Music and the Brain

By Norman M. Weinberger

Connections between brain cells are called synapses. Recent brain research demonstrates that these connections grow stronger with use and become weaker if they are not used.

Many systems of the human brain rely on the exchange of information across these synapses. The stronger the synapses, the faster information can be exchanged between brain cells, and the better the following systems can operate:

• The sensory and perceptual systems: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic
  

• The cognitive system: symbolic, linguistic, and reading
  

• Body movements: fine and gross muscle action and coordination
  

• Feedback and evaluation of actions
  

• The motivational and hedonic (pleasure) system
  

• Memory and recall of facts learned
  

Brain scans taken during musical performances show that virtually the entire cerebral cortex (central processing area of the brain) is active while musicians are performing. Almost every system of the brain is at work simultaneously during a music performance, and brain cells are rapidly sending messages. The "workout" that the brain experiences during a musical performance strengthens the connections between brain cells, allowing the brain to function more efficiently.

How can music-making engage the entire brain? Consider the steps involved in taking a piece of music from notes on a page to sound. This process includes interpreting complex symbols and sending messages quickly to muscles to adjust the fingers, lips, or vocal mechanisms. Musicians have to plan ahead so their fingers, bows, or mallets are in the right place to play the next note, and singers and wind instrument players need enough air to sustain long notes and phrases. During practice, musicians review their performance and make corrections and changes.

While solo musicians engage in the processes above, musicians performing in an ensemble (chorus, band, orchestra, or chamber group) utilize even more brain systems. Ensemble musicians must interpret and act upon the conductor's gestures at the same time they are reading music symbols from the page. They also have to balance their own sound with the sound of other musicians. These "ensemble processes" entail a split-second procedure of evaluation and adjustment that each musician repeats countless times during a performance.

Music making offers extensive exercise for brain cells and their synapses (connections). It would be difficult to find another activity that engages so many of the brain's systems. Synapses between brain cells strengthen with use just as muscles do, and there is good reason to believe that music making increases the brain's capacity by improving these synapses.

Source: "The Music in Our Minds" by Norman M. Weinberger. Published in Educational Leadership, Vol. 56, No. 3: November 1998.