Correlation between music and cubing speed?

[Sue Doenim]

I have played piano for several years, and I started cubing last year. I have often wondered whether there is a correlation between musical ability (especially piano) and ability to easily fingertrick intuitively. I differentiated between all of the groups in the poll because of the varying complications in fingerings.

 

[Geneva]

this might sound weird, but when I went to a cubing competition yesterday I was fingertricking and these kids came up to me asking how I did it so fast. And I was confused because I thought I was pretty slow. (ao5: 35 sec) but right there was when I realized maybe my "finger drumming" on the classroom desks after jazz band helped me get better TPS on specific algs and fingertricks. Also, I notice that I can get an alg down in a certain BPM

 

[shadowslice e]

There's a lot of instruments that don't fall into any of those categories...

 

[genericcuber666]

is there a correlation between typing speed and cubing? no
is there a correlation between writing speed and cubing? no
is there a correlation between gaming skill and cubing? no

cubing is far different to anything else even if it was similar not much would help

 

[shadowslice e]

is there a correlation between typing speed and cubing? no
is there a correlation between writing speed and cubing? no
is there a correlation between gaming skill and cubing? no

cubing is far different to anything else even if it was similar not much would help

Piano has helped me as it means I can flex my fingers much faster than many of my friends even before i started cubing

 

[DevX]

Yep there is.
I play harmonium ( look it up if you don't know what's a harmonium )
It really helps... Your fingers already have good reflexes and obey your mind however u want

Cheers!

 

[pinser]

is there a correlation between typing speed and cubing? no
is there a correlation between writing speed and cubing? no
is there a correlation between gaming skill and cubing? no

cubing is far different to anything else even if it was similar not much would help

There's definitely a correlation, the question is how significant it is.

 

[mark49152]

is there a correlation between typing speed and cubing? no
is there a correlation between writing speed and cubing? no
is there a correlation between gaming skill and cubing? no

Evidence to substantiate your claims, please.

 

[Daniel Lin]

You forgot string instruments

I used to play the cello but i sucked so i quit

 

[CornerCutter]

I play the guitar. You should add that to the poll(if you can). I can't say if it has helped me.

 

[CrazeeNub]

I don't think that there is a correlation as while I play the piano, my friend who doesn't play a music instrument has overtaken me in speed.

 

[One Wheel]

I suspect it's a different but similar skill, but really, you've got no strings in your poll. you should really have plucked or strummed strings and bowed string as separate categories. I play violin/viola, and average around 34 seconds.

 

[Sue Doenim]

There's a lot of instruments that don't fall into any of those categories...

Sorry, I forgot to add strings.
Also, I don't think that there is that much of a difference between bowed and plucked, because I think the finger positions would have the more significant effect.

 

[One Wheel]

If any instrument would help I suspect it would be classical guitar or banjo, because of picking. Other instruments, violin certainly but I believe most others as well, rely on excellent fine motor control of the forearms, but not so much the fingers. Rhythm would, if anything, hurt, because if you learn an alg at a certain speed it could be very difficult to speed it up. I still count seconds using the opening of Mozart's 5th violin concerto that I practiced at 120 BPM about 11 years ago.

Clarification: playing most instruments requires good fine motor control of fingers, but very little flexibility.

 

[pglewis]

I've played guitar as a serious hobby for 32 years, speedcubing for under a year.

Instruments that impose otherwise unnatural fingerings help develop full finger independence which can definitely carry over to cubing. Not necessarily the muscle memory you already have but the ability to eventually impose your will when it comes to doing naturally awkward things. I'm very slow by speedcubing standards but I think my turn speed is above average for a mere mortal pushing 50 with as little time as I have under my belt. I also have confidence in improvement from decades of guitar experience. The discipline has taught me not to accept current limitations and plateaus as well as how to systematically attack those physical roadblocks: patience, repetition, working on difficult passages slowly, repetition, learning to relax rather than tense up, etc. I know I will be able to turn significantly faster in two years, barring injury or the onset of arthritis.

My technical playing experience doesn't help me with lookahead and recognition, however, and those will almost certainly determine my overall potential for speedsolves. I think someone with a dexterity deficit but good visualization for the cube will improve more quickly than I.

I think there are numerous correlations between the two beyond dexterity. As Ian Scheffler also mentions in Cracking the Cube, algs are like scales, working out a solve via a particular method involves improvisation. That concentrated state you can reach feels much the same to me, at its best it almost feels like you're a spectator to what you're doing. Athletes and gamers get this too, when baseball hitters talk about "seeing the ball well" or any mention of being "in the zone". Those moments where time feels dilated and the world around you seems to be in slow motion.

 

[Ordway Persyn]

I used to play some piano and violin/viola but haven't played either in a while.
Maybe I might be better at piano because of cubing though.

 

[Sue Doenim]

I've played guitar as a serious hobby for 32 years, speedcubing for under a year.

Instruments that impose otherwise unnatural fingerings help develop full finger independence which can definitely carry over to cubing. Not necessarily the muscle memory you already have but the ability to eventually impose your will when it comes to doing naturally awkward things. I'm very slow by speedcubing standards but I think my turn speed is above average for a mere mortal pushing 50 with as little time as I have under my belt. I also have confidence in improvement from decades of guitar experience. The discipline has taught me not to accept current limitations and plateaus as well as how to systematically attack those physical roadblocks: patience, repetition, working on difficult passages slowly, repetition, learning to relax rather than tense up, etc. I know I will be able to turn significantly faster in two years, barring injury or the onset of arthritis.

My technical playing experience doesn't help me with lookahead and recognition, however, and those will almost certainly determine my overall potential for speedsolves. I think someone with a dexterity deficit but good visualization for the cube will improve more quickly than I.

I think there are numerous correlations between the two beyond dexterity. As Ian Scheffler also mentions in Cracking the Cube, algs are like scales, working out a solve via a particular method involves improvisation. That concentrated state you can reach feels much the same to me, at its best it almost feels like you're a spectator to what you're doing. Athletes and gamers get this too, when baseball hitters talk about "seeing the ball well" or any mention of being "in the zone". Those moments where time feels dilated and the world around you seems to be in slow motion.

This pretty much exactly what I was talking about. I was also thinking of another point: ease of memorization. Looking at how I memorize songs helps me memorize algorithms and vice versa.

 

[cuberkid10]

I play a whole bunch of instruments, but I honestly don't think it affects my cubing at all. Many of those instruments require good coordination of the left hand, but for cubing, my left had is about as uncoordinated as it gets.

Also, correlation does not equal causation

 

[Dom]

I learned to play guitar about half a year before I learned to cube. I think the patience and perseverance that guitar taught me actually prepared me for the dedication needed for cubing. I vote strings

is there a correlation between typing speed and cubing? no

I use typing as an example of what learning algorithms is like. You think of a word and your fingers execute the moves based on muscle memory. Doing algs is the same thing.

 

[gavinmok]

It is not about piano. It is about talent.