Will learning to play the piano make you more intelligent?  Could the brain grow larger than normal by learning to play a musical instrument such as a keyboard or piano?  Questions such as these have been arising everywhere over the past few years and not only in science journals either.  The interest of the general public in these studies involving music and the development of the brain has led to the publishing of many articles, to the delight of music-lovers everywhere.  But all the information gathered, the reliable and the questionable, has left many still confused about how much importance should be put on use of musical training for brain development.

If your feeling confused about what you have learned, certain valid points considered may help clear your thinking.  It seems that the most benefit is derived from early musical training when it comes to strengthening the connectors in the brain and creating new pathways. Research demonstrates the definite influence that music training has on the long-term development of specific parts of the brain.  The research findings of Gottfried Schlaug, Herman Steinmetz and their associates were published in Discover magazine in 1994. They did a comparison of 27 classically trained right handed musicians with 27 right handed non-musicians using a technique called MRI, abbreviated for magnetic resonance images.
 
Their findings revealed that the planum temporale (the brain’s auditory processor) was larger in the left hemisphere and smaller in the right in comparison with the group of non-musicians. Musicians who started training before the age of seven had even more outstanding differences.  The differences were especially notable among musicians who started early training, specifically before the age of seven.  Shlaug claims that the study of music also promotes enlargement of the corpus callosum, a bridge of sorts between the brain’s two hemispheres. He discovered that among musicians who began their musical education before seven years of age, their corpus callosum was thicker by 10-15% compared to non-musicians.  It was suspected that a larger corpus callosum improves motor control by making a faster connection between the hemispheres of the brain.

Later research published in a 2002 issue of Science magazine showed the results of a study conducted by Dartmouth music psychologist Peter Janata which confirmed that music is one of the best stimulants for improved connectivity between the right and left hemispheres of the brain and between areas responsible for emotion and memory.  A team of scientists led by Janata reports that with musicians, they have found certain areas of the brain to be 5% larger, and specifically the auditory cortex in expert musicians, up to 15% larger than people with little or no musical background. In addition, those who started studying music early in childhood have increased development of up to 15% in the brain area called the corpus callosum, which is a four-inch bundle of nerve fibers connecting the left and right side of the brain.
 
There is growing evidence that detailed and even skilled motor functions are enhanced, besides the growing evidence from research studies that some brain region connectivity, as well as some types of reasoning functionality is improved by music training. The corpus callosum in musicians is evidently essential to the performance of such tasks as the coordination of fingers. As any muscle must grow to accommodate the tasks at hand, this portion of the brain also grows to make one more proficient at these necessary musical skills.

In a study conducted by Dr. Timo Krings and reported on in Neuroscience Letters 2000, non-musicians and pianists of the same age and gender were asked to complete a series of intricate finger movements.  In this study, pianists and non-musicians of the same age and gender were asked to perform sequences of complex finger movements.  Correct movements were noted by both groups, but less activity was seen in the brains of the pianists. The conclusion drawn by the researchers was that the pianists’ brains make skilled moves with less effort.  There are a staggering number of ways that the human brain and its development are affected thanks to the study of music.  With all this research at your fingertips, how do you decide what type of musical studies will benefit yourself or your children?

An article by N.M. Weinberger published in Musica Research Notes in 2002 made an interesting point about how the Mozart Effect , although not living up to it’s musical hype, has raised the public eye to the research being conducted in the field of music. Listening to just a few minutes of Mozart invites a whole new world of musical possibilities to the listener. The academic evidence discovered for using music study as a tool to aid brain development is compelling, even with the hype regarding the Mozart Effect.  Dr. Frank Wilson from the University of California’s School of Medicine in San Francisco says his research reveals improvement in coordination, concentration, memory, eyesight and hearing when a person engages in practicing the art of music.

According to Frank Wilson’s research, learning to play an instrument brings about these benefits: better coordination, improved concentration, memory, eyesight and hearing. According to Wilson, all other activity pales in comparison to musical training which refines the entire neurological system by improving connections and motor skills in the brain. Dr. Wilson says that he believes musical instruction is vital for total brain development.

The conclusion we draw from what we’ve learned is that studying music can be an important tool to enhance various important functions of the brain. No guarantees, of course, but if you love music, why not do what you love?  Therefore, if you are a lover of music, dust off that old piano you have always wanted to play and get started today - you have much to gain in satisfaction and pleasure. And who knows? If it increases the capability of your brain, what a bonus!