Top 5 Health Benefits of Playing Piano

Sep 26, 2022

Playing piano is a beloved pastime of many and for good reason! It’s a challenging skill that forces players to multitask to the maximum. The reward: beautiful compositions that are music to the ears – literally.

But playing piano doesn’t just reap auditory rewards, it also benefits your body, too! Here are some of the top 5 health benefits of playing piano.

1. Strengthens multitasking

When you are learning piano online with an app like Clefer, you will quickly realize that it calls for the use of multiple parts of your brain and body to move in sync. You have to read and process sheet music, follow pitch, maintain posture and form chords over a series of black and white keys as your left and right hand move independently from each other. Piano learning apps like Clefer use a proven, research-based teaching method and have lessons built around developing your two hands coordination when practicing piano.

If all that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. The result of working so many different parts of your brain and body in tandem is a building up of your ability as a master multitasker!

2. Makes you think more ‘outside of the box’

Research has found that piano players and other musicians tend to use both sides of their brains more frequently than your average person: “Instrumental musicians often integrate different melodic lines with both hands into a single musical piece, and they have to be very good at simultaneously reading the musical symbols, which are like left-hemisphere-based language, and integrating the written music with their own interpretation, which has been linked to the right hemisphere.”

This makes musicians more skilled at “divergent thinking, which is the ability to come up with new solutions to open-ended, multifaceted problems.”

3. Boosts brain power

Similar to how playing piano gives musicians the ability to think more outside of the box by using both sides of their brain, it turns out research also shows that playing piano boosts your brain’s power in other ways!

Because playing the piano demands so much at once, the connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain is much stronger and gives pianists a boost to their language, problem-solving, decision-making, spontaneity and social behaviour skills.

4. Decreases depression

Whether old or young, learning and playing piano at any age has many benefits. But when it comes to dealing with mental health, adults who learn to play piano see a marked reduction in depression, anxiety and fatigue. They also experience a positive increase in verbal communication, memory and feelings of independence, which just goes to show the true power of the piano.

Even elderly folks who take on the task of learning piano experience benefits, including increases in their memory and clarity. No matter your age, piano learning apps like Clefer offer a great way for anyone wanting to rekindle their love of piano to get back on the bench and take up the keys.

5. Music can help you heal

One Harvard Health study found that music can further affect the body and mind in positive ways specifically through music therapy. The study notes that playing and listening to music and music therapy can lower blood pressure, decrease pain (meaning taking fewer painkillers), and ease pain and anxiety during clinical procedures.

While the study doesn’t refer to piano playing specifically, we can gather that music in all its forms creates these benefits, piano playing included, and is just another reason to get back to playing piano with the help of Clefer!

Experience the health benefits of playing piano by learning online with Clefer!

Piano learning apps like Clefer are a great way to reignite your passion for playing piano by giving you the opportunity to learn online at your own pace and in your own space at times that are most convenient for you. Using proven teaching and learning methods, Clefer gives learners the opportunity to practice, perform and review their compositions as they track their progress.

Start your free trial by downloading Clefer to your Apple device today!

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