Benefits of music for the brain

Nathnael Bekele

Everyone who listens to music has experienced the feel-good effects associated with it. It is fascinating that a formulated combination of sounds can have such a profound effect on the mood of an individual. However, the power of music does not stop there. From improving brain function to helping treat mental illness, music has a much deeper connection to humans than we expect.

Research has shown that professional musicians have higher densities of gray matter in several parts of the brain compared to non-musicians. Grey matter makes up the outermost layer of the brain (Mercadante, 2021). It has a high concentration of neural cells which makes it an area for high brain activity.

“The grey matter has a large number of neurons present, which allows it to process information and release new information through axon signaling found in the white matter.[6] The grey matter throughout the central nervous system allows enables individuals to control movement, memory, and emotions” (Mercadante)

When MRI scans of the brains of 20 professional musicians, 20 amateur musicians, and 40 non-musicians were compared, it showed that several regions of the brain correlating to the motor, auditory, and visual processing contained more gray matter among professional musicians, intermediate amounts in amateur musicians, and least amounts in non-musicians (Gaser et al, 2003).

This association is hypothesized to be present because of repeated music practice. Music practice activates the same parts of the brain several times which leads to increased gray matter concentration in the area. Music playing is a multidimensional practice. At the highest levels, it includes excellent sight-reading (reading new sheet music and playing it for the first time without practice), improvisation (creating music on the spot whilst it is still appropriate to what others are playing), memorization of pieces, and pitch recognition. Repeated year-long practices around these skills help strengthen neural paths in the brain which is demonstrated by larger densities of gray matter.

What is fascinating about this is that improved neural pathways can benefit musicians in unrelated areas. For example, this increased gray matter can help with mental health. Decreased gray matter has been linked with a higher risk of developing mental illnesses (Lalousis et al). Gray matter reduction has been observed in people with depression and psychosis (Lalousis et al). Hence, music can play an important role in both preventing mental illnesses and in therapy as well. There are promising findings that suggest music therapy is an effective tool for treating depression although more research is needed to say so definitively (Maratos et al, 2008). Other findings show that music therapy has helped “global and social functioning in schizophrenia” (Kamioka, 2014).

When people get older, they lose gray matter (Ramanoël et al, 2018). This leads to loss of cognitive ability and memory, decreased processing speed, and inability to pay attention (Ramanoel et al). Given the evidence that musicianship increases gray matter, it is possible that older musicians who continue to play music enough to continue to have the skills will have less severe atrophy gray matter compared to older non-musicians. Hence, they might be able to keep a higher brain functionality than expected. This was demonstrated in research by Vanessa Sluming and others in 2002 where even though the significant loss of gray matter was observed in older subjects, it was not present among older subjects who were musicians.

The benefits of playing music are not minuscule and should not be underestimated. Given the neural plasticity of children, learning to play music at an early age could greatly benefit their future in academics and generally improve their brain functionality. It has been shown that IQ increased more among children who took music lessons compared to those who took drama lessons or none at all (Schellenberg). Hence, parents should strongly consider getting their children involved in music as the benefits are life-long.

Sources

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

Jäncke, Lutz. “Music Drives Brain Plasticity.” F1000 Biology Reports, Biology Reports Ltd, 14 Oct. 2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2948283/#bib-014.

Kamioka, Hiroharu, et al. “Effectiveness of Music Therapy: A Summary of Systematic Reviews Based on Randomized Controlled Trials of Music Interventions.” Patient Preference and Adherence, Dove Medical Press, 16 May 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4036702/.

Lalousis, Paris Alexandros et al. “Neurobiologically Based Stratification of Recent-Onset Depression and Psychosis: Identification of Two Distinct Transdiagnostic Phenotypes.” Biological Psychiatry Journal, 11 Apr. 2022, www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(22)01156-8/fulltext.

Maratos, A S et al. “Music therapy for depression.” The Cochrane database of systematic reviews ,1 CD004517. 23 Jan. 2008, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004517.pub2

Mercadante, Anthony A, and Prasanna Tadi. “Neuroanatomy, Gray Matter - Statpearls - NCBI Bookshelf.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, 31 July 2021, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553239/.

Ramanoël, Stephen, et al. “Gray Matter Volume and Cognitive Performance during Normal Aging. A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 3 Aug. 2018, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00235/full.

Schellenberg, Glenn. “Music Lessons Enhance IQ.” Psychological Science, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15270994/.

Sluming, Vanessa, et al. “Voxel-Based Morphometry Reveals Increased Gray Matter Density in Broca's Area in Male Symphony Orchestra Musicians.” NeuroImage, Academic Press, 28 Oct. 2002, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811902912887?via%3Dihub.