Other Benefits of playing piano

[kopower]

Yes ofcourse piano is enjoyable, etc.  

But I believe there are significant other benefits from playing piano.

1) stronger mathematical and academic ability.  I have seen children that learn piano excel very well in their school work as well.  Some are TOP students at school.

2) gives the piano player more general artistic ability perhaps? Better ability to express themselves?

3) gives the piano player more confidence to tackle life challenges.  "If I can play this complicated piece I can do anything!" attitude.


Please share your thoughts, opinions and experiences!

Thank you!

[pianoman53]

Not piano specifically, but music in general!

Many of the ones who won a nobel prize (The Swedish on. The Norwegian peace prize is somewhat of a joke) played music in their childhood. Some of them still plays. If it would be one or two prize winners, I wouldn't use it as proof, but not it's by far more than half of them.

It also improves concentration, and the ability to finish tasks. To actually finish a piece of music takes time, and ones you've done it a few times, you learn that it takes time, and you therefore become more committed.

There are loads of them!
Now I will practice!

[mikeowski]

- A methodical approach to problem solving.
- The realization that you are not as good as you think (e.g. after failing recitals), which makes you less likely to fall victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect.

[gregh]

Yes ofcourse piano is enjoyable, etc.  

But I believe there are significant other benefits from playing piano.

1) stronger mathematical and academic ability.  I have seen children that learn piano excel very well in their school work as well.  Some are TOP students at school.
...

Please share your thoughts, opinions and experiences!

Since you asked...

On point number 1 I have to wonder about causation versus correlation. It could be that smarter people are attracted to both math and music. Or that people with a supportive family and an intellectually rich environment will excel at such things, and their parents will encourage them to take music lessons when they're young and go to college when they're older.

There is a whole "baby Mozart" industry that provides a case study on the transmission of scientific research to the general public. The research showed that college students get a small and temporary boost to spatial intelligence after listening to music that they enjoy. By the time it reached the general public it was "classical music makes you smart", and companies got rich on parents who were desperate to get any small advantage they could find for their kids.

There does seem to be a correlation, though. Einstein played violin and Feynman played drums in a salsa band, for two examples.

[j_menz]

It keeps my nails strong and the streets safer.

[Bob]

Persistence.  Goals.  Planning out a path.

Exercise.  Mental, physical.  Staying sharp.

Learning how you learn.  Figuring out how your body works.

Learning how to improve things. 

Control.

[malaguena]

Piano has helped me in patience. I am very impatient, and the piano helps me get my impatience under control.

Also, when angry or sad, I turn to the piano. A friend of mine recently died, and I found myself constantly at the piano, and yes, it did make me feel better. As for anger, most times when I sit down angry, by the time I finish a piece my mind is clear, and I feel rather peaceful.

Goals. Studying piano, I decided to make my goals like reaching for the stars. I would grab up a piece years ahead of my level, and tackle it. This helped me realize how important goals in life are, and that whatever you want to do- if you want to do it badly enough, you can do it.

If you are a teacher, teaching piano. Teaching piano gave me A LOT of confidence in myself and around people, as well as in conducting business with adults.

I think piano is quite beneficial to learn. It has benefited me in many ways other than just in learning and studying music.

[mjames]

Girls will love your fingering technique...

and boys will love your hand jobs

[bronnestam]

Pianists are the sexiest musicians as they play the biggest instrument ... 

(ok, exception for church organs, but you SEE very little of the organist, right?)

... Well, to be serious, then. I have got very interested the last years in the process of learning and motivation. Piano playing turned out to be the perfect study object here. So, pianists are for this area of knowledge what banana flies are for genetics.

I also believe that piano practising improves my ability to concentrate and gives me more mental stamina. Besides, there are not many situations in life I enjoy more than attending a nice concert with a first class pianist, playing some of the music I truly love. I walk away from there with the feeling that there is still hope for mankind. Two years ago I visited a wonderful concert with Beethoven's 2nd piano concerto, and while listening, I also contemplated over the fact that this music was written 200 years ago by someone who is dead since long - but his music lives on and was re-created that evening by a bunch of talented musicians. Still, it began as some ideas in the head of ol' Ludwig, nothing else. And yet it was alive centuries later, a sphere of beauty that was shared by hundreds of people simultaneously, giving us such a moment of sheer pleasure ...

... and here I could go on for a while ... You get the idea. Music is a magic language. I used to be just a listener, and now I can play some of this music with my own hands, re-creating it all in my very own way, and I think this is so cool. It gives my life more meaning, really.

[kopower]

Wonderful thought provoking commments and inputs by everyone so far ! I enjoyed reading them all (including the couple of funny ones  )

Thank you all very much.

Hearing other peoples points of views/ make me realise similar experiences from my own playing that I didn't fully notice/appreciate before.

[fore]

As someone in the medical field, I can assure you all there are def. cognitive improvements from playing.  I'd expect both short term to long term memory, spacial recognition, really all aspects of the brains functioning should improve.  Playing piano, who needs "Luminosity"

[outin]

After almost 3 years of daily practicing I am yet to see all these cognitive improvements 

I had expectations especially for my memory, but unfortunately it doesn't work any better. I am sligthly less vulnerable to memory issues while playing due to my enlarged "vocabulary", but just as forgetful in general.

