Time to Play

Up goes my instrument, held firmly, yet relaxed, by my left hand. My chin feels cold against the smooth chin rest. My right hand holds my bow while my left gets ready to recreate several finger movements. My eyes, they see black on white; a foreign language of notes and patterns. I must be precise as I play, making sure that my fingers don't skip a note, that my eyes don't wander away, that my left arm uses as much pressure as it needs to create quiet or loud dynamics. I must remain concentrated as I read and count and as my hands do completely contrasting things. Playing an instrument isn't as easy as it seems.

Recently, during class, I realized the many parts that go into playing an instrument, whether it be finger patterns, bow strength, or counting beats. It's interesting to me that I learned to play the violin but I never thought about all the steps that go with it.

With my realization came the question, "Does playing an instrument improve brain function?" (Observation Notes 10/24). I thought of this question because when playing an instrument, one does many things at once. Since the brain is responsible for making everything work, maybe the brain is being used more than usual. It was questions like these that led me to research the relationship between playing an instrument and the brain.

In my research, I came across the video, How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain. Watching it I learned that playing an instrument makes your brain work much more than simply listening to music. While listening to music lights up a few parts of the brain, playing music lights up multiple parts of the brain, working together and sending "intricate" messages. In other words, the whole brain is being used at the same time. Not only does the brain get a "full workout," but playing an instrument "increases the volume and activity in the corpus callosum." The brain is then more fit to solve problems, be more organized, and analyze more effectively. Here's a link to the video for extra information: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-playing-an-instrument-benefits-your-brain-anita-collins (How Playing an Instrument...).

According to another source, "Playing a Musical Instrument Makes You Brainier," I discovered that playing an instrument could even facilitate the process of learning an other language. This is because when playing music, our brain is able to memorize more things and interpret as well. Something else I found to be interesting was that musicians are more perceptible to emotions. They can tell how someone's feeling based on the person's tone and pitch of voice. This is probably why "feeling" the music is a big part of playing music. Usually people can judge whether a song is sad or happy and I guess it's the same for people (Alleyne).  

Learning now, that being a musician does, in fact, improve brain function, I can't help but wonder, by how much?  What would have been of my brain if I hadn't been introduced to the violin? Would I still be as "smart?" Maybe the stereotype that orchestra students are good students is true.

Works Cited

Alleyne, Richard. "Playing a Musical Instrument Makes You Brainier." The 
        Telegraph. N.p. 27 Oct. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.

How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain. By Anita Collins. Dir. Sharon 
        Colman Graham. TED Ed Lessons Worth Sharing. Web. 25 Oct. 2014.