Memorization Tips

Post date: Nov 1, 2014 11:24:52 PM

Here follows a list of memorization suggestions mentioned or implied by others in an article written by Bruce Miller for Dramatics magazine. Try them out as your time and energy allows.

  1. Treat memory as you would a muscle. Do it regularly and get better at it. Increase the amounts you take on to memorize each day as your ability grows.
  2. Find a time of day that best works for you to memorize. Consider that time sacred and make sure you use your best time for memorizing whenever possible.
  3. Memorize before you go to bed and sleep on it.
  4. Repeat lines in your head all through the day.
  5. Read the lines over and over before trying to memorize them.
  6. Learn the ideas and their interconnectedness before trying to memorize.
  7. Learn the story of the lines before you learn the lines.
  8. Say your lines aloud rather than in your head.
  9. Say your lines aloud and in your head.
  10. Say your lines while moving around.
  11. Picture your lines as images as you say them.
  12. Remember the feelings that the words and images create, not just the words.
  13. Write your lines down before you memorize them. Write them as you are memorizing them.
  14. See all of your lines in a scene as one big whole. Rewrite them as though they are a monologue. Examine this monologue in terms of its dramatic progression. Divide into its beginning section, middle section, and concluding section. Then divide each section into its constituent parts. Once you understand all of each section, and its cause and effect relation, then memorize.
  15. Figure out what the character is actually saying when he says what he says before trying to memorize it. (This is not the same thing as memorizing the way to say it. That should be avoided absolutely.)
  16. Use mnemonic devices to help remember lists. Anagrams, rhymes, silly sentences, and song tunes, for instance, can be all effective.
  17. Tape your part into a recorder and once you have memorized sections, repeat it along with your taped version.
  18. Learn the part by listening and reciting with your taped version.
  19. Listen to your taped version and develop specific gestures, movements, and business that you actually do while listening. Eventually, the physicalities will help you remember the lines.
  20. Memorize by beats. Learn a beat, add a beat, repeat the already learned and add the new beat.