Learning a musical instrument is already a good idea simply for the fact that it's fun and it's something interesting to add to a list of skills. But music does much more than make you look cool- it actually engages and helps strengthen your brain, in more areas than one.
- Playing a musical instrument actually engages almost all areas of your brain. The visual cortex is involved in reading the music or watching the conductor, and the auditory cortex is involved in listening to the music. The sensory cortex, motor cortex, and cerebellum deal with actions such as physically playing an instrument, conducting or dancing. The prefrontal cortex deals with decision making and expression. The hippocampus, nucleus accumbus, and amygdala control our emotional responses to music and memories of music.
- Because learning a musical instrument involves learning rhythms and sound patterns, it actually improves your verbal skills. Studies show that the skills enforced with musical training also help with recognizing human speech amid other noise and improving your auditory memory. In other words, you'll be more likely to hear, understand, and remember what someone says.
- As any musician will know, music actually involves a lot of math. There's counting beats, rhythms, measures, and rests. There's subdividing beats to better understand the rhythms, and mathematical relationships also connect musical intervals, scales, chords, and keys. Because of this, studies show that music can actually help improve your math skills. Not to say that you automatically become a human calculator, but it does contribute to recognizing patterns and thinking quickly.
- Music has actually been shown to raise academic IQ points, and musicians often have higher IQs. Interestingly enough, music contributes more to academic IQ than to emotional IQ. It's also worth remembering that intelligence is much more than a test and a number.
- Because of many of the same reasons as number 1 and also because musical directions are often in languages such as Italian, French, or German, musicians are generally better at learning foreign languages. They are usually more skilled at picking up on sound patterns and learning the grammar behind it, as well as developing larger vocabularies.
- Simply put, music requires you to listen. Whether you play an instrument, sing, or just like listening, you have to listen. In a group setting, you have to listen to your section, to other sections, to the director, to the melody, harmony, and tone. Even in a solo setting, listening to tone and pitch is necessary. So, it follows that music can make you a better listener.
- Music can slow aging. Studies show that musicians that play their instrument for years- we're talking around ten or more- retain the bonuses that we've already mentioned as they age. This means that their brain declines at a slower rate, and they have a stronger memory.
- I know a lot of us like to put on our favorite songs when we're in a bad mood, but it's scientifically shown that music can make you less anxious, and more confident, happy, and creative. Music releases endorphins and neurotransmitters in our brains that can put us in a good mood and make us feel better. Also, music training can cause the areas of your brain that control depression, anxiety, and attention issues to thicken, meaning it becomes easier to control your emotions and focus on tasks.
And as a bonus, here's a fun fact (that's also a hint) for the topic next week's post!
In the 1920s, it was fashionable to wear a different outfit for day, afternoon, and evening. Women would change clothes several times a day. The hemline indicated which outfit was for which time of day.
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