Singing From Memory vs. Singing With Lyric Sheets

[Bill Sheehan]

In my experience, the song usually flows better when I can sing it without looking at the lyrics. Does it sounds better to the listener? I don’t know. But I do know that I enjoy singing a song a lot more when the words are already in my head. And that’s important to me, because if I’m not having fun, what’s the point?

That's a great point, Jan! I too enjoy singing a song a lot more when the words are already in my head. And yes, "reading" vs. "memorization" probably doesn't have an effect on how the song sounds to the listener, or if it does, it's probably very, very slight. But I think one of the things that you said definitely holds true in my experience-- the song usually flows better when I can sing it without looking at the lyrics.

I also think that each of our own formative experiences has an impact. I was born in '53. In my house, growing up with an older sister and brother, and two younger brothers, all of us being pretty close in age, we were constantly listening to our little transistor radios, desperately hoping they'd play the latest hit song, and we fought over the record player all the time, especially when we were lucky enough to bring home the "45" of our latest favorite. And, how we argued over lyrics! In "Love Potion #9", for instance, one of my brothers insisted that the second verse began with, "I told her that I was a thoughtless jinx." I claimed it was, "I told her that I was a flop with chicks." I was eventually vindicated on that.

With this going on all the time, and then with my brothers and me starting a band in 1970 (which ran for sixteen years), I guess it's no wonder that the lyrics to a ton of 60's and 70's tunes are burned into my memory, to be sung on a moment's notice just as easily as I might recite a favorite little prayer or quotation.

So, as with so many other things-- neither approach is "better" than the other; they're just different.

 

[Bill Sheehan]

I actually use an I pad and only glance at it occasionally. Sting uses one. Some bigger bands use a teleprompter. View attachment 163147

Pretty ingenious, Slooky!

 

[Mike $]

Singing from memory is my favorite way to do it, and I can with songs I learned when I was a kid and through my thirties...but I seem to be having a harder time memorizing songs that are brand new to me. I think the longer they have been in my head, the easier it is to memorize and recite. As far as reciting prayers goes, I never quite memorized the Hail Mary prayer...I get to the point of "the lord is with thee" and my brain tells me that "thy kingdom come..." comes next. One time in confession, I confessed I never memorized the Hail Mary and the Priest got a bit holier than thou on me. Fitting.

 

[Wiggy]

I actually use an I pad and only glance at it occasionally. Sting uses one. Some bigger bands use a teleprompter.

People who can play and sing solely by memory give me a wedgie...

That was a joke. I'm just kidding. I admire their talent. I wish I could. But I can't. It's not an excuse. It's a choice. I am what I am, and thankful for whatever accomplishments result. Time is essential but it is not necessarily the essence. If I reach some level of mastery further down the road, all the better. If not, I still have a melody line with chords and lyrics to see me through.

 

[Mike $]

I forgot to mention that the trick to good singing with song sheets is to read ahead. If you know the words coming up, it's just as good as memorizing them. Also take into account if you have the chords memorized, which for me is usually easiest. Fewer things to do makes everything easier.

 

[Wiggy]

I forgot to mention ... have the chords memorized...

That is key. There are two ways to interpret that. Do you mean memorizing the sequences, or the shapes? My intent is to have memorized how to form every chord I'll likely encounter plus all those "infrequents" I find along the way. I sing much better when I don't have to think about forming the chords.

Memorizing sequences requires counting out every measure and knowing when the chord change should happen. Each song is different.

 

[Mike $]

That is key. There are two ways to interpret that. Do you mean memorizing the sequences, or the shapes?

Yes. Be familiar with what you are going to play if you want it to sound good.

 

[Bill Sheehan]

Singing from memory is my favorite way to do it, and I can with songs I learned when I was a kid and through my thirties...but I seem to be having a harder time memorizing songs that are brand new to me. I think the longer they have been in my head, the easier it is to memorize and recite. As far as reciting prayers goes, I never quite memorized the Hail Mary prayer...I get to the point of "the lord is with thee" and my brain tells me that "thy kingdom come..." comes next. One time in confession, I confessed I never memorized the Hail Mary and the Priest got a bit holier than thou on me. Fitting.

Hahahahaha! That reminds me of one of my little brothers, when he was maybe 4 years old, thinking that The Lord's Prayer ("Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...") began with "Our Father, who art in heaven, Halloween thy name." Mis-heard prayer lyrics!

