This video is straight to the point.
Playing an instrument benefits your brain.
So,
are you ready for your first piano lesson????
. . .transcript below the video in case you'd rather read it.
0:13
Did you know that every time
musicians pick up their instruments
0:17
there are fireworks going off
all over their brain?
0:20
On the outside,
they may look calm and focused,
0:22
reading the music and making the precise
and practiced movements required.
0:26
But inside their brains,
there's a party going on.
0:30
How do we know this?
0:31
Well, in the last few decades,
0:33
neuroscientists have made
enormous breakthroughs
0:35
in understanding how our brains work
by monitoring them in real time
0:40
with instruments like
FMRi and PET scanners.
0:43
When people are hooked up
to these machines,
0:45
tasks, such as reading or doing math problems,
0:48
each have corresponding areas
of the brain
0:51
where activity can be observed.
0:53
But when researchers got the participants
to listen to music,
0:58
Multiple areas of their brains
were lighting up at once,
1:01
as they processed the sound,
1:02
took it apart to understand elements,
like melody and rhythm,
1:05
and then put it all back together
into unified musical experience.
1:10
And our brains do all this work
in the split second
1:13
between when we first hear the music
and when our foot starts to tap along.
1:17
But when scientists turn
from observing the brains
1:19
of music listeners to those of musicians,
1:22
the little backyard fireworks
became a jubilee.
1:25
It turns out that
while listening to music engages the brain
1:29
in some pretty interesting activities,
1:31
playing music is the brain's equivalent
of a full-body workout.
1:35
The neuroscientists saw multiple areas
of the brain light up,
1:38
simultaneously processing different information
1:41
in intricate, interrelated,
and astonishingly fast sequences.
1:46
But what is it about making music
that sets the brain alight?
1:49
The research is still fairly new,
but neuroscientists have a pretty good idea.
1:54
Playing a musical instrument engages
practically every area of the brain at once,
1:59
especially the visual, auditory, and motor cortices.
2:03
And as with any other workout,
disciplined, structured practice in playing music
2:07
strengthens those brain functions,
allowing us to apply that strength
2:11
to other activities.
2:13
The most obvious difference between
listening to music and playing it
2:17
is that the latter requires
fine motor skills,
2:19
which are controlled
in both hemispheres of the brain.
2:22
It also combines the linguistic
and mathematical precision,
2:26
in which the left hemisphere
is more involved,
2:28
with the novel and creative
content that the right excels in.
2:32
For these reasons,
playing music has been found
2:34
to increase the volume and activity
in the brain's corpus callosum,
2:38
the bridge between the two hemispheres,
2:41
allowing messages to get across the brain
faster and through more diverse routes.
2:46
This may allow musicians
to solve problems
2:48
more effectively and creatively,
in both academic and social settings.
2:52
Because making music also involves
crafting and understanding
2:56
its emotional content and message,
2:58
musicians often have higher levels
of executive function,
3:02
a category of interlinked tasks
3:04
that includes planning, strategizing,
and attention to detail
3:08
and requires simultaneous analysis
of both cognitive and emotional aspects.
3:13
This ability also has an impact
on how our memory systems work.
3:17
And, indeed, musicians exhibit
enhanced memory functions,
3:20
creating, storing, and retrieving memories
more quickly and efficiently.
3:25
Studies have found that musicians
appear to use their highly connected brains
3:29
to give each memory multiple tags,
3:31
such as a conceptual tag, an emotional tag,
an audio tag, and a contextual tag,
3:37
like a good internet search engine.
3:39
So, how do we know that all these benefits
are unique to music,
3:42
as opposed to, say, sports or painting?
3:45
Or could it be
that people who go into music
3:47
were already smarter to begin with?
3:49
Neuroscientists have explored these issues,
but so far, they have found that
3:53
the artistic and aesthetic aspects
of learning to play a musical instrument
3:57
are different from any other activity studied,
including other arts.
4:01
And several randomized studies
of participants,
4:04
who showed the same levels of cognitive function
and neural processing at the start,
4:09
found that those who were exposed
to a period of music learning
4:12
showed enhancement in multiple brain areas,
compared to the others.
4:16
This recent research about
the mental benefits of playing music
4:19
has advanced our understanding
of mental function,
4:22
revealing the inner rhythms and complex interplay
4:25
that make up the amazing orchestra
of our brain.
