinion. On balance I think I had to learn by rote other older singers' ways, till I could absorb and express my own notions of appropriate and permissable style and interpretation. Then I listened to learn while somehow editing down the other singer's personality and highlighting for myself the core of the song. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Jon W. Date: 16 Dec 98 - 10:52 AM I, too, am a closet car singer. Of course it's pretty crowded in my closet what with the car in there and all -) Seriously, I don't have much problem memorizing (my wife calls me Memorex) but I do have problems projecting my voice and also enunciating properly. So I take my five-minute commute home for lunch, back to work, and back home in the evening and sing away at full blast (if I feel like it). I don't usually sing on the way to work in the morning. It's too early, besides I have kids in the car to drop off at school and it inhibits me a little. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Paul Date: 16 Dec 98 - 10:42 AM I expect that I'm not the only one who use to get their music teacher to play the song over once, before trying to read the music. To this day, I'll just listen and join in, leaving the sheet music as a last resort. The lyrics, however, are another story. I will often agonize over a recording for hours, and still have significant holes in the lyrics. Why do we have a resource such as the Mudcat, if not for helping the lyrically challenged, like me? Thanks for all of the help I've received in the past. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Martin Ryan. Date: 16 Dec 98 - 10:33 AM Susan-Marie Funny that it should be Frank Harte that nearly killed you. I remember meeting him at a festival some years ago. He had just arrived in Clare having driven down from Dublin and was, to quote him, "a bit shook"! He had the words of a song stuck on the steering wheel and was trying to learn it as he drove down! Very nearly went off the road, not surprisingly, and was suffering the consequences. regards |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Allan C. Date: 16 Dec 98 - 10:22 AM I am all for Ewan's method of taping bits of paper to instruments with key words of song lyrics. I have done that for a number of years. For me it has been more of a problem of connecting song titles with their lyrics. I used to simply write out a song list and post it where I could see it. More than once though, I found that on stage I would read the song title but to save my life could not remember how the song began! Lyric fragments, judiciously posted, have ever since saved the day. As for memorizing lyrics from written copy I can only say that in years past (before the advent of hydraulic cueing devices) I scratched a number of my records trying to transcribe lyrics. More recently I ruined a few cassettes by fast-forwarding/rapid rewinding, etc., to accomplish the same thing. I am ALWAYS grateful to find a ready source for lyrics. Like nearly all of us, it was this feature of the Mudcat which brought me here in the first place. Having the written text helps me immensely in learning a song. Often I do not possess a recording of a particular song so written lyrics are all I have to work from. If I can remember the melody then it is simply a matter of repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition...! |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Susan-Marie Date: 16 Dec 98 - 09:15 AM Oh Alice, thanks for a great laugh this morning. Joe, don't worry about my driving, I print the lyrics real big and only look when stopped at red lights. Ewan and Martin are right about lyrics not being the hard part - the only time learning music in the car almost got me into a car accident was when I was listening to a recording of Frank Harte singing "Now Westlin Winds". He does a very intricate ornamentation on "weary farmer" and when the tape got to that part I unthinkingly CLOSED MY EYES to hear it better - while driving along at 50 mph. Luckily I stayed on the road, but I couldn't believe how stupid that was. Tiger, if I ever decide to print up "This car is my concert hall" bumper stickers, you can be sure I'll offer them on the Mudcat. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Steve Parkes Date: 16 Dec 98 - 07:58 AM Hey, Jo! What did your friend tune your 2CV to? My old Mini Traveller was B flat - and that was just the tyres! On a slightly serious note (no pun intended this time), I heard of some research some years ago that indicates that you remember things better when you're in the same emotional state as when you tried to learn them. Since then I've revised for exams by working up a good panic and repeating "Ohmygodohmygodi'llneverrememberthis" rapidly under my breath, over and over. I can't say if it helps or not, since I've nothing to compare results with. I'm not sure if you can do it with songs, but it might get a laugh if you work it into the act. Steve |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Barbara Date: 16 Dec 98 - 07:33 AM Honestly, alison what does it matter about the length? |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: alison Date: 16 Dec 98 - 06:18 AM only eight and a half....... that's not what you told me Mick!!! I like the idea though Alice......... think I'll try that one.. much safer than trying to learn in the car in Sydney traffic. wonder if it'd work for whistle tunes too........ slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Martin Ryan. Date: 16 Dec 98 - 05:12 AM Ewan That last sentence hits the nail on the head! The words and even the tune of a traditional song are the least of our worries. It's getting a grip on what the song is communicating through both that matters. Sometimes that's relatively easy. Learning the words and tossing them around - whether in the car or the shower - will soon get a passable version into you. It then becomes a matter of recognising whether the combination of words, tune and YOU actually does justice to the song. Sometimes its more difficult. I find that some songs sneak up on you over many years. You often KNOW that you will sing them at some stage but put off tackling them until you feel you have some chance of doing justice to them Once you set about it - you find that osmosis has worked and you know it already! I sympathise with the difficulty of those trying to work from recordings only, especially when the language, culture or placenames are unfamiliar. Again, it comes back to whether you can get inside