Learning piano is fun! It’s also challenging and rewarding, a form of expression and at times a source of frustration. But what we gain from learning piano goes far beyond the direct results we notice in the moment: scientific studies have proven there to be significant benefits to our physical and emotional states. These benefits serve to further justify the time, cost and energy we put into playing the piano as intense therapy!
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Simply listening to music increases cortical activity in brain areas related to attention, semantic processing, memory, motor function and emotional processing. (1) Music therapy–the guided listening of and active involvement with music–is used to treat patients suffering from anything ranging from depression and addiction to brain damage and dementia. (2)
But learning to play an instrument has a myriad of benefits in addition to those of simply listening and instrument proficiency itself.
When we learn and play any new instrument our brain’s activity is fired up in all sorts of new ways. Pathways between the two sides of the brain are increased resulting in better dexterity and motor functions; increased executive functions such as planning and strategising; also increased are the musician's memory function and ability to multitask. Musical training is a complex and motivating activity that requires a coordination unique to the other motor skills we use on a day-to-day basis.
Playing any instrument also reduces depression, contributes to a greater sense of well-being, and can be a supplement for ageing brains. In children, music training results in increased focus, anxiety management and emotional control. (3)
Learning the piano specifically has benefits that other instruments do not.
Learning piano benefits the ageing brain - aiding defences against memory loss, cognitive decline, and diminishing speech functions. (4)
Increases IQ in children. (5)
Improves auditory and speech skills, particularly in children. (6)
Even short term piano training in adults induces cortical plasticity (the brain reorganising itself by forming new neural connections). (7) Forming these new neural connections requires task specific and progressively challenging tasks, (8) which is a category piano training certainly falls into. This cortical plasticity has significant implications for healthy development, learning, memory, and recovery from injury and brain damage.
So for the young and old equally, learning to play an instrument, or even better, learning the piano specifically, has a vast array of benefits for the physical, mental and emotional self. Not only is the process exciting and rewarding, but the journey is proven to make you healthier all round.
Certainly, piano learning should not replace healthy eating, exercising or taking your vitamins but I’ll put it this way - your piano training time should not be dismissed as simply a hobby. It is quite literally ‘me-time’, in that every minute spent playing the piano is self-improvement on multiple levels!
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