From Mind to Brain to Hands to Music

Here is the process by which I believe music is made:

1. Your mind (your consciousness) has to think about where it is you want to move your fingers.

2. Your brain sends the impulses to manifest said finger movement.

3.  Your fingers physically execute the movements.

4. Finally, a sound is produced and voila! = music

If you watch great musicians playing, it appears as though whatever is in their mind somehow magically manifests in their music, and that is true, except for the "magically" part. Great musicians can in fact produce the contents of their minds/souls via their instruments but it is decidedly the result of many years of diligent practice.

One of the long term goals of a musician should be to get to the point where two of the four steps in process of  "mind to brain to hands to music" are eliminated. The idea is for the mind to directly go to the music, bypassing both brain and hands. Eliminating the brain is the process of putting in enough high quality practice so as to get to the point that all harmonic and rhythmic (physical) permutations are memorized and controlled by the subconscious mind.

Eliminating the hands is achieved by mastering physical technique to the point where you never have any considerations like: How am I holding my pick? Am I playing on my fingertips? Am I bending my wrist enough? and so on. Two of the best ways to hasten this process are to first play without looking at your picking hand and then to refrain from looking at either hand and finally to play/practice with your eyes closed, approximately 30% of the brain is involved in vision, so when you close your eyes the acuity of your hearing goes up and your attention will be more focused.

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