Memory Is a Melody Away!

When my children were small, they delighted in listening to a set of children’s tapes called GT and the Halo Express.  These stories and songs lulled them to sleep at night and  kept them company on long car trips.  Because of those tapes, both of the children easily learned a number of Bible verses.  Why?  Those verses were put to catchy tunes that were easily sung. 

I was raised on the hymns of the faith, and I know by heart the words to songs like these:

 

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee…

What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus…

Amazing love!  How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?...

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!...

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame…

Nursery rhymes set to song bubble up from my subconscious every once in a while, and I can still sing/chant the words to a high school football cheer from my teen years!  And those commercial jingles from another era of television—well, just start with the first word or two, and I’m off and running with the words and tune (think “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!”).  Is there any one of us who cannot sing the alphabet (a, b, c, d, e, f, g….)?

Why are these words so easily retrieved from my memory?  I believe it is because there was a melody to go with them—an underlying tune that helped imprint, so to speak, the words in my brain.  The tune helps me learn the words in the first place and it helps me to retrieve those same words from my long-term memory.

Is it possible to apply this principle to memorizing and retaining Bible verses? 

I found several sites on the internet that specialize in putting Scripture to music and then making it available for us to download or buy.  Here is a sampling of those sites:

http://www.biblememorymusic.com/ 

http://www.scripturesongs.net/

http://www.theblazingcenter.com/category/free-scripture-song

http://www.joyfulnoisescripture.org/

http://thewordinmusic.com/music/default.htm

Scripture put to music for children:

http://www.gthalo.com/

http://www.seedsmusicstore.com/

Have you ever thought about incorporating music into your Scripture memory work?  Make up a melody to go with your newest verses, or use an existing tune and give it new words from Scripture to help you remember, retain, and recall.