Playing an instrument develops the brain

A study found that certain regions of the brain such as the corpus callosum and the right motor cortex, were larger in musicians who started to learn a musical instrument before age 7.  Read more here.

It’s never too late to start learning the piano. Playing a musical instrument offers benefits to everyone, regardless of age. Here are some of the benefits of playing the piano or receiving other systematic musical training:

Music training boosts maths skills

Students who were taught to sing using the Kodaly method were ahead of their classmates in maths. This singing method involves singing songs that are sequenced in difficulty. Read more here.

Playing music protects memory, hearing and brain processing skills

Musicians suffer less from aging-related memory and hearing losses than non-musicians, according to a study by Nina Kraus’ Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University, USA. 

“As a musician, you get very good at pulling out important information from a complex soundscape,” Kraus said. “That involves hearing, but it’s related to how quickly you can process information and how well you remember it,” she said. Read more here.

Playing the piano improves spatial-temporal skills 

A study found that students who received piano lessons were better at spatial-temporal skills than students who received singing lessons or no music lessons at all. Spatial-temporal reasoning is the ability to mentally move objects in space and time to solve multi-step problems. Read more here.