(15) Mental Play (MP)
Music in the mind is what we shall call Mental Play (MP). MP is the process of playing the music in your mind, or on an imaginary piano [ Richard, Francois L., ]. We shall see that MP controls practically everything we do in music, from the learning process (technique) to memorization, absolute pitch, composition, music theory, interpretation, controlling nervousness, performance, etc. It is so all-encompassing that it is not possible to devote one section to explaining it; rather, it permeates practically every section of this book. In fact, MP permeates everything you do, even outside music!
All accomplished pianists use MP although it is seldom taught by piano teachers; they had to learn it on their own, out of necessity. This contrasts with today's advanced athletes, such as skiers and golfers, for whom MP is a necessity and has been taught and developed for decades. This doesn't imply that MP is not necessary for piano — it is absolutely necessary ; however, it was not taught because it was considered a talent, and therefore, not teachable. That belief is wrong because everybody conducts MP every day without even recognizing it as MP. When a mother gets up in the morning and, in just a few seconds, plans the day's activities for her five children (what clothes they should wear, their meals, which schools they attend, etc., etc.) she is conducting MP just as complex as playing a Bach Invention in the mind, yet she is not considered "talented".
Thus MP permeates everything we do in life, yet was not taught for piano because it was swept under the "talent" rug. This is why the concept of talent has been so harmful to piano pedagogy — it absolves the teacher from teaching even necessary skills such as MP. That mother was so good at her daily MP because she had practiced it all her life. If a mother can learn MP automatically, out of necessity, why can't pianists do the same, especially because it is just as necessary in music? Why teach MP at all?
MP must be taught because (1) if not taught, there will be a wide range of use of MP among pianists, from almost none at all, to experts. (2) Because it is so necessary, teachers need to develop MP teaching into a fully developed expertise so as to make full use of it, to accelerate the development of musicianship. (3) MP is so powerful, useful, and all- encompassing that, if not taught, students will never make full use of it; it's like the difference between self teaching piano without any help, and having a good teacher. We shall see time and again in this book how teaching MP can make a huge difference to students.
MP must be taught from the first year of piano lessons. If you are over 20 years old, and never practiced MP for piano, it may take a year of diligent practice to become comfortable with it. Learn it as a youngster, and it comes naturally, effortlessly. As with absolute pitch [ Absolute Pitch, Relative Pitch ], MP can be learned effortlessly at a young age, and the resulting MP is far more powerful than anything that can be learned later.
We all conduct complex MP every day without even thinking about it as MP, because we have been using it since childhood for our daily activities out of necessity. Can you imagine what disasters would happen if we never had a mental plan for the day? But that is exactly what we do if we walk onto a stage and play a recital without MP training. No wonder performers get so nervous! MP is the best antidote against performance anxiety [ (48) Origin and Control of Nervousness ] – it certainly worked for Mozart.
Since everybody already knows how to MP, it is easy to learn how to apply it to music. Start teaching MP together with memorizing. Teach the student to MP every memorizing method, such as keyboard memory, photographic memory, music memory, etc., especially away from the piano. We will discuss more uses of MP as we encounter them later.
MP and Memorizing cannot be separated because one can't function fully without the other; this is why teaching only hand memory without teaching MP is so inadequate. MP gives you the ability to start anywhere within a composition -- something that is difficult to learn in any other way. MP provides a clearer understanding of the structure of the composition, etc., because you can now analyze them in your head. You can even "practice" without a piano, at speeds that the fingers cannot manage. There are numerous accounts of pianists who can play a composition without practicing on the piano, by just reading the sheet music and using MP to practice. No student should ever be asked to perform without first learning MP.
In order to memorize well, it is necessary to practice memory away from the piano using MP. This saves time because you can practice even when no piano is available, and greatly strengthens the memory because you don't have the piano and hand memory as "crutches". For those who wish to learn sight singing [ (45) Sight Reading, Sight Singing, Composing ] and acquire absolute pitch [ Absolute Pitch, Relative Pitch ], MP is used to develop both skills. Away from the piano, if you MP keyboard memory, you tend to make the same mistakes, and get stuck at the same places, as when playing at the piano! This supports the concept that all mistakes originate in the brain. Test your memory with MP and it will reveal how much you still depend on hand memory even after you had acquired keyboard, etc., memory. MP is one of the best tests of memory.
The next item to teach using MP is absolute pitch [AP, Absolute Pitch, Relative Pitch ]; without it, the MP will be handicapped because anybody with MP will start composing and improvising. The inability to compose or improvise is a major handicap for an advanced pianist. Those without MP can compose by using the piano, but it is much more efficient (and powerful) if you can figure out the scales and chord progressions in your head and write down the music without the piano.
Many pianists have the misconception that the expensive, huge, concert grand produces its wondrous sound, creating music, and therefore we must train our fingers for learning to play the piano. The human brain is far more complex than, and superior to, any mechanical contraption; the mind doesn't have the limitations of wood, felt, and metal. Therefore, it is more important to train the brain than the fingers, especially because any finger movement must originate in the brain: music and technique cannot be learned separately. As a musician, it is essential to develop MP to such an extent that the music in your mind is superior to that coming from the piano. A quality grand will certainly be inspirational, but a musician's mind should have no upper limit and MP is how those heights are attained. Don't be passive and wait for the music to come out of the piano, but actively anticipate the music you want to produce – which is the ultimate MP and the best way to execute a convincing performance.
MP is how the great geniuses accomplished what they did [see (65) Creating Geniuses ]; if students are not taught MP, the achievements of the great pianists appear unattainable. Many of those reportedly "amazing feats" performed by Mozart, such as speaking sentences backwards, are simple MP tricks that anyone can learn. In order to speak sentences backwards, all you do is to write it on an imaginary blackboard and read it backwards. Try it yourself: write "dog" on that mental blackboard and read it backwards; when that becomes easy, try two words, "mad dog", etc., keep adding words and practice until you can do longer sentences. Easy!
We can now explain why famous geniuses, such as Beethoven, Einstein, "professors", etc., are known for their absentmindedness — they are all good at MP and get completely absorbed in their mental world.
As you memorize the Für Elise example, start practicing MP with it.
Conclusion: it is possible to practice the piano using only MP! Every pianist must cultivate MP; you will not only learn a useful skill, but it will enable you to make fuller use of all the other piano skills.