Active Playing Diagram

In previous articles we described what active and passive playing is. To sum it up, passive playing is when we play "what is prescribed for us to play". Either by direct transforming visual note pattern into it's real form (playing from score sheets) or when we play by heart using muscle memory. In these cases we use our automatisms to produce the music, we mentally stay apart and we are just passive listeners to the production along with our possible audience.

Whilst when we play actively, we are mentally involved, we work with Mental Sound Images (MSIs) of individual fragments and our play is ruled by them. When using MSIs, we are always mentally one step ahead of our hands. In this playing mode, associations play a big role. Association is a mental mechanism having something to do with our memory and our grown skills. First one is association
Fragment MSI -> Playing activity
second one is association
Hearing Fragment real sound -> Next Fragment MSI recall

When we learn playing actively, important component of our learning path is working with MSIs, their cultivation and refinement along with their associations. When we study music even more thoroughly and theoreticaly, another MSI association will be added:
Fragment MSI -> Fragment Detail
where Fragment Detail is a structure of the MSI, it's logic, it's technical content that can be presented by notation.