[HN Gopher] Is playing music good for the brain?
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       Is playing music good for the brain?
        
       Author : andsoitis
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2026-03-21 12:36 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.economist.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.economist.com)
        
       | HardwareLust wrote:
       | Can't speak for others, but it certainly is for me.
        
         | kbrkbr wrote:
         | For me too. The headline question however was not "Is playing
         | music good for people?", but "Is playing music good for the
         | brain?"
         | 
         | That's not nearly as easy to answer.
        
           | HardwareLust wrote:
           | If we're talking about long-term benefits, I certainly can't
           | answer that, but I can say all of my interactions with music
           | have been positive from merely listening, learning to play
           | several instruments, learning music theory, etc. Music has
           | been one of the great joys of my life.
        
       | Squarex wrote:
       | It is behind paywall, but the question itself seems like trivial.
        
       | xoxxala wrote:
       | Playing music while sleeping helps my tinnitus, which helps me
       | sleep, which helps my brain garbage collect. So, in my case at
       | least, the answer is yes.
        
         | d1sxeyes wrote:
         | Can't tell because of the paywall but I assume this is talking
         | about playing _an instrument_ rather than listening to a
         | record.
        
           | para_parolu wrote:
           | I wonder if that was AI answer when model didn't get access
           | to source and just hallucinated comment
        
             | gnabgib wrote:
             | It has a hard-paywall (and should be flagged) but you can
             | catch that it's about creating (not listening) from both
             | the image and:
             | 
             | > Several studies have found that professional musicians
             | have more grey matter (the neural tissue involved in
             | thinking, movement and memory) in some regions than non-
             | musicians.
             | 
             | Which you might need to visit an ineffective bypass to see
             | that: https://archive.is/F67Gf
        
       | hermanzegerman wrote:
       | Yes it is about playing an instrument
       | 
       | Bp;dr: Playing an instrument or singing, gives you more gray
       | matter, memory and executive function, and a slower cognitive
       | decline. Playing multiple instruments doesn't have a benefit
        
         | RickJWagner wrote:
         | I've played banjo ( for my own pleasure ) for about 10 years. I
         | retired last year, have more time for it, and started attending
         | jams.
         | 
         | What's interesting is that many of the best musicians play
         | multiple instruments. The incremental effort to pick up a new
         | instrument must be fairly small. I can't tell you how many
         | people I've met that play great guitar, standup bass, and
         | fiddle. ( Banjo and mandolin seem just a little less likely to
         | be included. )
         | 
         | I hope I get there some day! It looks fun to put down one
         | instrument, pick up another and continue ripping.
        
           | Slow_Hand wrote:
           | I'd liken playing multiple instruments to coding in multiple
           | languages. There's a baseline understanding of the
           | fundamentals that is necessary to overcome in the beginning,
           | but once you get confident with them they transfer across
           | multiple instruments/languages.
        
       | m4rc3lv wrote:
       | Paywall
        
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