Listening to music brings people joy, happiness, and can help make people feel calm, even when they are feeling stressed or anxious. Music induces certain moods in people and can change the way you feel almost instantly.
But actually playing a musical instrument has even more of an effect on people’s health. Not only does it give people a skill to focus on and continuously improve, but it positively changes their brain chemistry.
In this blog, we’ll discuss 10 of the most incredible health benefits of playing an instrument that will motivate you to start learning.
Keep on reading to learn more!
10 Benefits of Playing an Instrument
If you play a musical instrument, you should know all about these ten amazing health benefits of playing a musical instrument. If you don’t already own an instrument, learn more here about renting one, or you can visit Musical Instru to read reviews for buying a musical instrument like guitar, piano, violin etc. so you can start learning to play.
1. Balances Your Mood
Stress is caused by an increase in the hormone cortisol which increases heart rate, makes you breathe more rapidly, and increases blood pressure.
Playing a musical instrument actually regulates the release of the hormone cortisol, so you don’t become too stressed.
If you know how to play an instrument and start feeling stressed, just whip out your guitar or trumpet or any instrument, and start playing to reduce or even eliminate the stress.
2. Sharpens Your Memory
Research shows that listening to music and playing an instrument can benefit your brain by stimulating the nerves and measurably improving your memory.
This makes sense because when you learn music, you need to remember chords and how to read music. You’ll need to do this on a regular basis which is great for exercising your mental muscles.
3. Enhances Coordination
No matter which instrument you play, you’ll need great hand-eye coordination to play. You may have poor coordination at first and need to play the instrument slowly before you start to show signs of improving your coordination.
After practicing your instrument enough to improve hand-eye coordination while playing, you’ll find that these improved skills will carry over into other daily tasks as well.
4. Improves Your Reading Skills
One of the most important aspects of learning to play an instrument is being able to read music. You are basically learning to read and write a new language, and this will actually improve your reading and writing skills outside of music.
Being able to read and write music exercises your brain in a way that makes it easier for you to comprehend reading English or any other language you’re already fluent in.
5. Makes You More Organized
Learning any new skill, especially learning to play a new instrument, requires you to manage your time and stay more organized.
If you are in school or have a full-time job, you’ll need to make time every day to practice learning to play your instrument. If you don’t manage your time and stay organized, you’ll find you won’t have enough time to learn a new skill.
Instead of wasting time on the internet or social media, you’ll find putting aside an hour each day to spend learning a new skill will really show you the importance of time management.
6. Increases Focus and Concentration
Learning something new requires a certain dedication and focus that can only be otherwise achieved by practicing meditation every day.
Learning to play music forces you to stay focused on multiple things at once such as rhythm, pitch, note duration, quality of sound, and tempo.
Needing to focus on all of these things while reading music requires an impressive amount of concentration and focus, which will carry over into other aspects of your life such as school and work tasks.
7. Makes You Goal-Oriented
Deciding to learn to play an instrument is only the first step, but actually making to moves and motivating yourself to practice every day requires dedication towards a specific goal.
Having a goal is essential in life because it gives you something to work towards. You can start out with simple goals, such as learning to play a difficult chord and work towards bigger goals like playing full songs and even writing your own music.
Having a goal like learning to play an instrument, and following through with the challenge, will give you the satisfaction that will motivate you in your other life goals.
8. Teaches You Discipline
Taking on a new skill, especially one that is extremely difficult and time-consuming, requires a high amount of discipline from you.
You don’t have to learn to play the instrument, which means the only thing motivated is your own dedication and discipline.
Being able to prove to yourself that you can stay disciplined and focused on something that you want will carry over and benefit other aspects of your life.
9. Brings You Happiness
There’s nothing like being able to pick up your favorite instrument and be able to effortlessly play music that brings you and other people immense joy.
No matter how bad of a mood you’re in, picking up an instrument and playing it will bring you happiness and lift your mood.
It’s scientifically proven that listening to music improves your overall mood, but being able to play the music yourself will make you feel even more joy.
10. Improves Respiratory System
The benefits of playing music on your respiratory system are dependent on which instrument you play. If you play guitar or piano, it probably won’t improve your respiratory system unless you are excessively holding your breath while playing for whatever reason.
But playing instruments like the flute, bagpipes, trumpet, or saxophone require lung strength. You’ll need to hold your breath and blow for long periods of time which can greatly strengthen your respiratory system over time.
For More Information
In addition to simply being able to play a cool instrument on your own, learning to play music comes with a ton of incredible benefits.
The benefits of playing an instrument can become apparent almost immediately after starting to learn and will continue to have a positive impact on your health.
For more health and wellness tips, check out our health blog for more information.
