I have always compensated for a lousy memory and poor math skills with a highly-developed sense of intuition. I do not believe intuition can be learned by studying, and I do not think it can be learned by practicing. It is either inborn, or it develops (out of necessity) in childhood. Trusting it (if you have it) takes a while. Intuition is not celebrated in academia, particularly in musical academia, where "hunches" are not as respected as tools of analysis. Intuition should be respected in academia, because teaching, particularly private teaching, requires mountains of intuition in order for a student to accomplish anything. When I write music, I do it intuitively. What is not intuitive is sensual, and what is not sensual is practical.
I had an oddly intuitive moment today. I was talking on the phone with my cellist-friend Danny Morganstern, and he mentioned that he was practicing the Grieg Sonata. It has been years since I listened to the Grieg Sonata (perhaps the last time was when I hear Danny perform it). I told him that I have been listening to a lot of Grieg, and that I had three CD's worth of Lyric Pieces (played by Aldo Ciccolini) on the ipod that I take on my daily walks. I spontaneously sang a melody from one of the Lyric Pieces. Not only was the melody exactly the same as one of the melodies in the Grieg Cello Sonata, it was the very melody that Danny had been practicing right before our phone call.
During an unspecified time, somewhere, deep in my unconscious, I must have made a connection with a particular Lyric Piece (I don't even know which Lyric Piece it is) and the Cello Sonata. Out of the three hours of Lyric Pieces, I instantly (and innocently) happened to pick out the one that mattered for that moment, even though I didn't know its name.
I call that intuition.
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