THERE'S RETENTION AND THERE'S RETENTION

Today, I went back and reviewed Bach's Two Part Invention #2.  It's been weeks since I revisited it.  Truth be told, it's not my favorite and I've been neglecting it.

I was dismayed to discover the extent to which I had forgotten it.  I was very rusty on the fingerings and on the details of how it goes.  It'll take a bit of refurbishing to get it back up to the shape it was in when I last practiced it actively.

One thing that I didn't lose, however, was my facility in playing a little ornament with my left hand.  I developed that facility while practicing #2, and it's just as crisp today as it was weeks ago. (See the entry "Brian Grows a Neuron", posted February 12, 2012, and covering an experience from January 11.)

This got me to pondering the difference between retaining the physical skill of playing the ornament, and retaining the memory of the details of the piece.  Memory, as a cognitive skill, is more plastic, more brain-based. It comes and goes. But somehow the physical skill is more deeply ingrained in my body and, perhaps, in my peripheral nervous system.

Having once learned the piece, I know that it will be far easier for me to learn it again than it was for me to learn it the first time.  Much of it is still in there, and I can re-build on that.

Well, that's it for blogging today. Gotta run. Now, what was it I was going to do next....