How Flute Lessons Enhance Cognitive Skills and Brain Development
The flute is a beautiful and versatile instrument, creating musical wonderment in the form of brilliant and beautiful birds to moody, dark-colored sunsets. We can beatbox, we can create beautiful voices and textures, and even showcase emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear. The flute is such an incredibly wide-ranging instrument, but it also contributes positively to cognitive skills and emotional intelligence. Not only does learning an instrument enhance memory, but it’s also directly linked to improving neuroplasticity, which helps you continue to grow and use your brain at a high level as you age. So, learning an instrument such as the flute young can help set you up for a long, healthy life, but even starting later can help improve issues you may be having now and keep your cognitive abilities in tip-top shape. In this post, we will explore the how and the why of how flute lessons can help enhance cognitive function and help with brain development.
What Are Cognitive Skills?
In a nutshell, cognitive skills ultimately refer to your ability to learn and perform different types of tasks. Different parts of the brain handle different tasks and are often grouped by function and hormones. For instance, the frontal lobe handles decision-making and problem-solving, while the parietal lobe handles visual processing and spatial processing. Cognitive skills are important in everyday life because they help you complete a variety of tasks and manage emotions while doing so. We wouldn’t be able to get dressed, drive to work, play an instrument, go to school, or do anything without high-level cognitive skills. From an evolutionary standpoint, the cognitive skills that developed first are those that simply keep us alive - the ability to move and see, feel basic emotions like anger or happiness, and fight or flight mechanisms. As we have evolved, we’ve developed complex emotions and higher-level thought processing, which allows us to manage our emotions and make decisions that better serve us. Our brains don’t fully develop until about the age of 26 in most humans, and then gradually as we age, those cognitive abilities start to wane, which is a normal and natural process, leading to diminished memory, motor skills, and overall cognitive function.
Benefits of Flute Lessons on Cognitive Skills
Flute builds on many cognitive skills. As a flutist, you multi-task and work on memory, concentration, and coordination simultaneously. Music students have shown higher levels of concentration and task management, meaning they can sit for longer periods and know how to prioritize tasks in a sitting on a higher level than their non-musical counterparts. Memorization is also a key part of being a musician, and learning to memorize is a great skill when it comes to performance, public speaking, and schoolwork. Not only in music do you memorize pieces, but you memorize and learn notation like you would a second language. Flute and music also help you develop problem-solving and analytical thinking skills. Counting notation, interpreting the composer's meaning, and dealing with complex rhythmic patterns all contribute to those skills. Interpreting musical pieces also helps develop critical thinking and comprehension skills, leading to a higher level of emotional understanding of written works, including literature, and, in real-world examples, correspondence. Of course, all of this is not even to highlight the emotional intelligence that is cultivated through music, giving students a creative outlet to express themselves and understand their own emotions through music. The flute in itself is a highly versatile instrument, so one can feel and play a wide variety of musical emotions. And, of course, having a flute teacher there to guide the way and help develop these cognitive skills alongside the musical skills is beyond helpful. These are skills that most students don’t get in a math or science classroom and they cannot be understated. Emotional intelligence, in particular, is highly important when entering adulthood, and most students who do not take private music lessons aren’t as on par as those that do.
Neuroplasticity in Flute Playing
Neuroplasticity refers broadly to the brain’s ability to adapt and change throughout one’s life. It’s known that learning physically changes the brain’s structure and neuroplasticity, which can lead to the ability to perform cognitive functions at a higher level for longer. Considering when you learn to do ANY new task, you’re creating neural pathways in your brain, making it easier to perform the task over again, learning what works and what doesn’t. The brain eventually will discard the pieces it doesn’t need so that you streamline the process. Making music, i.e. learning to play the flute, synchronizes neurons in multiple parts of the brain, which studies show to be a significant factor in neuroplasticity. This is not to mention the fine motor skills that are quickly developed through flute playing - synchronizing the fingers to make small movements, minute adjustments in the face and mouth to create a beautiful tone, and even little adjustments in the movement of the lungs and diaphragm. Learning to play the flute not only helps develop mentally, but physically, there are benefits. It’s also been shown that students with certain learning disabilities and neurodiversity can benefit significantly from playing an instrument like the flute to develop these fine motor skills, but also to help develop their auditory processing skills, critical listening, and using all senses at once. Playing in large ensembles can help to deal with sensory issues with sound and lights, and also, on an emotional level, build confidence. There’s no doubt that flute playing can be hugely beneficial to the body AND the mind, so it’s highly recommended for any student to take up a musical instrument, regardless of aptitude.
