The mystery of muscle memory

Muscle memory is an extremely interesting phenomenon for me. As a pianist, I’ve always been amazed at how my fingers would engage in a tango with each other as the harmonious melody was sewn from the percussion that I had previously learned. There is a saying that goes like "thousands of hours of practice for a few minutes of the spotlight". This is especially true for musicians. 

A piece or a song can only be executed perfectly after hundreds of repetitions, and this is after you originally learn just the notes of the composition. I have some friends who are excellent at sight-reading and can play a song as long as they have the score in front of them, but since this is just like reading a book, it’s hard to memorize every word in exact order even though you can read it out loud well the first time.

I can memorize my pieces after many repetitions, and after I learn them well, I no longer need the original score to play it. However, it’s not like I can remember exactly which is the next note after a certain one. The only thing I remember is the melody, and my muscle memory does the rest. My hands somehow just know exactly where to place themselves after every chord. For me, it’s as similar to an out-of-body experience as you can get. Watching my hands prance around in sync without my consciously thinking about the next things to play, it’s marvelous. 

Yet, sometimes your muscle memory fails you. I remember I was attempting to play a song that I’d learned at a friend’s house when my hands suddenly stumbled. They lost their place and couldn’t find their way back, like a chugging locomotive that had veered off course due to one missing piece of track.

The environment and your thoughts also affect you as well. Sometimes I get back home to my familiar piano that I’ve learned all my pieces on, and once again, my fingers spring back into action like their knowledge of the piece was suddenly thawed by the warmth of familiarity. There are also times when I’m trying really hard to remember what’s next, and it just doesn’t appear. However, when I’m not thinking about it at all, they somehow know the place they’re supposed to be at the time that’s just right.

This is a topic that most people probably don’t think about all the time since it happens mostly unconsciously, so if you just keep it in the back of your mind during your daily tasks, you might find magic happening right in front of your eyes.