Taking Music Lessons before Age 7 Helps Brain Development

Music is the magic that helps lift our moods and aids in forgetting and leaving our worries behind. There is no doubt that music relaxes our nerves and body. These are common facts. But if ever scientific proof was needed, here it is.

According to a study that appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience recently, receiving musical training before age 7 boosts brain development.

A team of researchers from the Concordia University found that children who started taking musical lessons early have better connections between the motor regions or parts of the brain that control movement and planning of a person.

"Learning to play an instrument requires coordination between hands and with visual or auditory stimuli," Virginia Penhune, who was involved in the study, said in a news release. "Practicing an instrument before age seven likely boosts the normal maturation of connections between motor and sensory regions of the brain, creating a framework upon which ongoing training can build."

To prove the benefits of early musical training on motor abilities and brain development, researchers included 36 adult musicians who had the same duration of musical training and experience. Of the total participants, half reported starting their musical training before age 7 and the other half started after age 7. The musicians were compared with another control group, who didn't have any kind of musical training in their life.

All the participants underwent tasks related to movement and later had a brain scan. Researchers found participants who started musical training before age 7 more capable of managing accurate timing.

Brain scans of these musicians also showed improved white matter in the corpus callosum, that serves as a bridge connecting the left and right motor regions of the brain. Brain regions of the participants without any musical training and those who started taking musical lessons later were similar.

"This study is significant in showing that training is more effective at early ages because certain aspects of brain anatomy are more sensitive to changes at those time points," co-author Robert J. Zatorre, from the International Laboratory for Brain Music and Sound Research, explained.

The findings support previous studies that proved the benefits of music on brain development. Researchers in Northwestern University in Evanston found that the lifetime use of musical instruments has a positive outcome on the brain, particularly when one becomes old. Another study published in the scientific journals Developmental Science and Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences in May 2012 found 1-year-old infants who participate in interactive music classes with their parents demonstrating some signs of brain development.