Practicing Away from Your Instrument, Part 1

I vividly remember an experience in graduate school where I was to be performing several selections from George Crumb's "Makrokosmos, Book 1". I was down to the wire on my memorization, and these pieces are not the easiest thing in the world to memorize! For those unfamiliar, Crumb uses not only the keys of the piano, but also the body of the instrument as well as the strings to create unique sounds. For example, he has the pianist put metal thimbles on four of his fingers to play specific strings, either tapping them or strumming them, to create a ghostly sound. 

By "down to the wire", I mean that I had a performance in a matter of a couple of days and had yet to memorize any of one complete movement from this set. I was extremely tired and couldn't make it to the practice room (even though only a five minute walk away). So I laid the music out on my desk and left it there for two days. Every time I passed my desk on the way to the kitchen, bathroom, bed, etc., I would consciously look at the score for a couple of minutes and "feel" my way through the piece. After two days, I made my way back to the practice room and was stunned to find that I had memorized this entire piece without playing a note. It had happened solely through "mental practice"!

The next few posts will be about how one can practice away from your instrument and how to make the most of this time and how to have fun with it!