As others have stated, I have an internal monologue but it's optional, most of my thoughts occur without a verbalized internal dialogue. Interestingly, I have

As others have stated, I have an internal monologue but it's optional, most of my thoughts occur without a verbalized internal dialogue. Interestingly, I have an internal soundtrack sometimes too. A lot of time when composing music, or even playing live, I'm really just transcribing what I literally hear in my head. A lot of my musical education has been for the purpose of being able to perform the "internal verbalization" fast enough to be able to accurately transcribe complex harmonies and melodies before the aural image fades. Over the course of my life there are two instruments where at various times I've gotten to the point where I can directly play what I hear in my head without translation, transcription, or analysis. I often find myself recording my playing so I can analyze it later. When I've not been practicing with enough regularity for that direct "mind-sound to performance" connection to work I get extremely frustrated with my playing.