The Benefits of Playing a Musical Instrument
I found an excellent video about the effect playing a musical instrument has on the human brain. In short: it is good. In more detail: it is quite amazing. According to the narrator, when a musician starts playing an instrument, a real fireworks display unfolds in the brain, even though from the outside all we may see is a musician concentrating.
Over the past few decades researchers have made enormous progress by using various acronym-named instruments to examine brain activity. They studied signals coming from the brain while people were reading or solving mathematical problems and observed which parts of the brain became active. When the person being examined listened to music, there was already a fireworks display: many areas of the brain showed activity as brain cells processed the incoming stimuli - melody and rhythm - and combined them into a unified musical experience. When researchers examined someone actually playing music, however, they found that it was such a serious workout for the brain that it was comparable to a full-body workout. So when someone plays an instrument, virtually every area of the brain gets exercised, especially the regions responsible for vision, hearing and motor movement. The benefits of playing an instrument as a form of brain training can then be put to use in every area of life. Unlike simply listening to music, playing an instrument also activates the brain areas responsible for language and mathematics. These are located in different hemispheres, so the area responsible for communication between the two hemispheres is constantly stimulated as well. Musicians develop a stronger memory, and their memory is easier to train; this can be seen both in storing memories and recalling them efficiently. The video goes into this in a little more detail and then explains that, compared with any other activity - even other artistic activities - there is nothing quite like learning to play an instrument.
Alongside the effect on the musician's brain, I would also highlight how important and rewarding it is to entertain an audience and involve other people in making music. The video does not discuss playing music together, although I am sure the effects described above are multiplied when we do: a musician is not only generating all these stimuli and processes in his or her own brain, but we also have to pay attention to one another when we strum together.
I am completely biased, of course, but I believe everything said in the video, and I hope that many people have been, or will be, inspired to learn to play some kind of musical instrument, and I hope that many of them will find a ukulele under their Christmas tree.
Happy holidays to everyone, and I wish you a New Year filled with making and listening to music!