Edit: the same brother thought that "O Come All Ye Faithful" was "O Come Augie Faithful."

 

[Bill Sheehan]

People who can play and sing solely by memory give me a wedgie...

That was a joke. I'm just kidding. I admire their talent. I wish I could. But I can't. It's not an excuse. It's a choice. I am what I am, and thankful for whatever accomplishments result. Time is essential but it is not necessarily the essence. If I reach some level of mastery further down the road, all the better. If not, I still have a melody line with chords and lyrics to see me through.

I'll second that, Wiggy!

 

[Bill Sheehan]

I forgot to mention that the trick to good singing with song sheets is to read ahead. If you know the words coming up, it's just as good as memorizing them. Also take into account if you have the chords memorized, which for me is usually easiest. Fewer things to do makes everything easier.

That is a GREAT observation, Mike!!

 

[Jan D]

That's a great point, Jan! I too enjoy singing a song a lot more when the words are already in my head. And yes, "reading" vs. "memorization" probably doesn't have an effect on how the song sounds to the listener, or if it does, it's probably very, very slight. But I think one of the things that you said definitely holds true in my experience-- the song usually flows better when I can sing it without looking at the lyrics.

I also think that each of our own formative experiences has an impact. I was born in '53. In my house, growing up with an older sister and brother, and two younger brothers, all of us being pretty close in age, we were constantly listening to our little transistor radios, desperately hoping they'd play the latest hit song, and we fought over the record player all the time, especially when we were lucky enough to bring home the "45" of our latest favorite. And, how we argued over lyrics! In "Love Potion #9", for instance, one of my brothers insisted that the second verse began with, "I told her that I was a thoughtless jinx." I claimed it was, "I told her that I was a flop with chicks." I was eventually vindicated on that.

With this going on all the time, and then with my brothers and me starting a band in 1970 (which ran for sixteen years), I guess it's no wonder that the lyrics to a ton of 60's and 70's tunes are burned into my memory, to be sung on a moment's notice just as easily as I might recite a favorite little prayer or quotation.

So, as with so many other things-- neither approach is "better" than the other; they're just different.

I was born in ‘53 as well, and the only time the radio in our house wasn’t turned on was when we were playing records, or sleeping. So song lyrics from the 60’s and 70’s are firmly fixed in my memory bank too. As well as a good portion of music from the 40’s and 50’s, which my parents liked to listen and dance to. When I moved out of the family home in the early 70’s, I continued the tradition of always having music playing in the background. So there’s also a fair bit of 80’s music bouncing around inside my brain, ricocheting off the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s stuff. Hmmm, maybe that’s why I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning ….

 

[ripock]

I don't sing but I come from decades of public speaking being a professor. In my life there is a big difference between reading a script and performing an internalized script to an audience. I don't know if that transfers to the uke world.

 

[One Man And His Uke]

I think, all things being equal, from a performance point of view, to be able to be looking forward rather than down at a lyric sheet, is better both for you and your audience. When we were in bands at school we rehearsed until we knew the song inside out, lyrics, chord changes etc…. But….that was then, this is many many years later…..

I don’t earn my living as a performer, I do it for fun. For something like the Seasons I simply don’t have the time to commit a new song to memory so I need the lyrics there in front of me. Not always, sometimes I’ll do a song I know so well I can just sing and play it without a lyric sheet. But generally I’ll sing from a sheet. An iPad won’t work for me I need BIG PRINT!

 

[Wiggy]

Througout the late 50s-Late 80s I rarely paid attention to lyrics. It was all about the music with clever rhythms, hooks, and bridges. That all died Jan1, 1990. The 40s were oldies in my first decade, today they are the 80s. There is essentially nothing I would miss if I never again heard pop music from the 90s through present. That includes Country, which reached its peak of perfection in the 80s - those lyrics I listened to.

When I discovered an instrument that I could actually learn to play, the lyrics suddenly[?] came into focus. Perhaps I was finally understanding what they all were singing about. Maybe it was while trying to work them in with the chords at a steady rhythm that caused me to ponder every word and why it was in a song. The phrasing of the lyrics requires careful selection of words and delivery. I often change (simplify) things so every word has a reason for being, but doesn't clutter (get too "busy") the music.

My main focus is voicing chords to complement the melody line. Some chords obliterate the melody so I have to drop notes or move them elsewhere to another octave. It can also be done by choosing which notes to not play allowing the melody (singing) to fill out the chord. That, to me, is magic.

