The Hidden Benefits of Being A Musician Essay Example

Being a musician is extremely beneficial. Playing at concerts is rewarding because all your work and dedication pays off. Practicing your instrument and rehearsing is a key part of being a musician. If you do not practice, it is impossible to improve. Playing music with others is enjoyable, but regular practice will cause it to be more pleasant. Practicing an instrument and being able to play an instrument can change the way your brain works, and improve test scores along with your memory.

In order to grow as a musician and improve my skills, I decided to practice my electric guitar for 15 minutes a day for 10 days. I played a variety of different songs throughout the challenge. Some were mostly chords, some were fingerpicking, as well as riffs from popular songs. Before this challenge I knew how to play acoustic guitar, yet had never played electric guitar.  As well as it being an electric guitar, it was also seven-stringed, which differs from a six-stringed guitar. Throughout this challenge, I tried to learn as many songs as I could, but some took multiple days to learn. I did not struggle with this challenge, as I already enjoy playing music. My main instrument is the flute, so it is nice to be away from it a little bit. I have been playing guitar since about 6th or 7th grade. 

There are benefits shown to being a musician, especially as a child. According to the article Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning by Marie Forgeard, Ellen Winner, Andrea Norton, and Gottfried Schlaug, “Children who received at least three years (M = 4.6 years) of instrumental music training outperformed their control counterparts on two outcomes closely related to music (auditory discrimination abilities and fine motor skills) and on two outcomes distantly related to music (vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning skills).” During the challenge, I felt like my mind was clearer. Furthermore, if I had a test the next day I felt more confident about it. Starting music at a young age can help children score better on tests compared to non musician children. As well as getting higher scores on tests, “musically trained adult women [25] and musically trained children [26] outperformed those without music training on a verbal memory test ” (Forgeard, Winner, Norton, Schlaug). Overall, musicians, especially those who learned when they were children, have better test scores. In general, they also have a better memory. My last math test before this challenge was on October 19th, and I scored an 88. Our last test was during this challenge on October 27th. I received  a 91 on this test. My scores have improved with help to playing more music.

As well as improved test scores and memory, your brain can have a proper workout just by playing an instrument. During my challenge, I felt more productive after playing, along with feeling more awake. According to the TED Talk “How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain” by Anita Collins, “playing music is the brain's equivalent of a full-body workout. The neuroscientists saw multiple areas of the brain light up, simultaneously processing different information in intricate, interrelated, and astonishingly fast sequences.” Music lights up various different sections of your brain, as you are having to read the notes and correlate them to fingerings on the fretboard. If there are chords, your brain has to correspond the chord to the fingerings for it. I was able to complete more homework after playing my guitar, and I completed it faster. I could do more schoolwork in a single sitting, which helped with dividing my time into other hobbies. I was able to have less homework to complete at work, meaning I was able to relax a bit more there. While working, I could do more tasks that needed tending to, but were not necessary to do right then. 

Another benefit of music is that, “musicians often have higher levels of executive function, a category of interlinked tasks that includes planning, strategizing, and attention to detail and requires simultaneous analysis of both cognitive and emotional aspects” (Collins). Music can help people be more organized and plan better. This is due to the fact music uses your brain along with your emotions. I found music helped me pay attention in class and to do my homework better. Overall, this challenge has made me feel much more productive. This challenge helped motivate me to use my planner again, keeping assignments and due dates on paper rather than in my brain.

As well as improved test scores and clarity, music can even change your brain structure. Being a musician causes enhanced responses to listening to music, especially when it is your own instrument. According to the paper Do Musicians Have Different Brains? By Lauren Stewart, “When violinists hear violin tones, they show an enhanced response relative to when they hear trumpet tones, while the reverse is true for trumpeters” (Stewart 3). Although this is difficult to directly connect to the willpower challenge, I have found myself more interested in listening to flute solos or pieces rather than a clarinet piece or trumpet piece. This also occurs when I listen to guitar solos in songs, just not as intensely. I found while listening to flute solos, I focus on their tone quality and how they accent some of the notes, trying to take it into account while I play.

 Being a musician also increases the amount of gray matter in your brain. The article Neuroanatomy, Gray Matter by Anthony A. Mercadante and Prasanna Tadi states “gray matter throughout the central nervous system enables individuals to control movement, memory, and emotions”. Having more gray matter in your brain is beneficial, as it allows you to control your movement, as well as your emotions. Although I am not able to have a CT scan on my brain to investigate if the gray matter in my brain has increased, I would assume it has. As supported by the article Brain Structures Differ between Musicians and Non-Musicians by Christian Gaser and Gottfried Schlaug, “the gray matter volume is highest in professional musicians, intermediate in amateur musicians, and lowest in non-musicians”. I would not consider myself a  professional musician, but I would consider myself an amateur musician. I would also hypothesize the gray matter in my brain increased slightly due to this challenge. I do not practice at home regularly, although I practice at school frequently. 

Overall, I would say the willpower challenge went well. I enjoyed playing my guitar more, and it came with plentiful benefits. I felt more productive, as well as increased test scores. I started using my planner more to write down assignments as well as tests. My brain structure may have even slightly changed and improved. I had no difficulty with completing the challenge, as I knew it was something I wanted to do. I would try this challenge again, but I would want to learn a new instrument. Throughout this challenge, I learned musicians have different structured brains compared to non-musicians, and playing music is a full body workout, with several benefits.

Works Cited

Collins, Anita. “Transcript of ‘How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain.’” TED,  https://www.ted.com/talks/anita_collins_how_playing_an_instrument_benefits_your_brain/transcript#t-1413.

Forgeard, Marie, et al. “Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood Is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003566.

Gaser, Christian, and Gottfried Schlaug. “Brain Structures Differ between Musicians and Non-Musicians.” Journal of Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience, 8 Oct. 2003, https://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/27/9240.

Mercadante, Anthony A. “Neuroanatomy, Gray Matter.” StatPearls [Internet]., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 31 July 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553239/. 

Stewart, Lauren. Do Musicians Have Different Brains?, University of London, June 2008,  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4953838/pdf/304.pdf.