Your Body Remembers

I absolutely love love love this. I’ve seen it time and time again – a student comes in for a first lesson – hasn’t played piano in sometimes 50 years. When I ask them to play a C scale, their first response is that they don’t remember and 9 times out of 10, once they try, they actually can! Their body remembers. I’ve had the experience of practicing a piece right up until bed, waking up the next day, and being able to execute a passage that I couldn’t quite get before retiring for the night. My body remembers. And our bodies will “practice” for us even while we aren’t at the piano. This is quite a phenomenon and is so important to understand and use to our advantage. If we practice CORRECTLY, our bodies will do the work for us. And sometimes, letting our body rest, rather than pushing a passage or exercise that we are struggling with, is the best thing we can do. Trust your body, let it rest, and it will do its magic.