But maybe someone who is better equipped in the beginning, will see the benefits more easily. Or maybe I already had all the improvements I can from music earlier in life and would be even worse without 

[g_s_223]

My sense is that learning to play the piano helps to build connections between left and right hemispheres of the brain, i.e. to get both intuitive and logical processing working in a synergistic way. The perfect symmetry of LH & RH work involved, unlike say string instruments, enforces this development.

Also, the potentially highly complex notation on (at least) two staves with multiple contrapuntal parts and/or dense chordal passages with accidentals demands a significantly higher level of (purely) mental involvement than most orchestral instruments (though they have their own difficulties like intonation).

I think only the organ, with multiple manuals and pedals, imposes an equivalent (or higher) visual/intellectual load.

[Bob]

Ditto on hearing.  Being able to hear high/low, attack/body/release, etc.  to actually hear it and describe it....  It's not on the level of a person who is blind with bat hearing, but there are people who cannot discern a bassline, etc.

[chopinfrederic]

- Stronger fingers
- Deeper love of music

[gregh]

Re: piano and smarts

My brother related a story to me of a woman who had a demanding job, it required technical knowledge and decision-making and all of that. Her friends generally agreed that she was very smart. Then she got a different job that was much less demanding, and her friends generally agreed that she wasn't as smart as she was.

It's the "use it or lose it" thing, I suppose. And I'm sure that piano lights up a lot of areas of the brain, such as motor skills, memory, the artistic parts...

[inverted]

I'd say that piano is the best instrument for developing a knowledge of theory. I've played saxophone for years and had a pretty good grasp of keys and chords etc, but with piano I have to say my knowledge has doubled within the months I've been playing.

[stillofthenight]

I feel it does enhance one's life in many aspects especially when one gets around to composing their own works and truly appreciates it. I would assume there probably is no other feeling in the world.

[gregh]

You can perform even if your friends don't play instruments. Piano is one of the few instruments that routinely performs unaccompanied, although it also sounds great accompanied or can blend into a rhythm.

[rmbarbosa]

To play Bach, we must have 2 or 3 or 4 "brains", each one of them to "think" each one of the voices. And we must have a "great brain" to relate each voice with the others. And to transmit all this to our hands. This needs a great mental work and develops the brain of course, I think.

[g_s_223]

Another benefit is gaining direct and literally "hands-on" access to many of the masterworks of classical music via piano transcriptions, no other instrument has such a resource. Further, virtually all operas are available in vocal scores which similarly can be played through: many is the happy hour I have spent with Salome, The Mastersingers, Parsifal, and so on...

[kopower]

Yes I also find piano relaxes me a lot !

[gregh]

Another benefit is gaining direct and literally "hands-on" access to many of the masterworks of classical music via piano transcriptions, no other instrument has such a resource. Further, virtually all operas are available in vocal scores which similarly can be played through: many is the happy hour I have spent with Salome, The Mastersingers, Parsifal, and so on...

Reminds me of something I saw on a trumpet forum:

"Piano players have Hanon; we have Clarke, Arban, ect.
Piano players have Chopin; we have Charlier, Vol. 3 of Arban/Maire, ect.
Piano players the Well-Tempered Clavier and Beethoven's Piano Sonatas; we have some catching up to do."

[bernadette60614]

I'm learning something new with each piece.

My teacher is constantly pushing me...my first piece with her was Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca, my second an early Beethoven sonata, my current one is the Schubert 2nd Impromtu.

I'm constantly being challenged and while it is frustrating, maddening and sometimes enraging, being able to see my skills grow..even slowly...is also exciting.

[future_maestro]

90% of frequent piano players never get arthritis in their hands.

Very good benefit if you don't want arthritis.

[j_menz]

90% of frequent piano players never get arthritis in their hands.

Do you have some authority for that statement, or is it one of the 56.3% of statistics that are just made up?

[outin]

Obviously relaxation is not one of the benefits for me
I took part in a 3 day heart beat analysis that is supposed to measure stress, recovery and effect of physical training. The only really high peaks of stress were at the times when I was home practicing piano, never at work 

[mjames]

The memory thing's a bit weird for me. I'm a forgetful person, always forgetting names, events, and meetings etc.

But when it comes to music, let's say that 2 years ago I wouldn't be able to play symphonis (from beginning to end) in my head. The memory thing only seemed to have improved with music.

[Bob]

Higher standardized test scores!

 

[savvygal]

Preventing Alzheimer's!  That should be enough!  Terrible disease!  My mom has it; she doesn't even know me.  So sad!

[future_maestro]

Do you have some authority for that statement, or is it one of the 56.3% of statistics that are just made up?

Results from a bunch of surveys and calculations that I have done over the years.

Any other questions for me?

[j_menz]

Results from a bunch of surveys and calculations that I have done over the years.

Any other questions for me?

What (peer reviewed) journal can I find them in?

[gregh]

What (peer reviewed) journal can I find them in?

Here's one.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0753332294901724

Found on scholar.google.com with the search phrase [alzheimer's disease piano playing].

You seem kind of combative about this. It seems to be common knowledge now that "use it or lose it" applies to your brain, too.