How do I learn a song from a reference recording?
Split the song into short phrases, learn each one by listening several times and then singing it back with the recording, and only then sing it without the recording. The reference gives you pitch and timing for free while you learn; taking it away is how you find out what you actually know.
Learn in phrases, not verses
A phrase is one breath of melody, usually a line of lyric. Loop it. Listen three or four times before you sing at all, so the shape is in your ear before it is in your throat. Then sing along, then sing it back in the gap after it, then sing it alone.
Match, then remove
Singing along feels accurate because the recording covers you. The test is singing the phrase alone straight afterwards, and better still recording that and comparing it with the original. Key and tempo are the two things most likely to slip once the reference is gone; a pitch reference for the first note and a tapped pulse fix most of it.
Joining phrases
Once two neighbouring phrases are solid, practise the join — the last note of one into the first of the next — because that is where breath and memory fail. Build the section that way, then the song. Keep the recording nearby for the day you need to check a note; stop needing it for the rest.
Step by step
- Cut the song into phrases. One breath of melody each. Note where each starts.
- Listen before you sing. Three or four loops of the phrase with your mouth shut.
- Sing with, then after, then alone. Along with the recording; in the gap after it; then with it paused.
- Record the alone take. Compare it with the original for pitch and timing. Fix one thing.
- Join the phrases. Practise the seams, then the section, then the whole song.