We’ve all been forced into playing a musical instrument at least once in our life – and have probably hated it. But it was all for good reason. Playing musical instruments can actually be beneficial to your mind.
Improves your memory.
Practicing a musical instrument actually improves your memory. All of the cortex-es of your mind involved in playing the songs (ie. the components required for fine motor skills) improve, grow and help improve your overall motor skills in general.
You learn perseverance.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.” As the saying goes, learning a new piece of music can be a little bit of a struggle. But as you persevere and push through the hardships, eventually you’ll master the piece and be rewarded with being able to play beautiful music. That perseverance can translate from outside of music over to other places such as when you’re working or in everyday activities. Giving up will no longer be an option for you.
Improves your coordination.
There’s a lot of hand-eye coordination involved with playing a musical instrument. And not just that, but a lot of controlled micro-movements as well. Learning to play a musical instrument will help you hone the finer coordinated movements in your life so that you won’t be that awkward dancer in the future.
Boosts your reading and comprehension.
You’re forced to sight-read music the first time that you play it (sort of like reading a book for the first time). So with that struggle comes a new found capability of being able to read through music quickly.
Improves your audio skills.
When playing music, you become attuned to hearing the mistakes in what you’re playing. That skill transfers over to when listening to music (be it instrumental or lyrical or pop), soon you’ll notice when songs get louder or softer or even when they slow down or pick up.