Flute Lessons for All Ages
Starting flute at a young age can build these skills even quicker, helping your child get ahead in terms of development. Understanding music from a young age can help children become more studious, mature, and overall more successful as they grow. Starting an instrument young will set them up for positive things in the future, including having an outlet and coping mechanism when things get tough, which we all know happens in the teen years. The brain is developing so rapidly during childhood and adolescence that it’s a wonderful time to begin an instrument because they will pick it up quickly and benefit from everything stated above in all aspects of their lives as a result. In the long term, starting an instrument young can not only help keep neuroplasticity at its peak, but also open options for scholarships and grants going into school even if they don’t plan to be professional musicians.
Don’t forget that adults can receive the same benefits when starting an instrument. Many adults start instruments specifically to deal with mental health challenges, as an outlet for emotions, but also to keep their brains active and their neuroplasticity healthy as they begin to age. It’s shown that active musicians have less trouble with memory and emotional regulation as they get older, and even starting an instrument as an adult, you can see and feel those benefits. This is not to mention that adults have stressful lives and, quite simply, need an outlet for stress reduction and overall mental well-being. Taking private lessons or playing with groups such as a community orchestra, etc. is a great way to feel those benefits.
Getting Started with Flute Lessons
Finding the right teacher is easier than ever with the internet being available to us. Of course, be sure to ask if the teacher has any sort of trial period, then it’s helpful to discuss their educational background, qualities, and philosophy to be sure that they’re in line with what you want from a teacher. Remember, not every teacher is the same, so it’s important to make sure the teacher you choose is a good fit, and if it isn’t, it’s okay to find someone else for you. Online lessons are viable for many students in remote areas or if you find a teacher whose message lines up with what you’re looking for.
Finding the right flute can be trickier, but speaking with a professional in a music store or a place like FluteWorld or Flute Center of NY is a great place to start. Often, those places have trial periods where they can send you several instruments to try in your budget over a few days and you either send them all back or keep the one that you fell in love with. Remember, the wand chooses the wizard, and while lots of people have big opinions on flutes, YOU are the only one who can speak definitively on the right one, because different flutes are different for different people. Make sure you have a good cleaning cloth and rod, as well as a microfiber cloth to wipe down the outside (NOT a silver polishing cloth, please!), a metronome, and a good music stand.
Aim to practice daily, but in the beginning, start with small amounts of time. 15 minutes per day is a great amount of time, slowly growing from there as you build stamina. You may find an hour lesson to be tiring, but remember that you’re building stamina and your teacher should be encouraging you to take breaks in that time. Your teacher should be helping you set some goals with repertoire and basic skill learning, but also remember to write down small goals for each practice session and reflect on your progress at the end. This will keep you mindfully practicing rather than just running through your assignments with no thoughtfulness.
Recap
Creating music and playing flute aids in neuroplasticity
Playing flute helps aid in memory, fine motor development, and emotional intelligence
All ages can benefit from starting to play an instrument and learning music
The world of flute is vast and fun, and I would encourage you to give it a shot. There are so many incredible things you can do with the instrument and so many incredible benefits to it. I’ve been playing flute for 20 years and it will be my instrument for life. It’s been my constant companion in times of distress and has kept me grounded when I needed security. It has kept me moving forward in my life even at times when I felt stagnant.
If you’re thinking about learning the flute, let’s talk! Click the links above and below to schedule a call or send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!
