CONSCIOUSNESS 20$ 



In the most complicated patterns of voluntary activity 

 consciousness may play a very limited role. A good ex- 

 ample for discussion is the piano, because the most in- 

 tricately and perfectly co-ordinated of all voluntary 

 movements in the animal kingdom are those of the hu- 

 man hand and fingers, and perhaps in no other human 

 activity do memory, complex integration, and muscular 

 co-ordination surpass the achievements of the skilled 

 pianist. In the early stages of learning, the novice strikes 

 each note only after conscious deliberation: In efiFect he 

 says to himself, "Now I will strike this note, now I wiU 

 strike that one—" until, as he acquires competence, he 

 finds himself anticipating the future: "After I strike this 

 note then I will strike that one . . ." and so on until 

 he gains command both of his fingers and the score and 

 the conscious contribution can be reduced to, "Now I 

 will play this movement generally piano and largo be- 

 cause I think that is the way that the composer meant it 

 to be played." A musician who has to concentrate on 

 the mechanical details of his music is not expert. With 

 competence he gives thought only to his interpretation. 

 At the orchestral cue, his fingers spell out the harmony 

 and rhythm so faultlessly that he has scarcely a sense 

 of playing the smashing chords and complicated arpeg- 

 gios, remembering each note for only a fraction of a sec- 

 ond (though let him strike a wrong one and he will 

 remember it! ) as he gives attention to the smooth inter- 

 change of melody between the orchestra and his instru- 

 ment, and to the thousand and one matters affecting in- 

 terpretation. In retrospect he is perhaps more keenly 

 aware of the quaUty of his performance, which is just 

 as complicated a matter as the mechanics of the per- 

 formance itself, than of the innumerable mechanical 

 details. 



Sir James Paget, a noted nineteenth-century British 

 surgeon, once timed a friend, Mile. Janotha, while she 

 played a presto by Mendelssohn, 'one of the fastest 

 pieces of music known to her.' (This was presimiably 