I struggle with playing and singing at the same time, but do occasionally get things right. I (for no real reason) have little confidence in my voice and nowhere to practice privately where I can "let it all hang out" as I repeat (over, and, over and...) a song. Still waiting for life to lighten' up. I guess I should be careful what I ask for.

 

[cdkrugjr]

Every touring act you’ve ever seen has spent 2—4 weeks in central PA at a rehearsal facility running their show with full staging and choreography. Nowadays everyone uses in-ear monitors, which makes the sound coming off stage much easier to control.

Those “floor wedges” you see aren’t usually speakers. Nowadays, they’re the teleprompter, synchronized with the click track and the light show.

There might also be a prompter on the balcony rail, so the performer can look engaged with the audience. There might even be someone calling out cues, often the bass player, but sometimes it’s the Running Production Manager offstage.

And that’s with an act playing the same twenty songs every night for six months.

 

[Slooky]

I don’t earn my living as a performer, I do it for fun. For something like the Seasons I simply don’t have the time to commit a new song to memory so I need the lyrics there in front of me. Not always, sometimes I’ll do a song I know so well I can just sing and play it without a lyric sheet. But generally I’ll sing from a sheet. An iPad won’t work for me I need BIG PRINT!

you can make big print on an ipad, but you would also need a page turner foot pedal. I do some songs that are 4 or 5 pages. If it was on one page it would be too small.

 

[One Man And His Uke]

you can make big print on an ipad, but you would also need a page turner foot pedal. I do some songs that are 4 or 5 pages. If it was on one page it would be too small.

I’m “Old Skool” , but yes, that would be a solution, and a better use of resources than printing out reams of paper.

 

[Patty]

Having to rely on the songsheets for a slightly unfamiliar songs distracts from performing the song presentation ever so slightly. When you know it by heart, you can focus on emotion, volume, eye contact, timing, etc. Glancing at the sheet to remember the words would take away from any one of those, even if just a little.

…the song usually flows better when I can sing it without looking at the lyrics. …I enjoy singing a song a lot more when the words are already in my head.

…the experience will be way more lively if your attention can be "present", and you can look back at the audience.

….there is a big difference between reading a script and performing an internalized script to an audience

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

 

[Bobalonia]

I’ve used my book for 30+ years in performance. Off to the side, but I can glance over and grab a peek. I don’t per se read them off the page but rather have them for when I might have a lapse in recall. Never been an issue as far as I know. A friend did make a comment once, I replied, it’s good enough for Duke Ellington! He chuckled, but the next gig I saw him at, he had his own book!
I just can’t remember lyrics as before. Not even my own songs!

 

[acmespaceship]

Singing from memory is a valuable skill. So is singing from a lyric sheet. Either might be appropriate depending on the situation and which makes you feel more confident. I wouldn't say either is better.

As a recorder player I struggle to play from sheet music. Even when I know the tune, looking at the sheet makes it harder for me to let go and play the music... not just the notes. This is a problem because, around here anyway, consorts play from sheet music. If you need to memorize a piece before you can play it well, that's the mark of an amateur. Which makes me a pitiful recorder player and I admit it freely. Playing or singing from sheet is a skill I need to work on. It is not impossible. As others have noted in this thread, plenty of professional musicians have the music and/or lyrics in front of them. I just watched a performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio and the books in the singers' hands didn't hinder them. Paper can be good.

OTOH, among mountain dulcimer players, the general opinion is you're supposed to figure out tunes by ear and play from memory. Being "paper-trained" is lamentable. The same trait that makes me pitiful on recorder makes me a show-off on dulcimer! Go figure. My conclusion is it takes all kinds. I have known many singers who weren't connecting until they started memorizing songs. In fact, that's the first advice I give to a uke player/singer who asks me how to get better at performing: memorize the song and try again. Memory can be good.

For me, I am a better performer when I have the song memorized. Unless I didn't have time to memorize it. Or I'm stumbling over the lyrics. Or I'm worried about it. In which case I'm better off with a chord/lyric sheet. The key is to do whatever frees me to pay less attention to the mechanics of words and chords -- so I can focus more clearly on the meaning of the song, the sound of the music, and the communication with the audience.

Paper or memory: it's all good. Don't be afraid to change it up whenever you want to. With practice, thank goodness, we can get better at both.