It pretty much comes down to the individual themselves and what technique they find most useful when it comes to learning something new.
I used to learn by putting the material into different groups e.g. all the provinces and states that start with a particular lettre. Gradually, I tried a peg-word method and learned/memorized by creating a story with my peg-words. E.g. hypothalamus --> ball, brain --> hand. So a "ball in my hand" would be just like saying "hypothalamus in my brain".
Acronyms and other mnemonic devices are usually really good for memorizing hard facts (such as when you're studying for courses like biology... or preparing to write an MCAT). Some of the mnemonics are just plain fun e.g. "
Kinky
People
Can
Often
Find
Good
Sex" (a taxomist's nightmare when grouping living organisms into Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species) or how about
Every
Good
Boy
Deserves
Fudge (E, G, B, D, F are the names of the lined notes in the treble clef of a music staff)
Putting new knowledge into the form of a song does work as well. However, I have yet to create a song to remember stuff that I deem worth singing. Perhaps you'll have better luck.
But yeah, relating back to the original question about learning lyrics vs studying, I believe that lyrics are easier learned because it's something we're interested in - and as such, we care about. Will we have so much enthusiasm when we have to learn quantum physics (sorry if I offended anyone, but that stuff really isn't my cup of tea)? If that were the case, however; I'm sure it would be as easily learned as the lyrics to one of Fiddy's songs.
Oh and one more thing, text books usually have a lot of fluff material in them. Practice in getting to the material that is important and worth learning. It'll be sure to save you some time and make the learning process a lot more fun and not to mention, rewarding.
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