Do piano players have higher IQ?

classicfm.com - Study says learning a musical instrument increases your IQ by 10 ...

Is 65 too old to learn violin?

Anyone can learn to play the violin, at any age. Mastering a new skill, regardless of what it is, always involves desire, discipline and...

Last updated Feb 2, 2018

Do you need a good memory to play piano?

It is more important to be able to memorize than to sight read because you can survive as a pianist without good reading ability, but you can't...

Last updated Mar 3, 2022

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Promotion

Study says learning a musical instrument increases your IQ by 10 percent

By Sian Moore

Picking up a musical instrument gives you a higher IQ, according to a new study of more than 4,600 volunteers. New research has claimed that learning to play a musical instrument increases intelligence by 10 percent. In a six-month study co-ordinated by DIYS.com, the world’s largest DIY community, 4,694 volunteers chose a new hobby to take up during coronavirus lockdown. Among the chosen hobbies were knitting, exercising and learning an instrument. The volunteers then took an IQ test, before being grouped according to their chosen activity. After six months, they were retested, and researchers indexed and averaged their scores. The highest IQ increase came from the music-makers, averaging a score increase of 9.71 percent. Before they took up an instrument, the new musicians’ average IQ score was 103. When they were tested again, six months later, it had increased to 113. Scores for IQ tests, which are used to measure various cognitive reasoning skills, average around 100 in general. Music-making trumped other hobbies including knitting, which had an average score increase of 9.68 percent, exercising (7.37 percent) and reading (7.07 percent). According to the study, the most popular instrument was the guitar, with 31 percent of volunteers choosing to learn it. The cognitive impact of playing an instrument has been widely studied. A 2014 Ted Talk delivered by brain development and music learning researcher Dr. Anita Collins, which has been viewed over 10 million times, explains why “fireworks” go off in musicians’ brains when they play. Collins explains that when a musician plays an instrument, neuroscientists have seen multiple areas of the brain “light up” as it processes different information in “intricate, interrelated and astonishingly fast sequences”.

“Playing music is the brain’s equivalent of a full-body workout,” Collins adds.

A more recent study, led by experts at the Stanford University School of Medicine, found that musicians who started playing an instrument at a young age have more ‘connected’ brains. Using a sample pool of 153 musicians and non-musicians, researchers found a significant difference in brain structure in the musicians. More so, the team found that those who had starting playing at a young age had stronger brain connections than those who only started in later years. We’ve opened voting for the Classic FM Hall of Fame 2021! Tell us your favourite music and you could win a smart speaker, iPad and luxury hamper.

What's the hardest instrument to learn?

The 7 hardest instruments to learn, play, and master Oboe. Violin. French horn. Piano. Hammond organ. Drums. Accordion. Dec 11, 2020

Last updated Jun 24, 2022

What key is my song?

The easiest way to figure out the key of a song is by using its key signature. The number of sharps/flats in the key signature tell you the key of...

Last updated Jul 3, 2021

Promotion

Why does breast size increase after marriage?

While no one knows exactly who started the rumor that marriage increases breast size, people have passed around this myth for centuries. The most...

Last updated Jan 17, 2019

What is a chord without a third called?

A suspended chord (or sus chord) is a musical chord in which the (major or minor) third is omitted and replaced with a perfect fourth or a major...

Last updated Aug 7, 2020

Promotion

Does any singer have 5 octaves?

About 2 to 3 octaves, but for some artists it can reach further, such as Mariah Carey who has a 5-octave vocal range. Vocal ranges are categorized...

Last updated Jan 11, 2019

Join almost HALF A MILLION Happy Students Worldwide

Pianoforall is one of the most popular online piano courses online and has helped over 450,000 students around the world achieve their dream of playing beautiful piano for over a decade.

Learn More »

Promotion

What's the easiest chord to learn?

Em is the first beginning guitar chord you should learn. It's one of the most basic guitar chords not only because it's easy, but because it's used...

Last updated Jan 3, 2020