Brain Games: Improve memory with scientifically designed games. Free Trial.
Is there is difference in the brains of someone who has no clue how to play the piano and someone who is a professional pianists and can just go and sit at the piano with sheet music already on the music rack & they just start playing the piano without making any mistakes?
I always thought there was more brain activity in a pro pianist?
Okay — fantastic questions which falls into two of my levels of expertise: music and cognition. The difference between a rank amateur and a professional pianist — and they’ve actually done studies on this — is a matter of neurological conditioning. The amateur has to translate the notes on the bass and treble clefs to what it means in terms of a key on the keyboard, accounting for rhythm and tempo, while the professional pianist does several things differently:
First, the note on the sheet is directly translated to a physical movement for the specified period of time. Moreover, professionals know how to combine notes from both clefs automatically (note on sheet equals movement without letter or number interpretation in the middle in the brain), and they read several notes ahead as they play. The brain, in cognition studies, can hold seven plus or minus two slots of short term memory information, so it’s reasonable that the professional can read anywhere up to three to five notes ahead of what they’re playing. This is a natural adaptive response. Believe it or not, there is actually more neurological activity in the rank amateur, because he or she has to perform a lot more computations to figure out how to play just one note (more conscious), where the professional has developed this skill so much it’s an automated response (more subconscious). Think about this: you’re driving down the road, radio on, having a conversation. Your brain doesn’t have to think about driving, but can concentrate on the conversation, because driving is so automatic, and you can hear the songs on the radio anytime. When there is important information on the radio, you halt the conversation and turn up the radio. You come upon a construction zone, and you turn down the radio AND halt the conversation, because now your driving skill has to contend with new and unexpected conditions. That driving skill was always there, but it was an automated condition because you’ve done it so much. The distracting conditions cause you to increase brain activity, and that’s why you try to cut out as many distractions as possible.
Okay, I’m rambling, but there it is.
Brain Games: Improve memory with scientifically designed games. Free Trial.
Mozart “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”
At the request of superearthbender, who asked for a starry evening themed video, I have made a second one to add to the collection. 
I’ve done my best to try and incorparate the theme in the pictures I’ve selected.