by guest blogger Gabriel Wyner
Most of us Listers are singers, and as such, we have way too many texts to learn. From the endless recitatives of next season’s Mozart opera to the stack of new audition arias we should probably learn, there are few professions that can even approach the memorization needs of a classical singer.
Oddly enough, while a formal vocal education includes classes in music theory, diction, acting and interpretation, we almost never take classes that teach us how to memorize. Instead, we cobble together tips from colleagues and teachers and pray that the music will somehow help us remember — and it frequently does. When we finally stand in front of an audience and the music begins to play, we usually do remember, if only a split second before we open our mouths.
But the memorization process can be made a lot less stressful. There are simple, reliable ways to memorize texts, and this article will show you several.
