Anyone who plays an instrument will understand how much fun they can be. From just beginning the recorder to those rocking out like Pete Townshend (The Who)! No matter where you are at in your musical career everyone can agree that it is fun. Simply. Fun.
Many people don’t realise the benefits of playing an instrument. And there are absolutely hundreds of them. Mental, and surprisingly physical too!
Let us start with the classical instruments:
If you are a classical instrument player (such as flute, cello, etc) then you will have to sight-read and there is no way around this. I tried for many years, but you just have to do it. Little do most people know, sight-reading has huge positive mental effects. Studies have shown that those who can sight-read well are generally quite good at maths. This doesn’t mean that if you can’t sight-read then you aren’t good at maths, but those who can tend to find the subject much easier. This is due to how the brain works. The same area of the brain that helps people in sight-reading and playing instruments also helps in maths, meaning as one improves the other one generally does as well.
Also, playing a classical instrument strangely boosts your immune system. I have a feeling you may have not known this, am I right? Well funnily enough, by playing an instrument, the number of antibodies (the things that fight infection in your body) in your body increases quite dramatically. You wouldn’t really correlate these two ideas, but I can promise you that it’s true. There are many articles online if you do not believe me.
Now let’s talk about the more rock and roll instruments:
If you prefer the sound of rock and roll, metal or really any music, this section is for you. If you play instruments such as guitar, drums, bass, etc then listen up. These instruments not only have hugely important mental benefits (as said above) but have also proven to be good for the physical side of the body as well. Anybody who plays drums will know about this especially, with having to use your entire body to play and all. But even the less physically demanding instruments such as guitar still help massively. When playing an instrument, many different parts of your brain have to work simultaneously to help you function, but so do many parts of your body. Arms, fingers, and sometimes even feet. Some scientists even believe that playing an instrument can count as exercise. The amount of work it takes can be physically demanding and can count as a form of exercise if you play frequently enough but don’t expect to become body-builder size from it though!)
There are also many mental benefits too. Improved memory, improved reaction times, better coordination and many more. But the benefit I believe is the greatest overall is stress relief.
We all live on planet earth right (if not, hello to where ever you are reading this!) And we can probably all agree that the entire planet is basically one big ball of stress? Great!
Especially since I am a teenager I really understand the importance of stress relief (with GCSE’s in only a few months) and that is part of the reason why I play a variety of instruments. Not only have I found that playing the instruments is a stress relief, but so have many studies. There have been countless studies proving that playing an instrument is one of the BEST ways to relieve stress. So why not give it ago?
Feeling stressed about school or work, just pick up a guitar and feel free again, let your hair down and play some drums, put on your most comfortable slippers and pick up the flute. I can promise you that it will work.
