HowCast: How to Memorize Lines

Here’s a fine video from HowCast.com about learning lines:

YouTube : How to Memorize Lines

Overview

Much like our article Top 8 Tips for Memorizing Shakespeare, this video highlights important tactics to help your process:

1. Write out your lines by hand
2. Active Experiencing: Think about motivation and emotional life of the character
3. Repeat the lines as often as possible
   • Tip: Memorize on an empty stomach: hormones for memory are highest when hungry
4. Move as you would on stage
5. Record yourself saying your lines, and play it back at bedtime

Overall an excellent video. Great tip about the memory hormones spiking when hungry.

Important: We almost never see the actress with her script. She already has her lines memorized. Keep your script handy, especially when starting. When you write out your lines, check after each verse that you wrote it correctly. If you did not, write it out correctly at least twice more to “erase” the wrong memory. When recording the lines to audio, read from the script. You don’t want to hear yourself saying it incorrectly (and it’s a real pain to re-record).

What’s Missing for Remembering Shakespeare?

The language.

Pronouncing the poetry properly is a big hurdle, not only for reading, but also for memory because you’re not used to the new vocabulary. Yes, you have to understand the line’s meaning and context, but you should also hear the proper way to say each word and each line. If you record yourself, you’ll be reinforcing bad habits, like pronouncing “thy” like “thigh”.

When you download ScenePartner, you’ll get all your lines in mp3 format, read by an expert. You’ll confidently remember not only the what the words are, but also how to say them.

Even if it just saves you the time of recording your lines yourself, you’re cutting down memorization time. Rosalind’s album is over 2 hours long. Do you have enough audiotape and patience to record all that yourself? If you answer yes, consider this: can you cue to the exact scene you want to work on without fiddling with the FF button for 10 minutes? With ScenePartner, you can skip to the exact track.

Try the Free Sample of ScenePartner

Related:

• Learning About Learning Strategies