Written from the perspective of a guitarist but applicable to all.

I know that half of what musicians become, is because of the time they spend with a guitar in their hands, in their mind. It is almost the same as really practicing, imagining the guitar in your hands, playing this and that. The older I become, the more I realize it. I have been playing long enough that there is very little difference between practicing and visualizing and I have come to the conclusion, that this time visualizing, is a major part of the equation. That is why love is the key. If you didn't love the guitar, how could you think about it all the time?
In the book, "This is your Brain on Music," Daniel J. Levitin comes to the conclusion that to be good it takes about ten-thousand hours on your instrument (that equals about 3 hours a day for 10 years). But I will add that a lot of these hours can and have to be knocked off in your head. I'm not that sure that your brain knows the difference.

What a great article. I have loads of friends and family that are musicians, some of them at the professional level....and they all LOVE music with all their hearts.

I believe that mental imaging is a real experience and the
memory of those sensations are embedded in emotion.
It make sense to me, anyway.

Yes, as a average player musician of piano, organ and woodwinds, it is the love of music that makes the player. Inborn talent helps, but to really become a musician, one must love what one does. To this day, and I'm 65, I remember certain pieces that our h.s. band played, same about the college band, church organ music, etc. All I have to do is hear that same piece of music and I'm transported back in time--

Mom told me that when she married Dad she understood that music would always be his first wife; that whatever it was that he was music was the biggest part of it. Never was there a nag about his playing too much and being out of the house too many nights, or about working in his percussion repair shop in our basement too much. They had a great marriage. Dad played professionally about sixty-five years. The last time he played was sitting in at the request of the band (all of whom were professional pals and customers) at the grand-opening party of the nursing home he died in. He was already a resident at the time of the party, and pretty much unable to walk or care for himself, but he could still play and hold rhythm like a metronome.

To this day, and I'm 65, I remember certain pieces that our h.s. band
played, same about the college band, church organ music, etc. All I
have to do is hear that same piece of music and I'm transported back in
time--

Dad played professionally about sixty-five years.

I believe that mental imaging is a real experience and thememory of those sensations are embedded in emotion.

Lovely comments.....music always seems to bring out the best in people.