As I was driving home from Portland this morning, all I could find to listen to on the radio were songs like "Freebird" and the Cars' "You're Just What I Needed"--and why are these songs still on the radio? Will they be there forever, always available to remind us of slow dancing in limp Gunne Sax prom dresses and pale-blue tuxes?--until I accidentally tuned to public radio and ended up in the middle of the cadenza of Mendelssohn's violin concerto.

I avoid listening to violin pieces I used to play. But here I was, trapped in the car with the cadenza, and I knew every pitch, every rest, every ritardando. I felt like I was playing the piece, even though I haven't played it seriously since I was 21. There are some things you can't lose, no matter how hard you try. Muscle memory as emotional memory. It's a strange phenomenon.