Myelin and Music - This Is Your Brain On Practicing

​We hear all the time how music makes our brains work better, makes us smarter, helps us to focus better, and many other good things; but we never really knew exactly how this physically occurs...before now!

Many of the studies done on music and its effects on the brain are based on outward results, such as improvement on test scores, improved coordination and/or attention to detail...things like that. Emotional benefits have also been reported - showing more happiness, less stress, and a greater connection to other people. 


But what is happening inside of us physiologically that makes all of these benefits that we see outwardly, occur?

TedEdLessonsWorthSharing recently published an incredibly informative video about this very topic. 
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The video was authored  by Dr. Annie Bosler and Dr. Don Greene, who are both professional musicians, educators, writers, speakers, and have done extensive studies regarding the relationship between our brains and behaviors that we engage in when we play music, or sports; specifically repetitive behaviors - also known  as practicing!

They discuss the roles of the grey and white matter in our brain. The grey matter is what process information in the brain, while the white matter is mostly made up of nerve cells and fatty tissue. 

Grey matter takes the information that it has processed and sends it via nerves down the spinal cord into the rest of our bodies. These nerves that carry the information from the brain to our muscles and other limbs are called Axons. 

Axons that are located in the white brain matter are covered all the way around with a substance called Myelin. 

Now here's where it gets interesting!

Myelin is basically a fatty substance that covers the axons like a blanket. 

When we do any repetitive action, that Myelin blanket grows larger around our nerves.

Why is this important? Because the role of Myelin is to prevent our nerves from losing information, or energy. The authors compared it to insulation around electrical wiring. The more you have, the more protection you have and in essence...more information can pass through those channels as they become stronger!

These authors go on to challenge the common idea that 'muscle memory' plays a role in our success as musicians or athletes, and instead offer the suggestion that it is in fact the increased Myelin around our nerves allow for a smoother flow of information and for more information to be distributed throughout your anatomy. 

This means then that success is a result of healthier nerve pathways rather than training the tiny brains in our muscles that learn remember things. 

They point out several important factors as to the best practice habits to fully support how your brain is processing your piano practice time. 

• focus on what you are doing and remove distractions from your practice environment 
• start out slowly and make sure what you are playing is correct before playing faster
• break down your practicing so you can have breaks in between sessions instead of doing really long practice sessions at one time
• practice in your imagination without your piano

They also use the term "effective practicing" when describing the above practice tips and point out that any type of repetitive action will instigate this growth in our Myelin; meaning it will carry the wrong information to our body if we keep playing the music wrong. We don't want to do this, because now we know how beneficial the increase in our Myelin is!

That's why we start out slowly, use our focus and all of our attention to make sure we are playing and counting our music correctly. Doing shorter bursts of repetitive practicing will accomplish more and build our Myelin just as our muscles would grow from lifting weights. Topping off our physical practicing with mirroring it in our imagination will do wonders to reinforce our physical actions as well. 

Check out this wonderful lesson in the video below and as always, stay Tuned to PianoLessonsOnTheWeb to learn much more and achieve your dreams of playing the piano!

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