[solidwalnut]

Well, I'd say that memorization is a game as well as only gained by hard practice.

A person will remember what they play if they play it over and over again so it becomes rote, but there's a couple of shortcuts.

One is that realizing that pop music (rock, folk, jazz, blues, etc.) is written in sections. Learn one section and it will mostly apply to the other similar sections.

So if you learn the chorus, then the music is most likely going to be the same every time, with maybe a few exceptions and differences.

If you learn a verse, the same applies. It will be very close to the same musically, so you can hang your hat on that.

When it comes to classical and other styles, I think some of that can transfer over. Even though those types of songs seem to (or can be) different from beginning to end, there will be sections that will be similar. Take the shortcuts and learn to recognize where those are.

The same can apply for singing any song.

Memorizing lyrics, now that's another challenge, but it's similar, e.g. the chorus will always be the same.

Steve