I've never really been able to memorize stuff. Multiplication tables, dates of historic events, my wife's birthday, phone numbers, my own kid's middle names... I failed Algebra II because I couldn't memorize the quadratic equation. That sort of stuff doesn't "stick".

For example, the other day I playing a CD in my car. I'd been singing along with the song for the last month or so, but I pretty much failed on a lot of lyrics. My sister, who hadn't heard the song in years, didn't miss a word.

They say that memory is a function of interest, but it's more than that. For me, memory is a function of understanding something. So I focus my learning style around that. I can learn things by rote repetition, but it takes a long time.

If I have to memorize a song, I not only rely on repetition (which is key), but trying to understand it as much as possible. So I'll focus on the chord sequence, and the little phrases. I'll break it into chunks, and try to understand the "mechanics" of each part - the musical meaning, the fingering, and so on. Fortunately, I don't have to do that often, because I really suck at it.

So I'm pretty much tied to sheet music. But that's OK.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?