How can playing an instrument make you smarter

In one study, non-musicians were assigned to perform a 5-finger exercise on the piano for two hours a day. Within five days, subjects showed evidence of brain re-wiring. The size of the brain area associated with finger movements had become larger and more active. In generalizing the research that has gone into finding out the connection between musical inclination and intelligence, the evidence shows that musicians those born musically gifted and those that recently took up music perform significantly better on tests of:.

Before, only the people who were able to ace their exams were considered intelligent. Howard Gardner, a development psychologist from Harvard University.

Musical intelligence is one of the nine types of intelligence, according to Gardener. This intelligence empowers musicians, conductors, composers and vocalists to reflect, reproduce, create, and recognize music.

People that possess this kind of intelligence are often singing and humming tunes on their own. They are widely aware of the tunes that most people miss out. With that being said, learning an instrument does not only hone your musical intelligence; it improves your mathematical intelligence as well. A study conducted by Norton Sclaugh in found that there was a strong correlation between children that are musically inclined and their spatial and math skills.

Other studies have confirmed this link between musicians and math scores. Perhaps the best example of a great musical virtuoso who excelled in mathematical thinking is Mozart, who all of us know was an excellent pianist. Apart from his expertise in striking keys and chords, he also possessed exceptional logical thinking skills.

His keenness in mathematics is demonstrated in quite a peculiar way: through his penchant for playing billiards. Unlike many players during his time, Mozart actually looked at the spatial relationship of the balls before he went on to strike one.

Those who learn instruments are not just confined with musical and mathematical intelligence; they are verbally and linguistically smart as well. So how do musical virtuosos become expert linguists? Here are the ten reasons you should consider taking up an instrument this year. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music And as it turns out, Einstein was onto something: many studies show a correlation between musical training and academic success, in both children and adults.

Learning to play an instrument stimulates the brain, improving functions like memory and abstract reasoning skills, which are essential for maths and science. Joining a musical group at any age encourages you to develop relationships with new kinds of people. It also builds skills in leadership and team-building, as well as showing you the rewards of working with others.

Music keeps you calm. It has a unique effect on our emotions, and has even been proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure. Playing a musical instrument or developing an appreciation of music has many benefits and can bring joy to you and to everyone around you. Verbal proficiency is the result of the development of the cortical auditory processing in people who study musical instruments when they were young. Learning about tone and scores is essential when playing a musical instrument.

With this knowledge comes the ability to store audio information. Not only does this make it easier to learn other languages and have a better verbal memory in your own language, but it has been noted that musicians are able to pick out exactly what others are feeling just by the tone of their voices.

Musical instrument players have distinctly different brains; science has confirmed this. Multiple studies that used brain scans found that those who are musically inclined display superior brain volume and more grey matter than nonmusicians. In one study conducted by Skoe and Kraus in , people who played musical instruments as children showed stronger brainstem response to sound than non-musicians.

Music students who were tested for verbal memory showed a superior recall for words as compared to non-music students Ho et al. Many studies have been conducted on the effects of music to the brain. Adults can also benefit from learning to play an instrument because it trains the mind to become alert and remain active and also helps to sharpen the memory. Of these students, those who took music courses earned the highest math and the second highest verbal SAT scores College Board, Scores up to 52 points higher on the verbal SAT and 37 points higher on the math section are routinely achieved by college-bound high school seniors with musical training compared to peers without any musical training.

Research has found a link between music and spatial intelligence. Inother words, it has been proven that understanding music can help children when visualizing various elements that should go together, similarly to what they would do when solving a math problem.

Counting beats helps children develop their understanding of whole numbers. Music notation helps them identify shapes and spatial relationships which forms the basis of geometry.