How Music Changes the Brain: What Happens After Years of Musical Training

By Caileen W.

Why do musicians frequently seem to have exceptional memory, coordination, listening skills, and emotional sensitivity? Modern neuroscience suggests that years of musical training can physically and functionally reshape the brain through a process called neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to reorganize itself in response to experience.

Music Training and Neuroplasticity

Learning music is an incredibly complex process. It involves many brain systems at once: hearing, movement, memory, attention, emotion, and coordination. Over time, repeated practice strengthens the neural pathways involved in these skills.

One landmark study found that children who received 15 months of instrumental music training developed changes in brain regions related to motor and auditory processing compared with children who did not receive musical training. [1] These findings support the idea that the brain adapts physically to musical experience.

The Corpus Callosum: Strengthening Communication Between Brain Hemispheres

The corpus callosum is a thick bundle of nerve fibers connecting the brain’s left and right hemispheres. A 2013 study by Steele et al. found that musicians who began training before age seven showed greater white matter connectivity in the corpus callosum than musicians who started later, suggesting that early training may influence brain development during sensitive developmental periods. [2] Researchers believe this enhanced connectivity may help musicians coordinate complex movements, such as playing piano passages or violin techniques that require precise synchronization between both hands.

Music and the Auditory Brain

Musicians also show differences in the auditory cortex, the brain region responsible for processing sound. A recent 12-year longitudinal study tracking children into adolescence found lasting differences in auditory system development between musicians and non-musicians. [3] 

Another study found that auditory networks were more efficient for musicians. [4] This explains why trained musicians can often quickly identify pitch inaccuracies, hear details in complex sounds, and even learn languages and accents more efficiently. 

Mental Benefits

Music training is also associated with changes in brain systems related to attention, emotion, and executive function. Functional MRI studies have shown that musicians often display stronger connectivity in brain networks involved in cognitive control and concentration on specific tasks. [5] These skills are highly applicable to managing academics and stress, which explains the mental benefits of music training. 

Why Early Training Matters

Many studies suggest that starting musical training during childhood may produce especially strong neural adaptations because the developing brain is highly flexible.

However, neuroscientists also stress that the brain remains capable of change throughout life. Adults who begin learning music can still develop new neural connections and cognitive benefits through consistent practice. [1]

More Than Just Music

The most inspiring conclusion from neuroscience research is that musical training represents one of the most complete forms of human learning. Playing an instrument combines movement, memory, emotion, creativity, discipline, and social interaction all at once.

For young musicians, every scale, étude, rehearsal, and performance is not only shaping musical ability, but is also actively shaping the brain itself.

Citations

1. Hyde, K. L., Lerch, J., Norton, A., Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Evans, A. C., & Schlaug, G. (2009). Musical training shapes structural brain development. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29(10), 3019–3025.

2. Moore, E., Schaefer, R. S., Bastin, M. E., Roberts, N., & Overy, K. (2014). Can musical training influence brain connectivity? Evidence from diffusion tensor MRI. Brain Sciences, 4(2), 405–427.

3. Steele, C. J., Bailey, J. A., Zatorre, R. J., & Penhune, V. B. (2013). Early musical training and white-matter plasticity in the corpus callosum: Evidence for a sensitive period. The Journal of Neuroscience, 33(3), 1282–1290.

4. Wan, C. Y., & Schlaug, G. (2010). Music making as a tool for promoting brain plasticity across the life span. The Neuroscientist, 16(5), 566–577.

5. Zatorre, R. J., Chen, J. L., & Penhune, V. B. (2007). When the brain plays music: Auditory–motor interactions in music perception and production. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8(7), 547–558.