the song to the point where it will work FOR YOU. This, incidentally, is why I am more than happy to help on matters of detail in Irish songs. Hopefully, it helps make the singer more comfortable with the song. I realise, of course, that the dyanamic for professionals is, of necessity, different. Regards |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Ewan McV Date: 16 Dec 98 - 04:13 AM Lots more fascinating points. I realise I value the printed words of songs on LP sleeves or in those great little CD booklets very much when I want to listen to and appreciate the maker's craft and detail of the song. But if I want / need to learn the song and it does not easily attach itself to my frontal lobes then I must keep playing it and singing along (can of course lead to much squeeking and grunting if the key is not Ewan friendly), or if I've getting it from the printed page then I must close my eyes and sing it without peeking, except to confirm what I'm stumbling upon. The worst ones to learn and remember are those I write myself - I think that's because I know that they could have gone / could still go other ways lyrically. I have to tape bits of paper on instruments, with the key word/s of each verse shown. I'm involved with an amateur acappella song group, who grip the paper like it'll save therm from drowning, and most of them never get a proper grip on the songs! |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: MissMac Date: 16 Dec 98 - 12:16 AM Wow neat thread. I learn by listening over and over and over to tapes in the car. I am just starting to get used to the DT and it is a marvolous place to get the lyrics to songs that my music partner has had memorized (and and forgotton) years ago and has no recordings for. I pick up the tunes fastest then I take weeks on the lyrics if I am just singing along at work. He does not always have time to record them for me. MissMac |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Alice Date: 15 Dec 98 - 11:17 PM only eight and a half? you must be kidding
Seriously, though, folks, the shower is a great place to practice singing... warm water relaxes the muscles, privacy, and if all the lyrics you are working on are taped to the wall, what more do you need (assuming you do a cappella)? I sometimes set a tape recorder on the window ledge next to the shower, and then I can listen to what I am practicing, if I am still at the stage of learning the tune as well as the lyrics. Since I started working out of my home office eight years ago, my commute is a few feet from the kitchen. I still sing in the car, but I rarely have to drive anywhere now that I work at home. |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Ralph Butts Date: 15 Dec 98 - 10:39 PM My longest is 6 minutes, but that's enough......Tiger |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Big Mick Date: 15 Dec 98 - 10:24 PM Alice, I have a song that goes 8 1/2 minutes. I'm thinking we could do it as a duet, but it will take a ton of rehearsal. Whaddya think. Don't tell Alison though. ****Wink, Wink**** All the best, Mick |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Alice Date: 15 Dec 98 - 10:17 PM Try it.... you'll like it. (great acoustics in the shower) |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Bill D Date: 15 Dec 98 - 10:00 PM I'll bet she sure gets wrinkled when she is learning LONG ballads...and the water bill!! |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Joe Offer Date: 15 Dec 98 - 09:43 PM I think I'll wander over to Montana and learn a song or two with Alice..... |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Jo Taylor Date: 15 Dec 98 - 08:55 PM Learning in the car certainly does work, mine (Citroen 2CV) has a loud engine which provides a drone in just the right key. Usually. A friend tuned it for me a couple of weeks ago but I can't tell the difference :) |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Harry O Date: 15 Dec 98 - 08:32 PM As in all learning situations, motivation is the key. You learn a song because you like it for itself. Learning for fashion sake is laborious and unconvincing in performance, by the same token, learning for effect is equally meritricious, learning to impress will only impress those of like mind - the "Whoofley-Dendum Bird Syndrum" - learning songs I have found relatively painless since I only learn those I (1) have grown up with and (2)have absorbed almost unconsciously. A large part of my extensive repertoire would horrify purists - but then, I can't help what sticks in my mind. Liking anything is so subjective. Harry O |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: John in Brisbane Date: 15 Dec 98 - 07:57 PM Peace on Earth, goodwill to men. It's great to see that we're all so passionate about our differences. I will experiment with a number of the techniques above - I surely need them. Thanks for all the tips.
I am slowly acquiring a new repertoire from the DT, particularly those I've never heard before. I intend to sing a new one (Christmas social commentary) on Friday night, but I haven't found it yet.
Regards |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Alice Date: 15 Dec 98 - 07:32 PM Well,..... if you really want to know. I tape thermal fax copies (waterproof) to the wall of the shower with masking tape. I have them layered sometimes three or four deep. I almost always have heard it first live or from a recording, and then drill the lyrics into my head by singing in the shower every day. I have been using this method for several years. As I commit the words to memory, the wrinkled old page of lyrics is pulled off the shower wall. New ones are added as needed
So, how do I learn them? in the nude... well, you asked. alice |
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Subject: RE: How do you learn songs? From: Art Thieme Date: 15 Dec 98 - 05:33 PM 1) Write it out from my source. 2) Read it over a few times. 3) Write it out, verse by verse, until I get to the point where I forget something, 4) Go back to the the start and do it over again until I hit another snag.(Do that until I get all the way through it SEVERAL TIMES IN A ROW). 5) Work on it with guitar or banjo or saw. 6) Get in car & practice what I've learned as I drive to gig. (The further the better for learning the song.) 7) Get on stage and introduce the song by saying, "Here's one I learned in the car on the way here!!" IS THAT A LIE?? NO!! (TELL THAT TO THE CONGRESS!!) Art Thieme |
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