[Paul]

I think you are right Mark. Maybe what we’re seeing here is a skilled individual who has learned to suppress inhibition with that suppression ‘bleeding over’ into other activities. Playing music at any level places an enormous burden on the person doing it… and that burden doesn’t lighten with skill. If anything, the opposite occurs- for example, once you develop cross-lateral independence in your hands, you might focus your attention on touch, fluidity, timbre or any of the myriad variables of importance.

And then, any of these will have an overarching, structural significance in a piece all of which need to be dynamically managed to achieve the aesthetic aims of the player. And there’s no more challenging example than an adept musician improvising fluently.

The involvement the vocal cords in music has always fascinated me- these muscles are bilaterally controlled but in normal use are ‘in sync’ with each other. It would be interesting to know if these involuntary vocalisations represent independent control of the left and right vocal cords, entrained with the activity of the hands as they play the piano.