speech/memorize?

Question

how can i memorize a 500 word speech in 2 days!?
thursday i will have to present. need help please!

Answer 1

I'm sorry, I've been in the same position before ALL of last year in Speech and Drama and it absolutely sucks!

This is what I always did.
Either
1)Get the basics down. If you are allowed, work off of notecards. Write down the main bullitens and the points you would like to cover. Then you would be able to talk more freely and you won't need to worry about messing up your lines.

or

2) If you do want to memorize your speech word for word, I suggest getting a tape recorder and record yourself and play it OVER AND OVER AGAIN! I actually used the recorder on my cell phone and kept playing it over and over and kept listening to it in Study Hall and Lunch.


Good Luck!

Answer 2

If you understand it and can say it in your own words then no need to memorize, otherwise memorize the stuff by first learning the first line then the next then once again line 1 + 2 then line 3 then once again 1 + 2 +3 and so on, it's easy, try it

Answer 3

don't try to memorize it word for word....outline your thoughts and memorize the main points...then talk about those points. It will flow better if you aren't reciting memorized lines word for word.

Answer 4

Memorize it!
(Some tips for improving your memorization skills)
by Nils Osmar

I've met actors, and acting teachers, who have a lackadaisical approach toward memorizing. Some feel that memorizing word-for-word isn't important. The important thing, according to them, is to go for the meaning of what your character is saying, even if you don't get the words exactly right.

As a playwright, film producer, and acting instructor, I disagree. It's true that the heart of what's being communicated is in the emotions, not the words. And sometimes a choice may be made to paraphrase or rephrase the dialogue, in a rehearsal or performance. But for an actor, it's important to have the ability to learn the words exactly as they were written - to memorize them accurately before exploring their context or investing them with meaning or emotion. If you can do this, you'll stand out in a crowd of actors. Accurate, word for word memorization isn't the only important skill to develop, but it's an important one.

Years ago I wrote a play called DEMEA, which has since been produced several times at the Seattle Fringe Festival. (I'm now adapting it into a screenplay, which I plan to film next fall.) One of the more remarkable actors I worked with in its various productions was a woman named Mandy, who was trained as a Shakespearean actor. Mandy played a character named Selena (the lead in DEMEA), who had long, bubbling passages of dialogue.

Mandy's method was interesting. She memorized the equivalent of a forty page (!) monologue, word for word, as one lonnnnnnnng sentence without breaks - giving no thought to the meaning or emotion - then broke it down into sentences, paragraphs, etc. She arrived at rehearsals with astonishing amounts of dialogue in mind, ready to begin the more important work of exploring its emotional possibilities, while other actors were still struggling with their first few lines.

At the time I was amazed. Later I learned some techniques which make it easier for those of us with less prodigious memories to accomplish something similar.

MEMORIZATION PROBLEMS

In my opinion, it's NOT a good idea to memorize words based on their meaning, context, or emotional associations. Doing so results in your remembering an approximate version of the words, not the words as they were written. You'll remember the "feeling," but not the exact words. When this happens, you won't be giving the other actors (or yourself) accurate cues. And your words will change from time to time, or take to take, as your associations and emotions change. Memorizing based on emotional associations can also lock you into an inflexible interpretation of the character, which can give you trouble if your first take on the character's emotions wasn't on target.

I've found the following methods helpful, for myself and my students:

1. REPETITION
Some actors find memorizing easy, and can learn lines just by reading them through once or twice. For others, a great deal of repetition (reading the lines aloud, repeating them, running lines with family members or other actors), is essential.

2. SPEED-THROUGHS
Most actors are familiar with speed-throughs: speaking the lines very fast, much faster than a person would usually say them. This helps lock the words into our memories, and also highlights any areas in which we don't have the words down - as when a stream or rapid dialogue comes to a screeching or stumbling halt.

3. WRITING DOWN THE DIALOGUE
When you're not in a position where you can speak the dialogue (as when you're riding on a bus, or sitting in a public place), try writing it down. Write it again and again, checking it now and then for accuracy, starting over at the beginning of a block of dialogue if you make a mistake.

4. USING A TAPE RECORDER
One method is to record ALL of the dialogue in a scene on tape (yours and the other character's). Then play it in the background when you're working, driving, etc. Try playing it as if it were background music, over and over. It's like hearing a song on the radio repeatedly; eventually you'll know the lyrics, whether you worked at learning them or not.

A more active variation is to record the other character's lines, leaving a blank space on the tape for your lines. Then play back the tape, speaking your lines during the pauses.

Or try recording the other character's lines, leave a blank space where your own lines would be - then, right after the blank space, record your own lines, so you can compare them with the ones you just spoke, and hit "pause" and re-say your lines if you got them wrong.

5. SINGING THE LINES
Songs can be easier to remember than dialogue. Many of us remember commercial jingles from our childhoods, because we heard them repeatedly and they were put to music. If you're having trouble remembering a block of dialogue, try putting it to music and singing it a few times - then speaking it normally - then singing it again. The combination of singing, speaking and sheer repetition can help lock it into your brain. (Don't worry, you won't burst out singing inappropriately on stage!)

6. MEMORY TRAINING
Most memory training is based on developing associations (sometimes absurd ones), to help link one word or phrase with another. It can help particularly when you are able to remember most of your lines, but have trouble with some of them. The trick is to associate the last word in one line of dialogue (which you do remember), with the first word, or a key word, in the line you're having trouble with.

For example, if the dialogue reads as follows:

JUDY: Where's the iron? I left it on the counter last night.
ALAN: Samantha took it.

If the actor playing Judy remembers her first line, but keeps forgetting the second, she might associate the word IRON (the last word of the first sentence) with the pronoun I (the first word of the second sentence.) (You can probably see an easy association.) (Once you find the association, repeat it several times to lock it in your mind: "Iron... I... Iron... I... Iron... I...") After a few repetitions, the word "I" will then pop into her mind whenever she says iron, and, she's on to the next line.

The actor playing Alan might associate the word NIGHT (his cue) with the word SAMANTHA (his first word of dialogue). Visual associations can help. If he's a fan of sixties daytime television, he might form an association between the word night and an image of the character Samantha Stevens from the old TV show Bewitched.

Mnemonic associations work best if they're and dramatic (not logical and sensible). Any two words can be linked together and remembered easily if the association is compelling (or odd!) enough. For example, if you're trying to associate the word TELEPHONE with the word DOCTOR, you might try visualizing a doctor talking on a telephone... but it's such a mundane image, it's unlikely to stay in your memory. (Doctors do a lot of other things besides talk on telephones.)

Instead, visualize something dramatic, like a gigantic telephone hurtling down from the sky, landing with a dramatic thump on a tiny little doctor. (For some reason, violence helps in associations. The more offbeat or violent the association is, the more likely one is to remember it. Two memory experts, Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas developed this method at length in their books about memory training, published a few decades ago; I've used variations on them to help actors and students remember dialogue for many years. The link method is most helpful when we remember individual lines of dialogue, but have problems linking one with another.

Whatever method you use, have fun and trust yourself. Don't stress out about it, just figure out what works for you.