Tag Archives: memorization

Nudged: Memorize a short poem or monologue

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Backstory: I used to have an almost photographic memory, and the funny part is, I didn’t realize this was unusual till I was a teenager. It was a useful gift when I was doing plays and singing with different groups through my 30s. But in recent years, I haven’t used it much. What’s the old saying about our gifts and aging? “Use it or lose it!”

I didn’t have to think too hard about which poem or monologue I wanted to learn. William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29” has always been my favorite, and in previous attempts to memorize it, I’ve gotten stuck on that one tricky section: “Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, / Featured like him, like him with friends possessed.” Wishing me like to one… That’s been a brain twister for me in the past, and I have to assume it will still be a twister for my older and flabbier brain.

SONNET 29
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

To keep myself honest, I told my husband what I’d picked and promised to give a live recitation by end of week. Here we go….

What Happened: This was so much fun! I printed the poem out in large font, double-spaced, and taped it to my office door so I’d see it frequently. Every day I focused on a couple of lines, spending more time breaking down the tricky ones (Like to a lark at break of day arising…from sullen earth), then practicing linking them to the lines before and after. I practiced in my car, in bed (silently, in my head), in the shower (out loud and heaping on the dramatic effects), until I felt I could do it perfectly.

Friday night. Dinner ready to be served. My husband looked weary and hungry, but he would have to earn his supper by being my audience. Deep breath…

When in disgrace….

I nailed it!

The Ah-Hah: This was crazy-fun. Plus, as I expected, it felt really good to exercise my brain. I think, too, that it helped to distract me from much of the unpleasantness in our world. Instead of wasting precious time watching depressing news or reading stories on Facebook that made my blood pressure rise, I spent time memorizing something beautiful.

Well done, me! Or as Shakespeare might say*, “Indeed the top of admiration!”

*Okay, he actually did say it. In Act III, Scene 1, Ferdinand says to Miranda: “Admired Miranda! / Indeed the top of admiration, worth / What’s dearest to the world!”

Nudging: Memorize a short poem or monologue

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Backstory: I used to have an almost photographic memory, and the funny part is, I didn’t realize this was unusual till I was a teenager. It was a useful gift when I was doing plays and singing with different groups through my 30s. But in recent years, I haven’t used it much. What’s the old saying about our gifts and aging? “Use it or lose it!”

I didn’t have to think too hard about which poem or monologue I wanted to learn. William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29” has always been my favorite, and in previous attempts to memorize it, I’ve gotten stuck on that one tricky section: “Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, / Featured like him, like him with friends possessed.” Wishing me like to one… That’s been a brain twister for me in the past, and I have to assume it will still be a twister for my older and flabbier brain.

SONNET 29
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

 

To keep myself honest, I told my husband what I’d picked and promised to give a live recitation by end of week. Here we go….

 

P.S. Although I’m still working out the technical kinks, I now have a SUBSCRIBE button on this site. I hope you’ll sign up and join me in each week’s Nudge. And tell your friends! 🙂

Nudged: Learn a sentence/phrase in French

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Backstory: Years ago (decade ago?), I learned how to be politely conversational in French: Hello, Good-bye, Thank you, Pardon me, May I have one croissant, please? That got me through my first trip to Paris with some grace. I returned home and enrolled in intensive language classes at a school where the instructors were all native speakers, so in addition to conjugating verbs, I learned correct pronunciations (depending upon my teacher’s home region) and some idioms. I loved it. I loved the intellectual challenges, the exercises, the conversations with my classmates.

I was able to put much of what I learned to good use when my husband and I returned to France for our honeymoon, getting us around unfamiliar villes, finding the salle de bains, ordering excellent vins. Since then, I’ve had good intentions to return to my studies, but funds dedicated to other projects and limited free time caused me to leave this on the to-do list.

This nudge, then, is my effort to rekindle that passion and maybe convince myself that now is the time to register for a brush-up course.

What Happened: I thought about what might be pithy or funny or useful. What do I say most often? Sadly, it’s “What do you want for dinner?” And “Dinner’s ready!” So I picked:

Qu’est-ce que vous voulez pour le dîner?

and

Le dîner est prêt.

After confirming spellings on a couple of online sites, I listened to audio snippets of both. Then I began doing my best Juliette Binoche impressions out loud. It was easy-ish, and fun, although I felt a little bit like an idiot walking around saying these things, practicing my pronunciations. Pretty sure I muttered them out loud while out running errands one morning, but whatever. It’s San Francisco; I fit right in!

What struck me the most was how this was acrobatics for my mouth. It went beyond tongue-twisting, and took far more focused work that my usual “Whadayawan fo dinneh?” Like learning a new piece of music, I broke each sentence down into parts, practiced those individual parts over and over, tweaking each time. Gradually, over the week, I strung together the parts until I could say the whole thing fluidly, without having to think about what I was doing or translating it in my head while I said it.

The Ah-Hah:  This nudge was challenging. And it was fun. It reawakened a tiny section of my brain that has been ignored lately. This week’s experience hasn’t quite been enough to get me to pull out my bag of workbooks and brush up, or to sign up for a class, but we’ll see. C’est la vie. (That’s life!)

P.S. The school where I had such wonderful teachers years ago is the Alliance française de Pasadena. If you live near there, check out their website here. If you live elsewhere, they have chapters around the world, which you can learn more about here.