They can do something the rest of us can't.

Pretty interesting stuff. I know that, as a pianist, there is a coordination of so many factors going on, then the fine motor movement that must be controlled at such a fine degree. It is developed over a lot of years of concentrated attention. Of course, the rarefied, beautiful musical expression is the final end - produced as though it were so natural and so easy. And it must BE musical and musically meaningful. That is the personality, the ability to make the music be what it is supposed to be. To say what it is supposed to say, which is you as the pianist, speaking musically.

Also, I know that students can practice hands separately, and each hand can do a good job by themselves, but when they are put together, it is like starting over. It is very slow and very hard (when the piece is hard). That must be where all these factors this article talks about come together to be managed by the brain, and it is this skill that I know is being developed in my students. I sometimes have them slow down so, so, so far so that the brain can have plenty of time to think about all the things that have to happen and can stay ahead of the fingers. Notes, fingering, articulation, dynamics, rhythms, melody line that must stand out, accompaniment that must remain subservient to the melody (listening to make sure that is happening plus making the fingers play lighter here, stronger there), and phrase shapes (the real expression of musical thoughts). It is a lot! But, once they have been practiced, a pianist can play so fast because the mind is so fast and knows what it is doing. It sees it all at once.

Some people are very fast and natural at this stuff, others have to practice long and hard to get there. I am of the latter.

Here is the article:

They can do something the rest of us can't.

http://mic.com/articles/91329/science-shows-how-piano-players-brains-are-actually-different-from-everybody-elses

"…some people never recover from childhood piano lessons. This is, in part, because true pianists' brains are actually different from those of everyone else. In this series, we've already written about what makes guitarists' and drummers' brains unique, but playing keys is an entirely different beast. Drums are functionally pitchless and achordal, so pitch selection and chord voicings aren't part of the equation. Guitar only allows for six notes at once and heavily favors left-hand dexterity.

But piano is the ultimate instrument in terms of skill and demand: Two hands have to play together simultaneously while navigating 88 keys. They can play up to 10 notes at a time. To manage all those options, pianists have to develop a totally unique brain capacity — one that has been revealed by science."