Getting better without practicing!?

Yes, no. You are as normal as can be. It even has a name: Post Practice Improvement. See section II.15 in link below. C. C. Chang; more on piano practice at

Tim,

I'm taking lessons from a piano teacher but a couple of years ago I had an awful session with her. It was so bad I thought I would just quit playing all together. Fingers didn't work. It was all garbage. I couldn't bang out 'Twinkle, twinkle little star.'

The next morning during my regular practice I was able to play everything in my book

Try skipping a day of practicing once a week. It definitely works. Just once a week.

Another effect is mentally practicing without doing anything physical. Just intensely imagine yourself playing whatever you are working on. Imagine yourself as Horiwitz playing it perfectly, and think clearly about what your fingers are doing, and so forth. Bingo - your learning it.

Some parts of the mind/brain can apparantely be easily 'fooled', or trained rather, by the imagination, rather than dull reality.

It's how I accomplish something during dull meetings

To me, it' s a common phenomenon. I also have played the guitar, for 25 years, and there were two (seperate) years that I didn't play. After those years I started playing again, and after two weeks I played better than I did the year before! This was after years and years of intense practise, of course, but still, I was amazed: it was like my fingers knew something I didn't, and suddenly felt at home at things my mind was still uncomfortable with. I also have this with the piano: after a period of practising intensily, I have to pause, due to circumstances, just like in your case ('schedule'

: The interesting thing I've noticed is that my schedule often makes me go : days, or even a week or two, without touching the piano. When I do have : time, it is often just for 15 or 20 minutes. : : Nevertheless, whenever I sit down and play these things I'm working on, I'm : noticably better than I was last time!

I think it all adds up, and short sessions reduce the inevitable boredom that can hypnotically creep in (on the other hand, short sessions restrict getting nicely 'warmed up,' unfortunately).

Absence from practice makes the heart grow fonder. I'm just back from two weeks of cycling in Death Valley, and now have had a few days of multi-hour practice. The return is critical for a review of all of the stuff you left, especially the memorized pieces. A gradual round of attention to all your gems is necessary so they don't get mentally-tucked away too far (and require some extreme study).

Walking the tightrope of muscle-memory and conscious awareness is interesting at this point...

It may not be 'fooled'. One of my pet theories (I have not found any proof) is that most of technique acquisition is brain alteration and you can do some of that by just thinking about it because thought processes alter the brain. C. C. Chang; more on piano practice at

These plateaus do happen, and always have good explanations, such as suddenly learning the meaning of relaxation, or acquiring a new (correct) hand position. A good teacher should know these causes and will teach them routinely, thus greatly accelerating the arrival of these plateaus.

You can take advantage of Post Practice Improvement (PPI) w/o taking any rest. Instead of practicing one thing and then resting, practice 4 things, say each one for 2-3 days; then, all 4 will improve by PPI because you are giving each a rest while practicing the others! The important thing here is to make sure that you give each one a good workout, and then a rest, and not to try to practice all 4 every day. C. C. Chang; more on piano practice at

In tennis this is called the Inner Game. You set yourself to improve without effort, and you do.

I use the system to chop wood accurately. (Not old pianos, I should say.)

Dan Wilson

Perhaps also during your absence from playing you are mulling it over in your mind to some degree. Even though you aren't physically playing the piano, you are thinking about how to improve something you had already spend a lot of time working on.

I have no proof on this, but I don't think this is the mechanism. I think the practice activates neuron pathways, and these pathways continue to 'grow' in some sense over time, so perhaps when you come back a week or a month later, you have more pathways available. Its more biological.

Regards,