John Scarpati "Practice makes perfect" is the sentiment usually found at the top of any performer's list of ethics. And whether it's in a home, a small studio, an office, or on a tour bus, some disciplined style of practice is often maintained, even after a band has made it past the local level.

In between signing autographs, giving interviews, writing, recording, touring or, for countless others, dreaming of doing all the above, rehearsal remains a vital cog in the complete musical wheel.

To find out the facts about rehearsal life, Music Connection went directly to the sources. In the process, six bands, three well-established, gave further evidence on how this "perfection" is achieved.

In every industry, people have their superstitions. For example, a baseball player may wear the same pair of sox for an entire month, a gourmet chef might only use his favorite wooden spoon for top clients or, perhaps, a lawyer would never attend a trial without his lucky leather brief case. Strange, personal idiosyncrasies apply to musicians as well and many are as odd and unusual as you'd expect.

In an attempt to discover various off-character sketches of some of today's most colorful performers, Music Connection posed the question: What are some of your strange habits or superstitions?

Here's what thirteen recording artists had to say:

Danny Elfman (lead singer/songwriter, Oingo Boingo): "I actually have to eat a still-beating heart, freshly plucked from a live 16-year-old virgin which I prepare with lightly sauteed mushrooms, jalepeno peppers, just a dash of oregano and several drops of lemon juice."