Play Music - It's Good For Your Brain

How Playing Music Benefits Your Brain More than Any Other Activity | Brain Pickings

Playing music is the brain’s equivalent of a full-body workout… Playing an instrument engages practically every area of the brain at once — especially the visual, auditory, and motor cortices. And, as in any other workout, disciplined, structured practice in playing music strengthens those brain functions, allowing us to apply that strength to other activities… Playing music has been found to increase the volume and activity in the brain’s corpus callosum — the bridge between the two hemispheres — allowing messages to get across the brain faster and through more diverse routes. This may allow musicians to solve problems more effectively and creatively, in both academic and social settings.

Click to expand...

So, what are you waiting for????

"Play music" as in actually play an instrument.

It's not about just listening to music, it's actually creating it.

Dragonfly said:

"Play music" as in actually play an instrument.

It's not about just listening to music, it's actually creating it.

Click to expand...

True, but having a lot of experience creating it allows the listener to go through most of the same mental activity one does creating it when listening to it. I think it's a matter of a greater appreciation of exactly what is entailed in the effort. Just my opinion, of course.

I was playing music at a young age. I literally prayed daily for a piano, because I wanted to play. We got one when I was around 10 years old, and the pastor's wife, where we went to church, taught me to play. I LOVE music. In Jr high school, I played clarinet. In high school, I played oboe and also in the percussion section, where I played the instruments which required reading music. I have a guitar, but never could play it well, but it's still in top of the closet. I don't have a piano anymore, but I listen to good music all the time, and I do mean ALL the time. Music is something which heals my soul, and keeps me in touch with the finer parts of myself and the world.