A common concern as we age is how to keep our mind clear and sharp. Many things contribute to brain health – a healthy diet, the right supplements, positive thinking – but playing piano, in particular, exercises our brain in a unique way.
Brain scans show that playing piano engages practically every area of the brain at once. As one TED Talk explained, “playing music is the brain’s equivalent of a full-body workout.”
Learning piano isn’t just for children, it is great for adults too. It really is never too late to learn. One of my best students was a lady who started lessons in her mid-70s. It had been her lifelong dream to learn piano. She approached lessons with passion and discipline, setting a daily routine practice every morning and making impressive progress by the end of her first year. She told me that there were other surprise benefits she hadn’t anticipated, such as improved memory, focus and confidence that came from learning piano.
Indeed learning piano isn’t just great for brain health but also includes intellectual, emotional, physical, social, and personal benefits too. There are a number of studies to support this.
In 1993, the Educational Psychology Journal shared that playing the piano improves reading comprehension. If you want to better understand and retain what you read (and also read faster) then playing piano could help!
Another study cited by Sage Journals concluded that playing piano can strengthen neural networks and myelination (nerve cell insulation) in the brain. These increased nerve cell layers help signals travel faster through your brain, therefore helping you compute and think faster.
Piano playing also strengthens the ability to concentrate. The same skills used to multi-task while playing piano (hand-eye coordination, sight-reading, keeping rhythm and tempo, and aligning melody and harmony) help strengthen the brain’s overall ability to focus in other everyday tasks, as well as critical thinking demands.
A University of California, Irvine, study showed that students who received piano lessons scored 34% higher on tests and performed better in areas such as math, science, reading and engineering.
Another study by the University of Texas concluded that college-age students who practiced music were emotionally healthier and had better concentration than those who did not play an instrument.
In 2013, the National Library of Medicine published an article stating that playing piano reduces stress and depression, particularly in adults.
There are so many more studies and reasons supporting why playing piano is good for you, but hopefully these starters motivate you to begin learning piano now and start receiving the benefits.
With some piano lessons, you can play uplifting, beautiful melodies like this!