Science Provides Evidence of Music Study Benefits
There are many studies confirming that music study is indeed very impactful on brain development. Even for adults and maintaining brain health. Brain imaging has shown that musician's brains are structured differently than non musicians in these two principal ways.
1. Increased size of the bridge (Corpus Callosum) between right and left brain hemispheres.
2. The Frontal Lobe has extremely efficient connections compared to non-musicians. There are several studies in support of these conclusions but here's my favorite one.
Training-induced Neuroplasticity in Young Children
My favorite study about music and brain development involves music practice and the correlation with brain growth. It's very simple in concept with lots of clarity. This 2009 scientific study showed dramatic evidence of the correlation between musical training and brain development. It proves a correlation between instrumental music training and brain growth. In the study, researchers wanted to investigate an intriguing observation: that in adult professional musicians, one part of their brain (the corpus callosum) is larger than that of non-musicians. This is the part of the brain that connects the right and left hemispheres and allows for cross-brain communication.
Two fascinating conclusions were made from this study:
"We tested the hypothesis that approximately twenty nine months of instrumental music training would cause a significant increase in the size of particular subareas of the Corpus Callosum known to have fibers that connect motor-related areas of both hemispheres. On the basis of total weekly practice time, a sample of 31 children aged 5-7 was divided into three groups: high-practicing, low-practicing, and controls. No Corpus Callosum size differences were seen at base line, but differences emerged after an average of 29 months of observation in the high-practicing group in the anterior midbody of the Corpus Callosum (which connects premotor and supplementary motor areas of the two hemispheres)."
and
"Our results show that it is intense musical experience/practice, not preexisting differences, that is responsible for the larger anterior Corpus Callosum area found in professional adult musicians."
For this and many more reasons, the piano remains the most popular of all musical instruments.
News Stories Describing Additional Scientific Studies
