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Tips for memorizing lines..
So I'm in Drama 1 in my high school, and we have our first play coming up.
We're doing Snow White, and we just received our roles yesterday.
I'm really excited because I got a major role.
But I need some memorization tips..seeing as there are a lot of lines to remember.
Any tips would be great, thanks.
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Maybe give some free advice about: Theater?
* cue cards (one for each scene, which also can be used to keep track of blocking)
* tape recording (make a tape of only the other character's lines, then use it to rehearse - this is great if you do a lot of driving)
* rehearse with a friend or relative
* read the line above yours, covering your next line with a sheet of paper. Say the line, lower the paper to check for accuracy. Repeat as you work your way through the scene.
* Cover the script with another sheet of paper except the line you are saying. Glance down at that line and pick up as much as the eye allows you. Look up and say the line aloud, slowly. Repeat this pattern through the entire page.
* Use a computer to retype the scenes you are in, putting them in larger print and using colored ink for the major words. The visual cues on this printout will make the lines easier to read and will aid memorization. It's also amazing how much of your lines you will learn just through the act of typing them.
* Write out the lines on a sheet of paper writing down only the first letter of each word. For example: (From "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder) Emily: I can't bear it. They're so young and beautiful. Why did they ever have to get old? Mama, I'm here. I'm grown up. I love you all, everything. - I cant look at everything hard enough.
Would be read as: Emily: I c b i. T s y a b. W d t e h t g o? M, I h. I g u. I l y a, e.-I c l a e h e.
I do this for both long paragraphs i need to learn, or monologues...but also for dialogue i have trouble with. You can either write out the other person's lines in their entirety between your lines, or you can just write a snippet of them to help jog your memory. Hope this helps a bit, it usually does me some good.
I got these tips from a website I found,
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
They have more helpful tips for memorizing your lines.
Check it out
Hope I helped.
Good luck
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Instead of looking at it as a huge daunting script start taking it apart in paragraphs. Learn a paragraph at a time and keep moving on to the next one after you remember the first one.
Also associate the actions you'll be doing along with the words you are saying or what a certain character says or does to trigger this response from yours before you are to say them.
Know the other actors lines and exactly what they'll say before you do yours. That will trigger your memory and have you off book faster than anyone else. if you can remember what they are doing in relationship to you at all times you can't screw up. Even if you did you can fake your way out that way.
Do it scene by scene piece by piece until you have it all down. Ask your drama teacher for some pointers as I'm sure this is a common concern. If you do it one paragraph or small scene at a time it makes it easier.
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How I usually memorize lines is walking around my house saying them over and over, and putting inflection into them like you will on stage, so that you remember them.
And, if you know your blocking, then you could start acting out your blocking and saying your lines.
If you're nervous about family seeing you practice, wait until no one is home. That's what I do.
Also, just read your lines out loud before you go to sleep. If it's the last thing you do before you go to bed, you'll remember it better. =]
Break a leg!
--Jack
(18/m)
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