How Playing Music is Good for Your Brain

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-playing-an-instrument-benefits-your-brain-anita-collins

This is a TED short. It addresses the issue of how playing music affects your brain. This interests me as I am getting older now and worry that my brain function might diminish over the next few years.

Thanks for posting this; I've been reading and thinking about this sort of thing a lot lately as I face a certain upcoming milestone birthday

The topic is also addressed in the book Guitar Zero, which I highly recommend to anyone who has chosen to take up an instrument in adulthood.

I think Ive seen this mentioned recently.

Why not just do this?

This thread is very, very interesting. I teach music in college. We educate primary school teachers. In a school system where the arts are under constant attack by people and politicians who do not see such activities as 'useful' in the same way as, say, maths, the music teachers-to-be need these sorts of arguments to defend the importance of their chosen subject. Music is also a crucial element in the development of each and every one's personal and social identity. A lot of research has been, and is being, done on such matters. It is indeed important.

I started playing in the school band on clarinet in 3d grade at 8 years old - that was 55 years ago. I stayed in the school band through high school and played guitar through college and beyond. In adulthood I took up saxophone and flute as well as clarinet and now uke. My elementary school music teacher - Mr. Schuller was a wonderful man and teacher who really knew how to relate to and inspire young children. My middle school band teacher Mr. Joseph was more demanding and a little gruffer, but very kind and an inspiring musician. My high school band teacher, Mr. Treu had a wonderful gift for keeping young people involved.

I look back on our school music program, which was more than just band - I also sang in the chorus, and we also had a lot of music in our elementary school classes. And I think that it was one of the most important parts of my education. I so profoundly saddened by the defunding of so many music programs. I honestly believe that the music program at my school had as much to do with my success in life as the academic subjects. Now that i'm in my sixties I'm hoping that continuing to play music will help me keep my mind sharp as I age.

VegasGeorge said:

One aspect that wasn’t mentioned is the therapeutic aspect of playing an instrument. I always feel better after playing, and my troubles really do disappear while I’m playing, and seem less problematic afterwards. It works a lot better than drinking, and with no hangover.

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I've noticed this too, and as both a musician and a meditator, I often come away from a good session of playing with the same sort of clear-headedness that I get after a meditation period. I know that it's a result of my brain firing in a completely different way than, say, being stuck in traffic or at work in a tedious meeting or the like - and that can only be a good thing!

drbekken said:

This thread is very, very interesting. I teach music in college. We educate primary school teachers. In a school system where the arts are under constant attack by people and politicians who do not see such activities as 'useful' in the same way as, say, maths, the music teachers-to-be need these sorts of arguments to defend the importance of their chosen subject. Music is also a crucial element in the development of each and every one's personal and social identity. A lot of research has been, and is being, done on such matters. It is indeed important.

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I'll trade all these technology courses with music ones any day. All that technology stuff is a lot of playing with tools. Much better to learn the fundamentals, which includes musical skills.

For a musician his instruments are his tools. do not underate the value of generalized knowledge.

VegasGeorge said:

I’m not surprised by this. It is interesting to see (literally) it put together so concisely. One aspect that wasn’t mentioned is the therapeutic aspect of playing an instrument. I always feel better after playing, and my troubles really do disappear while I’m playing, and seem less problematic afterwards. It works a lot better than drinking, and with no hangover.

Click to expand...

janeray1940 said:

I've noticed this too, and as both a musician and a meditator, I often come away from a good session of playing with the same sort of clear-headedness that I get after a meditation period. I know that it's a result of my brain firing in a completely different way than, say, being stuck in traffic or at work in a tedious meeting or the like - and that can only be a good thing!

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I take the video featured as literal truth. Janeray and VGeorge have more telling arguments though. Compared to the theraputic value and the wa one gets playing Uke a sharper brain is insignificant.

If it's fireworks in "generic" musician brain, what does happen in improvising jazz musician brain?

bnolsen said:

I'll trade all these technology courses with music ones any day. All that technology stuff is a lot of playing with tools. Much better to learn the fundamentals, which includes musical skills.

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I've never taken a single college course in computers, computer science or engineering (I did take statistics, calculus and symbolic logic though). My computer skills and knowledge are almost entirely self-taught although I've been able to obtain a number of computer certifications. I make my living as an expert on computers advising attorneys and the courts with my self-taught knowledge. I consider the study of music and history which are passions of mine to have made it easy for me to learn about computers on my own. The big problem I see with the emphasis on STEM subjects is that life is a constant learning process, and specific knowledge always changes. I graduated from College in 1972. There isn't much I could have learned in computer science that would have been of much use to me today. My college was teaching programming with punch cards on a main frame. The most important skills you can learn are the skills of learning how to learn and how to do research. There are a lot of roads that will get you there.

katysax said:

I've never taken a single college course in computers, computer science or engineering (I did take statistics, calculus and symbolic logic though). My computer skills and knowledge are almost entirely self-taught although I've been able to obtain a number of computer certifications. I make my living as an expert on computers advising attorneys and the courts with my self-taught knowledge. I consider the study of music and history which are passions of mine to have made it easy for me to learn about computers on my own. The big problem I see with the emphasis on STEM subjects is that life is a constant learning process, and specific knowledge always changes. I graduated from College in 1972. There isn't much I could have learned in computer science that would have been of much use to me today. My college was teaching programming with punch cards on a main frame. The most important skills you can learn are the skills of learning how to learn and how to do research. There are a lot of roads that will get you there.

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Oh Katysax this is so true.

I started college in 1972 and was taught the IBM 360 M/F. How I hated punch cards. The original programming Language for IBM was PLC Conway. IBM is 30 miles from Cornell. Where I matriculated and Conway taught. C++ is the descendant of PLC and I understand how to program in that language, even though I never used it.

The character limit on a tweet is the length it is because it correlates to the maximum number of inputs you could type on an IBM 360 punch card. It doesn't have to be but that was the tradition when Twitter was designed and bosses get really upset when you reinvent the wheel. Facebook doesn't accept a (.) as a valid symbol in an Email address for the same reason. Harvard is good at many things but Cornell developed modern programming languages as we know them.

The most important skills you can learn are the skills of learning how to learn and how to do research. There are a lot of roads that will get you there.

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I am a generalist too. I'll bet you find use for this info someday Katysax.