I've listened to MM's practice midis--there is no way I could ever say he doesn't know where his notes are on the board/ piano!!
This man is a master.
I guess he just wants to play a "warm up" piece before he can say he is ready to play..but he thing is that he is already playing while he call's it warm up.
I know of a guy who can start of by doing some crazy scale runs, but he just never does it coz he believes that music "is a language, hence the tempo & stuff 1 plays should go with the essence of the song"..hence he says a big no to starting off with crazy scale runs.
But he sometimes contradicts himself because you find him doing the runs as soon as he switches on the board.
Personally, I don't feel like warming up...maybe once I can do those cool scale runs, then I might want to warm up a bit