Playing an instrument is a great way to learn about problem solving, abstract reasoning, visualization, and spatial relationships. Scientists have proven that musicians actually have significant growth in the primary motor cortex, the cerebellum and corpus callosum. Pre-schoolers given keyboard instruction showed an almost 50% increase in their spatial temporal reasoning skills.
Kids that take music lessons find it easier learn fractions because they understand time signatures. A study shows secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (Texas Commision on Drug and Alcohol Abuse). Students changing schools frequently, find music lessons are a source of stability.
Pitch perception is a communication skill, just like learning a language, your abilities peak out around the age 9 or 10. Even people with perfect pitch lose it by the age of 10 if they don’t use the letter names of notes(A,B,C or Do, Re, Mi). One study showed only 7% of American music students had perfect pitch, compared to over 30% of Asian music students surveyed.
Playing an instrument also has incredible stress reduction benefits. There is practically no activity in the frontal cortex of a musician playing a piece from memory! It’s almost like meditating. Pieces of music that are slower than the human heartbeat (approx 78 BPM) will actually cause your heart-rate to drop. In short, almost nothing effects as many parts of the brain, as music. Einstein said “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I get most joy in life out of music”
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