A quick note before my piano practice. New Scientist has a piece with a new angle on language learning and ageing, showing that people in their seventies who had learned a new language did better on tests than would have been predicted from their previous scores, indicating that the language itself was a factor in their improved performance.
Another NS piece on brain waves shows how monkeys sorting groups of dots moved from dealing with each situation as a one off, to seeing underlying patterns. There is a parallel with the piano practice. I'm beginning to move from having to work out each chord one note at a time and transfer this to my fingers, to seeing patterns in the chords and inversions that let me respond more quickly and anticipate what will happen. I had similar issues with ballroom dancing, but that is perhaps for another time...