Most musicians sit practicing by the hour; religiously refining their technique with etudes and exercises. We musicians get fond of our routines. It's very easy to have a great sense of accomplishment when you put in your time. In fact, some of us have anxiety fits when our practice material or routines get changed. Unfortunately, this puts the emphasis on the physical aspects of music. The point of practicing is to fine-tune the body so it will respond to the demands of the mind. Technique should never be the sole pursuit. You must tap into your musical mind, otherwise your performance will suffer.

When I hear a performance that is particularly moving, I know the musicians have been successful in creating and expressing their musical image. You don't sense the effort in what they are doing, only the result. Their musical choices are clear and coherent to the listener--they have musical clarity.

Musical clarity is the product of well-defined choices. Call it imagery, visualization, hearing the music first, etc. What you call it is not important, the result is the same. Mental imagery allows the musician to match their performance to the music in their minds. This mental focus seems to transcend mere physical results. A study conducted by the Soviets prior to the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics provided some interesting results. There were four groups of athletes training for the Olympics. The first group had 100% of their emphasis placed on physical training. The second group had 75% of their training focused on the physical aspect and 25% on the mental aspect (i.e., visualization). The third group underwent 50% physical training and 50% mental training. And finally, the fourth group had only 25% of their Olympic preparation in the form of physical training and 75% in mental training. I would have thought that the group with a balanced, 50/50 approach would have had the most success, but this wasn't the case. The fourth group, which had trained most heavily in mental preparation and visualization exercises, showed better improvement than the other three groups. The athletes using 100% physical emphasis performed dead last.