When the scientists compared the TMS data on the two groups–those who actually tickled the ivories and those who only imagined doing so–they glimpsed a revolutionary idea about the brain: the ability of mere thought to alter the physical structure and function of our gray matter. For what the TMS revealed was that the region of motor cortex that controls the piano-playing fingers also expanded in the brains of volunteers who imagined playing the music–just as it had in those who actually played it.
This is awesome! So when my reed dies on my chanter, I can just imagine myself playing.
One of my violin teachers in college recommended spending some time “practicing away from the instrument”; by this she meant reading through the score and just mentally focusing on things like fingerings, shifting, etc. I have to say it did help when the time came to pick up the instrument and play the piece i’d been spending time with.
I’ve often found that when I take some time off playing – within reason, it might even be weeks or months, but not years – I find that I pck back up not even where I left off, but where I would have been had I played during the layoff. This only happens when I’ve hit a wall, when I’ve felt that I needed a break. I think about what the problems were and sometimes mentally conquer them.
I do this constantly. Always have. Even when I played saxophone, I’d go through my music in my fingers when I was walking down the hall or between bites at dinner, whatever. I know it probably looks funny wagging my fingers all the time. People might think I have some sort of disorder or something.
I’ve had that happen. When I’ve practiced something until I just can’t do it anymore and get disgusted. Leave it alone. Come back later and there it is!
I think this is why my piano teacher used to make us memorize “fingering” and practice it in our heads - today I can still play “The Entertainer,” “Fur Elise” and “Music Box Dancer” just by singing in my head (Music BD) 3-3-1-3-5-3-5-(7)-3…(as I sit here drumming it out on the counter, and yet I haven’t had a piano in 20+ years… )
I had it a bit differently though – no finger wiggling, just thinking about the music and the physical motions. It helps sometimes to reduce repetitive strain while still keeping mentally focused. Muscle memory is important, of course, but the object of the exercise i was given is more about mental preparation and working through fingering problems, etc, by thinking them through.
To play the devil’s advocate, I’d say that physically playing includes making mistakes and making corrections from the feedback that allow for improvements. That element would be missing from mental practice. I’m not refuting the researchers’ findings- they were describing changes in brain structure, not improvement in playing. Think about all the feedback you get while playing- finger position on the instrument and how it effects tone, not to mention breath control, etc.
I’m just suggesting some benefits that mental practice couldn’t provide.
Tony
I would truly die. I say this having just given up practicing tonight in disgust, because my 40+ year old piano is giving out it’s last dying gasps and I’m faced with buying another.. gulp. Life without a piano is unthinkable for me.
Well That ain’t gonna happen! and believe me, you don’t want to hear it either!
My playing has really gotten to minimal, just enough to be fairly decent on the stuff for church each week, because my poor piano_sounds_ horrible beyond belief! It won’t hold tune for more than a week(my brother does tuning so I don’t have to pay for it thankfully), some of the keys go down but not up, some sound so slightly that I can barely hear them, look inside and the action on some keys is broken…as I said, it’s a goner. I had the “innards, as in action, hammers re-felted, etc.” rebuilt about 10 years ago so I know it is time to let this one go. I’m looking for a really tall upright-50 in. at least or if I can find a good used smaller grand I might go for that.I’ve got the room for a big one but not the bucks. My biggest problem is that there are only about 2 piano dealers within two hours of me, and they sell very few of the different ones out there. I’m gonna have to travel to get to play some of the ones I want to try. I’m really looking forward to a lot of my old music I haven’t played in years . …
I find it interesting that you mention an emphasis of reading through the score. My current 2 fiddle teachers tell me to listen to recordings of how I want to play a piece.
(One of them claims he can’t read music.
The other one has intentionally given me tunes that are so obsure that I can’t find printed music for them so I’m forced to learn to listen to learn.)
I’ve found that if I know the melody well enough from listening to it before picking up my fiddle, my fingers find the tune easier (as long as my fiddle is in normal tuning and the tune is played in normal tuning) when I try to play it.
I’ve found the muscles all over my body (on tendomuscular meridians for those of you who know TCM) that I tend to tense up during playing difficult parts of a tune also tense up while listening to recordings of a tune.
I try to work that out by listening to the tunes while doing hatha yoga.
But hey, you saw how it all came out for them. Maybe there is some truth in it all 
and I’m faced with buying another.. gulp. Life without a piano is unthinkable for me.