There is a great deal of benefit we musicians gain from our interest in music.
Whether it’s jazz blues, classical, R&B, listening or playing. It has been noticed and studied since the early part of the 20th century.
It was in the military hospitals during WWI that first began what is now known as Music Therapy for the wounded service members. They asked for the music to be played as it soothed them. Studies show that musicians’ brains are different from others. Music stimulates the left brain, which is the more mathematical, calculating and syntactic hemisphere, and the right, which is the more creative. Musicians build a strong corpus callosum, (I knew it! My corpus callosum can beat up yours!) which acts as a neural bridge between the two hemispheres. They usually don’t talk to each other.
So, when playing your instrument, writing music, both hemispheres are needed. It enhances the brains ability to think, and problem solve. Playing an instrument is exactly like a full brain workout.
More Info about Music and the Brain On This Ted Talk
If interested, this Ted Talk video on how the brain benefits from music. The topics is “From Perception to Pleasure: How Music Changes the Brain” by Dr. Robert Zatorre. TEDxHECMontréal
The YouTube link https://youtu.be/KVX8j5s53Os.
Brain Puzzler:
If we only use 80% of our brain, then what do we do with the other 10%?