Did you know that…

• Your brain’s hemispheres work more intensively together, allowing you to think faster and multitask better?
• Children who learn piano often perform better at school, thanks to improved language skills and logical thinking?
• Adults feel mentally sharper after just a few months of lessons, with potential long-term benefits against memory loss?
• Playing the piano lowers cortisol and acts as a natural stress reliever in our busy lives?

Whether you want to relax, keep your brain fit, or become more creative: science shows that playing piano is a powerful upgrade for your brain. Read on and discover how music transforms your brain, often without you realizing it.

Playing the piano is a complete workout for your brain

Both brain hemispheres active at the same time

When playing piano, your two hands often have to do completely different things. This forces your brain to work together in an exceptionally intensive way, especially between your left and right hemisphere. That communication runs through the corpus callosum, a kind of highway of nerve fibers.

Researchers see that this ‘white matter’ becomes stronger in musicians. This translates into better coordination, faster thinking, and more mental flexibility. I even notice this in adults who start at a later age.

Reading music is like brain training

Reading notes may seem like solving puzzles at first. You see something visual, you connect it to rhythm, movement, time, and all that in a few seconds.

For children, this is invaluable: it supports their language development and teaches them logical thinking. For adults, it’s a perfect way to keep the brain fit, just like your muscles.

I’ve even taught people with brain injuries. For them, everything went more slowly, of course, but even then I saw progress. Simple melodies, small success moments. It’s incredible to see what the brain is capable of, even when it is damaged.

Piano and memory: stronger recall through music

How playing the piano trains your working memory

During practice, you’re actually constantly training: you remember rhythms, sequences, dynamics, sometimes even entire pieces by heart. That’s your working memory at play, the part of your brain you need to plan, multitask, and stay focused.

Children who learn piano often perform demonstrably better in school. In adults, I regularly see that they feel mentally sharper after a few months of lessons, as if their mind is just a bit better organized.

With children, I rarely work in the classic way, with one book and twenty minutes of sitting still. Certainly not with that one student who had a very short attention span. That method didn’t work for him at all. So I divided the lessons into short, varied activities and suddenly he stayed focused longer and enjoyed it more.

Since then, I use this approach with all children. Not only children with a challenge, but also neurotypical students benefit from it. They learn better, faster, and most importantly, with more pleasure.

Music and long-term memory

Music is full of patterns and repetitions. This stimulates the long-term memory without you realizing it. If you practice regularly, you naturally learn to store information more deeply.

I have students in their 60s and 70s who tell me their memory improves, and it’s not just a feeling. Increasing scientific research shows that playing piano can slow cognitive decline. Piano as mental prevention can certainly help.

Reducing stress and regulating emotions with the piano

Piano as a natural stress reliever

There are days when I sit at the piano myself, not to practice or teach, but just to take a breath. Playing the piano reduces your cortisol, the stress hormone, and brings your brain into a kind of resting state.

In our busy world, full of screens and distractions, that is incredibly valuable. Just stepping away from everything, back to yourself.

Making music and emotional intelligence

When you play, you feel. Especially children learn through music to better recognize what lives inside them and how they can express it.

For adults, it works differently: it’s often a release. A way to relieve tension or process something indescribable. Music opens something in you, I see that time and again.

Playing piano makes you more creative and flexible

Developing creativity: improvisation and composition

Improvising on the piano might be my favorite part of teaching. It gives you freedom. Your brain, especially the prefrontal cortex, is activated, which stimulates creative thinking.

Even simple improvisation exercises set something in motion. You learn to come up with ideas faster, let go of what ‘must’ be, and just play. This kind of thinking helps outside of music too: at work, in conversations, in problem-solving.

How good is your musical memory? A small test

Earlier we discussed how playing piano gives your memory a significant boost. One of the ways this happens is by training your working memory: the ability to hold and use information for a short time, like remembering a series of notes.

Famous research by psychologist George A. Miller showed that most people can remember an average of 7 (plus or minus 2) individual elements in their short-term memory. This is why phone numbers are often broken into chunks. Musicians, however, become masters at this. Through training, they learn to see notes not as individual elements but as logical patterns and blocks, allowing them to memorize much longer and more complex pieces.

Are you ready to test your musical memory?

The game below tests exactly this skill. Listen carefully to the series of notes the piano plays and try to replicate them exactly. Each correct round, the series gets one note longer. Can you surpass the boundary of 5 notes? And perhaps break through the ‘magic’ limit of 7?

What does science actually say?

Interesting studies on music and brain development

Recent research, for example, by Lina van Drunen (Leiden University) shows that children who make music experience slower but richer brain development. Their brain remains ‘plastic’ longer, in other words: learnable.

Other studies show that musicians:

• Have more gray matter
• Have a larger hippocampus (memory)
• Have a more active prefrontal cortex (planning and decision-making)
• Have stronger connections between brain hemispheres
• Have lower stress levels and better emotional regulation

But what I see in my own studio might be even more convincing. Adults who come after work to ‘just relax’, but experienced only more stress with traditional one-on-one lessons. Because they were constantly in the spotlight, it felt like a kind of test or performance for many, and that had the opposite effect.

That’s why I developed a new teaching method, where people don’t have to play ‘for the teacher’ alone. They play together with others, with backing tracks, in a relaxed setting. The difference is that they stay motivated much longer and have much more fun.

Conclusion: More than music – an upgrade for your brain

Playing piano is not just a hobby. It is a mental investment. You train your memory, increase your focus, build resilience, and become more creative.

For children, you lay a solid foundation, not only musically, but also emotionally and cognitively. For adults, it is an opportunity to grow, relax, and stay sharp.

I am happy to help you with this, here at Studio MusicalMente in The Hague. Whether you are a beginner or have some experience, it always starts with a good conversation.

Ready to start? Book a free introductory meeting of 15 minutes. We’ll discuss your goals, and I’ll show you how to begin your musical journey.

Who am I?

I am Luca Ridolfo and I founded Studio MusicalMente in 2018. I’ve been driven by music since childhood. But I wasn’t a Musical Prodigy. I had a lot of fun making music and a drive to learn more about it. My music teachers supported me and always encouraged me to continue.

And indeed, I continued so that I completed a music education at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. And even now, I never stop learning.

I firmly believe that everyone can improve their musicality and that this should not be reserved only for children. That is why I decided to open a music school for adults in The Hague.

I believe that learning creative hobbies with experienced role models is one of the best ways to develop new skills and learn more about oneself.