Thank You, Muscle Memory

Muscle memory works in mysterious ways. I got back from vacation last week, and my practice time since then has been devoted to making up lost ground on certain things. However, some things seem to have gotten easier. 

For the two weeks before I left on vacation, I'd been working on a Hans Sitt etude (#56 from 20 Etudes in Changing Positions) to practice all kinds of shifting between first and fifth positions. It went fine in my lessons, but did not feel truly automatic--particularly some stretches such as:

Exhibit A. First, it's this.

Exhibit B. But then, it's this!

I picked this etude up when I came back from vacation as a way of easing back in. I anticipated using it to reintroduce myself to the concepts of shifting and playing in tune before I jumped back into the repertoire things I'm working on (mainly orchestra excerpts for auditioning for one or more community orchestras).

But guess what? It came out totally smooth and as in tune as I've ever played it. I didn't have to use my cheat marks to distinguish half steps from whole steps amidst the accidentals. It just came out right. Apparently my vacation involved more than coffee on my uncle's back porch, wiffle ball with my cousins' kids, and minor league baseball with the whole clan. My brain must have been consolidating this--practicing without me knowing it.