Chapter 21: Velcro Brain
Tricks for Memorizing Lyrics and Chords
In chapter 7 - I talked about the importance of non-verbal communication, eye contact,
and removing visual barriers/distractions such as music stands. But freedom comes at a
cost and in this case, that cost is getting to know your music.
At one point in my life, I could have quoted the the movies, “Tommy Boy” and “Dumb &
Dumber” word for word. Even now, I can recall a surprising amount of the dialogue. We
as humans have an incredible capacity to memorize stuff. I sometimes wish that I had
applied the same amount of concentration in high school on memorizing scripture as I
did movies - but that’s another conversation. The point is, you and I are capable of
memorizing the songs we lead in worship - so we should, when possible. Here are some
tips to help you in your memorization.
Music
I have to be honest, the music is the easy part for me. I learned to play by ear and so
hearing and learning new music just comes naturally to me. I hear intervals and chord
phrasings and can easily duplicate and/or transpose them aurally. Of course, I did this
for years before the technical side was explained to me. In college I took some music
theory and the lights began to come on... “Oh, so that’s what I’ve been doing...” Learning
some basic music theory helped me to put what was in my head on paper. So now when
I hear the chorus of Chris Tomlin’s “Our God” for example, I hear: “vi - IV - I - V3” or in
plain numbers, “6 - 4 - 1 - 5(1st inversion)” - which then can be applied within the
context of any key, eg. Key: G - “Em - C - G - D/F#”. Some call this method the Nashville
Number System.
I highly recommend learning a little music theory and a lot of aural theory. Once you’re
able to ‘hear’ intervals and chords, and associate those with chord patterns on your
instrument, it becomes a game of simple math. Check out musictheory.net for some
great free lessons and exercises to help train your ear.
For the lesser-aurally inclined, try applying some of the following lyric memorization
tips to the music side of things.
Lyrics
I forget lyrics. All the time. I can hum you the melody of any of the hundred’s of songs in
our church’s repertoire - but I have to relearn the lyrics almost every time we sing a
song. Here are tips for memorizing song lyrics:
Start with the Chorus (if there is one).
The chorus is usually the main point of the song - and is usually repeated multiple times
throughout the song. If you can nail this, mistakes in other places become less
noticeable and more forgivable.
Repetition.
Take song sections (verse, chorus, bridge) one at a time and read/sing it 4 times in a
row. Every 5th time, attempt to sing it without looking - just sing the words you can
remember and hum the rest. Repeat. Once you can sing a section without looking at it,
add another. Apply the same repeat cycle to say, Verse 1 + Chorus. Repeat. When you’re
able to sing the song all the way through without looking, work on a new song for a
while and then come back. When you can sing the entire set without looking. Take a
break. Do something else, come back in a few hours and try again. Refresh your memory
each day leading up to the worship experience.
Cues.
Take the first word/phrase of a song section - and try to sing the rest of the section
without looking.
Make Associations.
As silly as it may sound, here’s how I remember the order of verses to “How Great Thou
Art”. Verse 1 = “sky” (stars, thunder), Verse 2 = “earth” (forest, birds, trees), Verse 3 =
“past” (cross, death), Verse 4 = “future” (when Christ shall come). So in my head, “sky,
earth, past, future” = “up, down, back, forward” - which gives me a sense of the
movement and dynamic of the song.
Visually reformat the lyrics in a way that makes it easiest for you to remember.
Capitalize the first letter of problematic words/phrases or highlight them. Colors,
spacing, Bold, Italics, indentations, and Underlining words create powerful associations
in our minds.