So on the Tyros 2 of course on some voices you stike the note hard and it gives you the glide. It starts low where it should and ends up on pitch.

Anyway, talking about practicing reminds me of something that is rarely mentioned.

I remember reading a book called Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. In the book it mentioned a well known concert pianist who never praciticed. He was once asked after a brilliant performance how he could play so brilliantly and never practice. He said he just practiced in his head!

Another time I saw an interview with guitarist Herb Ellis I believe. He was asked about talent. His answer was talent is someting you can buy in a book called Psycho-Cybernetics.

Interesting to see this same book referenced twice. That book has mainly to do with relaxing mentally and physically and "seeing" yourself as you want to be. In a sense programing your mind. In these instances it was used to improve ones playing ability. This technique comes by a lot of different names today, but it all boils down to relax, visualize and let the mind take over.

I think in a sense we are all doing this with our playing. Acutally with everything we do. It defines who we are and what we can and can't do.

As an experiment on a few occasions I "saw" myself playing well beyond my ability. Felt is as if it had already happened. And forgot about it. A short time later, the exact thing I had "seen" happened. I was a bit stunned.

I have mentioned this to a few of my students. And have also seen a major rapid increase in ability.

Liberace is another who did this. It was mentioned in a book by Claude Bristol that it wasn't until he started to spend some time "seeing" himself successful that he became successful.

There is also a study that was done with 3 groups of people throwing freethrows. All were initially tested. Then one group practiced 1 hour a day physically throwing baskets. Another group ONLY pracitced in their minds for an hour a day. The third group was the control group and did not practice in any way.

The results were interesting. The group who actually practiced for an hour a day, improved 24%. The group that did not pracitce in any way did not improve. The group that practiced only in their minds improved 23%!!

So, I thought this would make for some interesting disscusion. Has anyone used this for music or anything else as far as that goes and how did it work.


Scott http://ScottLMusic.com