I had to stop playing mandolin for two months due to moving house - there was really no time left in the day in this period. I wondered how my playing would suffer. Would I remember how to pick those tunes that I'd previously been playing every day. Would my fingers know what to do? Now, finally settled in (but still with masses to sort out) I dared to take my mandolin out of its bag for the first time yesterday, and again tonight. I as mightily relieved to find that my hands instantly knew their way around, and that tunes which I haven't practiced for ages have not disappeared from my memory. A little stiff and slow maybe, but the brain really doesn't forget.
A testimony, I guess to the brain's ability to embed things that are regularly practiced, and to the enduring nature of muscle memory. Two months is not long, but quite a change to playing every day.
It was worse with the bike. That was really noticable. Ten kilometers felt like fifty, and my legs were aching some!
Both will benefit from more practice of course :-)
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