A Musician’s Mind and the Alternate Uses of Music: Listening to music affects brain structure and cr

Music is a universal language that anyone can enjoy. It can be soothing, motivating, and healing all at once.

After taking music lessons for 8 years and listening to a variety of genres, I have developed an appreciation for the dedication and creativity behind making music. A musician’s brain requires training, informal or formal, and practice to achieve the professionalism and confidence to improvise and create music. But what are the experiences and structure like of musician minds that allow music to be so diverse and popular?

As learning music is the acquisition of a complex skill, it is easy to imagine the commitment specific parts of the brain contribute over many years. Even in young children ages 5 to 7, certain regions of the brain show distinctions of musical training compared to the brain regions of nonmusical children1.

After only 15 months of monitored rhythmic lessons, children developed changes in multiple areas of the brain, including the corpus callosum and Heschl’s gyrus1. Conclusions from studies point towards the importance of learning music at a critical age, when the brain is most flexible for these changes to occur.

The differences in brain structure seen in children were also observed in adult musicians, most of whom have practiced music for years. Many of the structural differences relate to the level of experience both the adults and children have. Each area of the brain contributes to a different effect and the distinctions seen in musicians’ brains also portrays this. For example, more gray matter in the Heschl’s gyrus is related to selective hearing of pitch and tone 1. Really, the effects of early and consistent musical training are vast, ranging from higher cognitive and auditory processing to more efficient motor skills1. As a musician myself, I noticed more dexterity develop over the years in my left hand despite having a dominant right hand.

It is important to note, however, that these changes may not only be the result of musical training but other factors as well. Nonetheless, music in combination with predisposed genetic factors and other environmental factors can help facilitate positive stimulation in the brain.

While we all appreciate music for its entertainment purposes, for some music has become a tool for healing. From personal experience, listening to or playing music is a method of relieving stress or diverting my mind from worrying. Not only does it benefit the musician, but music has also proved to be an effective form of therapy for patients with illnesses and mental disorders. In one study using music therapy as a relaxation method for patients on ventilators, there was a reduction in the level anxiety of patients compared to anxiety levels for patients on ventilators without music2. Over time, the patients on ventilators who were exposed to music also showed a decrease in heart rates2. An interesting observation from this study was the alignment of heart rate to the rhythm of music. The study used genres such as classical, new age, country, western, and religious on the participants. The calming tones and lyrics in these genres may have been one of the factors that contributed to decreased anxiety levels in the patients.

Previous research has also looked at mental disorders such as the effects of music on individuals with depression. Four out of five studies resulted in reduction of symptoms of depression3. The fifth study used music as an active control treatment and no reductions in symptoms were shown3. These are only a handful of studies that I was able to find on depression alone, but there are studies where music was able to help improve communication in children with autism spectrum disorder4.

Further interesting investigations from these results would be to analyze how different genres effects patients using music therapy. I am trained in classical music and it falls under more mellow sounds, which I would believe to have a more calming effect. Even schools use classical music in classrooms because studies have shown that stimulates students to focus and reduces anxiety.

The benefits of music are vast, and if the healing and stimulating properties of music may not be convincing enough for to pursue lessons, people can still promote it for the purpose of entertainment and enjoyment. It is an art that anyone can partake in and appreciate the benefits of.

Work Cited

1 Barrett KC, Ashley R, Strait DL and Kraus N. (2013) Art and science: how musical training shapes the brain. Front. Psychol. 4:713. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00713

2 Chaln L. (2004) Effectiveness of a music therapy intervention on relaxation and anxiety for patients receiving ventilatory assistance. Heart and Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care Volume 27, Issue 3, May–June 1998, Pages 169-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-9563(98)90004-8.

3 Maratos A, Gold C, Wang X, Crawford M. Music therapy for depression. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD004517. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004517.pub2.

4 Gold C, Wigram T, Elefant C. Music therapy for autistic spectrum disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD004381. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004381.pub2.