Just about all of us love music in one form or another, and music has such a diverse variety of genres and styles the world over. It doesn’t matter whether you are listening to your favourite music, composing music or playing a musical instrument, the facts are that music is good for your brain.

Why Music Is Good For Your Brain

Of course, just how good music is for your brain will both depend on the state of mind you are already in, and the kind of music you are listening to.

For example, if you are already feeling depressed about something and then start playing sad song, what happens? You get even more depressed. Now there is nothing wrong with a sad and emotional song, but played at the right time. The best kind of music to listen to when feeling down is something upbeat and happy.

Music is all about emotion. Music engages people’s emotions more so than just about anything else. It can make us feel:

• Happy
• Sad
• Angry
• Motivated
• Chilled
• Optimistic
• Tense
• Stressed
• Even bored

That’s just a short list of all the emotions different music can trigger. There are so many more, and some of them quite subtle.

As this post is about the positive effects of music on the brain, we will stick to those.

It has been shown that listening to music – especially uplifting music – can make you smarter. Music taps into parts of the brain that are difficult to access for other forms of stimuli. And because music can radically affect your mood, it can also play a role in what actions you take from moment to moment.

Let’s take the theme from the famous Rocky movies. Now, if I were a boxer about to go into a bout, I’d love to listen to music like that to motivate me and get me ready mentally for the physical action that was about to take place.

Listening to the right kind of music at the right time can seriously make you way more productive. So many people love listening to music while they work. Hard labour jobs are made that much easier when listening to music you like. And in a fast-paced work environment, listening to dance music with an up tempo beat really helps kick you along so you can keep up.

All music plays on the chemicals in the brain and causes a reaction, whether positive or negative. A negative reaction usually only occurs if the listener is already in that mindset. More often than not people respond positively to music they like. This even applies to heavy and aggressive music. Listening to Death Metal doesn’t instantly turn everyone into a raving lunatic. For a fan of the genre, hearing these tunes will actually be uplifting in its own way.

When we hear music we enjoy the feel-good chemical, Oxytocin, is released in the brain. This is the chemical associated with a sense of well-being and a natural high.

Playing A Musical Instrument Is Even Better For the Brain

The reason for this is quite obvious. There are all the benefits associated with just plain listening to music, plus a whole bunch of other advantages.

Learning or playing an instrument is awesome for eye/hand coordination, but it’s also a fantastic brain workout. Add song writing and composing into the mix, and perhaps even music production, and the brain is benefitting in so many ways. You get the positive effects of Oxytocin release, eye/hand coordination, the creative effects of writing and producing songs and the overall immense satisfaction that comes with all of the above. Playing musical instruments is also known to enhance memory.

These results are even more beneficial if children learn to play an instrument – any sort of musical instrument – at an early age.

Music Makes the World Infinitely More Interesting

Imagine for a moment a world devoid of all music. How dull and lifeless would it seem? Music of some description plays an integral role in the lives of just about every human being on Earth. Even natives living simply in the jungle play some form of music.

I am a creator of instrumental music tracks designed for music sync licensing. If you would like to listen to my music, you can check out my tracks on Songtradr.