Not only does music add colour to life, new research has shown that playing and actively engaging with music can also significantly increase the amount of grey matter in our brains, the area of our noggins where our valuable neurons are stored.
Establishing a practice of regular music making has the potential to alter the process of normal, age-related brain shrinkage in healthy older adults, arresting the gradual cognitive decline associated with atrophy Establishing a practice of regular music making has the potential to alter the process of normal, age-related brain shrinkage in healthy older adults, arresting the gradual cognitive decline associated with atrophy, the cause of diminished working memory and other core executive functions as we grow older.
These findings are the result of a randomised controlled trial by a Swiss-based research team who spent six months tracking 132 retired adults between the ages of 62 and 78 years (Marie, Damien, et al., 2023.).
Participants were selected for inclusion in the study on the basis they had taken music lessons for no longer than six months at any previous point in their lives. This precluded any existing brain plasticity linked to earlier musical learning from affecting the outcomes of the study. They were then randomised into two groups: a treatment group and a control group.
Participants in the treatment group were enrolled into a one year course of weekly, hour-long piano lessons and were also required to do half an hour of homework each day. Participants in the control group were set hour-long music awareness tasks intended to help them identify instruments being played in the context of many different musical styles and were also required to do half an hour of homework each day.
The good news is that both groups returned data showing an increase in cognitive functioning and a robust amount of new grey matter leading to improved tonal working memory after just six months; amazing, eh? Click here to read a review of the findings or, for a more in-depth analysis, the original research paper can be accessed here.
Feeling motivated to start building your own grey matter? A full list of the Victorian singing and instrumental groups listed on the CMVic website is available here: https://cmvic.org.au. And maybe begin knitting bigger beanies for yourself and your music making pals to accomodate those growing brains with this how to guide. Enjoy!
Review by Deb Carveth, Copy Editor for Community Music Victoria. Feature photo by David Matos on Unsplash
Reference
Marie, Damien, et al. “Music interventions in 132 healthy older adults enhance cerebellar grey matter and auditory working memory, despite general brain atrophy.” Neuroimage: Reports 3.2 (2023): 100166.
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