Advantages Of Playing An Instrument

The Advantages of Playing an Instrument
The aspects of music and brain development have always gone hand and hand, and a very interesting yet common topic among those who study or partake in music has arisen as a well know truth that learning a musical instrument can better develop certain areas of the brain. Now, already stating that the correlation between music and brain growth as a fact might seem like a risky move but there is more behind this topic than is visible if we step aside to view the many comments and sub statements about music and the brain. First off, the main entries and studies showing the bulk of the information on this topic are centered on children, yet adults are also able to reap the cranial benefits of learning an instrument. …show more content…
According to a TED education lesson by Anita Collins, a Neuroscientist and Music Educator from the University of Melbourne, “Playing an instrument is the brain’s equivalent to a full body workout” (Collins). The activity in the brain sky rockets while not only listening to music but also performing music has shown to “engage the visual, auditory and motor cortices” (Collins) These activities in the brain have been seen activating all at once during the use of an instrument and monitored with F.M.R.I known as Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Positron Emission Tomography machines that display and record neurological signals in real time. Through the use of many regions of the brain, pathways strengthen and specify to better increase the rate and speed at which they can activate because, much like a muscle, the brain also obtains strength through use and music engages many regions at once. Continuing on the fact of better structuring the brain through use, the “Corpus Callosum, the bridge between the left and right hemispheres of the brain” is found to be at its most active during musical cognition as the two halves of the brain relay signals across the Corpus Callosum further decreasing the time needed to send …show more content…
The “Mozart Effect” which is the idle learning and listening of music to engage the brain has been debunked as described by Nina Kraus, the director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University. Simply listening to music is not the best way to engage the brain; listeners or instrument players must also participate in the activity as much as they want their brains to accomplish. The analysis of music is what fires the signals across the many regions of the brain, as mentioned by Collins. Here is a remarkably funny quote by Kraus which showcases her reasoning” I like to give the analogy that you’re not going to become physically fit just by watching sports.” And to this there is much truth as in Kokotsaki’s research study the students who could not commit to the active interpretation and learning of an instrument simply left the study and did not detail any changes when leaving the program. A study conducted by Nina Kraus at her university differentiating the improved neurological functions of students from genuine music class in comparison to students who participated in music appreciation, out of the study the instrumental music class students performed the highest in neural processing capabilities. To further explore the topic Kraus and her team viewed participation when viewed