How playing the piano benefits the brain
How playing the piano benefits the brain
People start to play the piano for a myriad of reasons, whether it’s to fulfill a dream of theirs, to play a special piece for someone else, to let their creativity flourish, etc. But we don’t always think about how playing an instrument is not only giving us psychological benefits, it’s also helping our body - more specifically our brain - thrive and stay healthy. Here’s how playing the piano keeps your brain in good shape:
Better Coordination
Teaching your hands how to alternate and work together helps your brain improve on coordination. When you play, the brain has to juggle telling each hand what to play and how to do it. At the same time, you’re also teaching it how to coordinate hands and eyes by reading the sheet music. A skill that can be highly beneficial in life!
Better Listening
To improve your playing, it’s important that you understand what you’re doing wrong. And to understand that, you need to get good at listening to music and spotting any mistakes. This is obviously not instantaneous and takes some trial and error, but it’s a great skill to improve as your listening affects so many instances in your life.
Better Reading
According to a study by the Psychology of Music, learning how to read sheet music doesn’t just help you with playing music, it also improves your language-reading skills. This is especially seen in young children, where the progress made on reading from kids who were also learning how to read music was superior compared to the ones who didn’t. Not only that, but also when it came to learning a foreign language. This is due to how the brain has to translate the notes into hand movements, a similar action to translating one language into another.
Better Emotional Intelligence
Every piece of music opens up a world of emotions - without them, we’d have no melodies to write. As you pay more attention to every note, improve your listening, and become more aware of what the composer was expressing with the piece, you also improve your own emotional intelligence. This means that you’ll be able to notice more easily any changes in the tone of voice of the person you’re talking to and to show more empathy to those around you.
Better Memory
Our brain benefits from staying active and getting challenged, so it’s no wonder that playing an instrument can be so beneficial. In this case, we’re not just talking about memory in the sense of memorizing a piece, but about muscle memory too. The more your hands learn how to follow a piece, the more you’ll be able to relax and feel the satisfaction of being in control of every hand movement.
Overall, playing the piano also keeps the brain happy as this hobby allows you to express yourself and ideally also gives you a moment to relax. Keep on working on your playing and you’ll soon be noticing all of these benefits and even more!
