Wired digits

I stopped by my parents’ home for an hour tonight and played the piano, and while I was playing through some of the David Lanz music I grew up with, I realized that my fingers still remembered a ton of the music — and some of these were pieces I hadn’t played in years.

Muscle memory is fascinating. I don’t know anything about it other than that it’s incredibly handy not only for playing piano but also for using the computer. (I’m one of the old-school variety who loves the keyboard and uses it every chance they can. Which isn’t to say that I dislike the mouse — it’s just that the keyboard is often so much faster. And I guess I’m addicted to fast or something.)

I wonder if playing piano makes it easier to learn keystrokes for the computer, and vice versa. Hmm…

I dunno, but I’m another pianist who prefers keyboard commands to mouse clicks. For me it’s partly the preference for speed, but also an aversion to the pain of wearing out my pointer finger/clicker.

Good point. And I find that using a mouse sometimes makes my hand feel strained. (Not sure if I’m just using a poorly designed mouse or what.)

I’m guessing you’re a fellow console buff :)

I most certainly am — grew up on DOS and later on (’97 or so) switched to Linux for eight years, so yes, I’m definitely a child of the terminal. :)

Ah, the terminal :) I too switched to Linux in the late 90’s, and was one of the devs/testers on Linux From Scratch for a few years (back in the 1.0 to 4.3 days). Of course, these days, I use a mac :). But I still love the console.

Yup, I converted to Mac too, in late ‘04. PowerBook G4, now a Mac Mini, and soon an iMac. (And I’m typing this on my work MacBook Pro.) I love Macs. And the console. :)