Playing without thinking

[faa2010]

When you play a piece, do you do it automatically without thinking in the notes or the music sheet?

I mean, is there a time when you automatically remember only the fingering and how it should sound? And then, your mind is in other things.

[keyboardclass]

We call that 'a waste of time' in the teaching business.

[nystul]

If by "other things" you mean focusing on the phrasing, rubato, interpretations, etc. sure.  At some point you should know a song well enough where hitting the right note with the right finger is no longer an issue.  If you mean playing a piece by finger memory while you are thinking about what you will have for dinner tonight, that is probably not very useful (except as dinner preparation).

[dss62467]

Only when I know the piece as well as my route to work.  Takes time.  Actually, no... the "mechanics" of the piece come somewhat quickly, I'd say, it's the rest that takes time. 

[faa2010]

I think moreless the same.

I was thinking it like when you start to drive a standard or when you start to ride a bike.

First, you think in the basic "mechanics": you have to play this note with that or those fingers, this part has to sound allegretto, andante, vivace or lento, while you play this chord with the left hand, the right hand has to play this part, etc.

As time goes by, and due to practice and memorization, you can play it without thinking about those "mechanics" too much, it's like if you play it uncounsciously.

Only that there would be two inconvenients:
- Mental gaps
- If you play wrong one note, your world falls apart and you have to retake the piece from a point.

But I think there are solutions for them.

[keyboardclass]

Only that there would be two inconvenients:
- Mental gaps
- If you play wrong one note, your world falls apart and you have to retake the piece from a point.

Yes, that's the pitfall of muscle memory (which is what I think we're talking about).

[nanabush]

Sometimes that's the only way I can play a Bach piece without messing up.  I'm paying attention to the harmonies and musicality when playing a fugue for example, but if I stare at my fingers and anticipate every single note I want to play, I'll definitely screw up.  It's good while learning the piece to know all of the musical lines, but if you are trying to keep a tab on four or five completely different lines of music and constantly over-think when you perform it, at least for me, that would be totally confusing.

You need a bit of both - the comfort to play a passage knowing which notes you are playing, and the ability to listen to more than the individual notes.