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Ah, yes. To answer your question, yes “singing brain” is meant to be done WHILE you are playing. Think of it as a way of giving yourself instructions about what to do with the music without using words or thinking in terms of mechanics (which should already have been taken care of in the practice room).
And with all the variations of singing brain, yes, it’s all done in your head. No need to vocalize externally! Though I suppose some people do, and there’s probably nothing wrong with it as long as it’s not a distraction.
The idea is not so much to follow along in your head with your playing, but to create the sound or phrasing you want in your head, and let your body follow. For some people, singing brain is happening at exactly the same time as the sound being produced. For others, they find it helpful to have singing brain leading them by being ever so slightly ahead of what they are playing – but on the order of a fraction of a second. Not notes or measures ahead, which can be rather disconcerting and puts you out of the moment.
