The Link Between Academic Achievement and Playing an Instrument

Many years ago, when I was in school, the Honor Roll and the High Honor Roll used to be posted outside the main office. Back then, grades were public information, as were NYSSMA scores. As soon as the Honor Rolls were published and posted, our orchestra teacher would dash down the hall with her highlighter and mark all the string players. She would tell the teachers, the parents, the administrators and the students, that the proof was in the pudding, playing an instrument made you smarter. Nearly all of her students were on the list. Was she right, or was it that the more intelligent students tended to play an instrument? We may now know the answer.

How Playing an Instrument Activates Your Brain

Today, scientists have the technology to study what happens when you’re performing different activities. They know that listening to music engages your brain very differently than playing an instrument. When you’re playing, you’re using fine motor skills, you’re reading notes, you’re processing what you see and you’re turning it into sound. It’s a full brain workout. Most people will agree that exercising your body helps keep you strong, prevent injury and that the benefits of exercise carry over into other aspects of their lives. The same is true with your brain. It is widely known that there are benefits to doing crosswords and other puzzles, especially as we age, to keep our brains on their toes. Practice your instrument or learn to play a new one and reap the rewards of gaining brain power.

The Cognitive Benefits of Playing an Instrument

When you play, you increase your brain activity, improve your memory and enhance your executive function. Science has found that musicians are good problem solvers and often perform very well in problem solving subjects, such as math. The beneficial effects on the brain from playing an instrument are different than other activities, including other arts and sports.

Why Learning an Instrument May Boost Your IQ

It seems that my orchestra teacher was a woman well ahead of her time. She knew that young musicians increased the bridge between their left and right brains, they grew larger corpus callosa! Learning to play an instrument at any age is fun, rewarding and will even make you smarter, perhaps increasing your IQ by up to seven points.