Lafaut Piano Studio

Your brain 🧠 on piano 😮

You won’t get it right the first time. You’re not supposed to.

But the only way to be great is to show up when you’re still terrible.

Progress comes from the courage to begin, not the perfection of the start.

Musicians vs Non-musicians

A survey commissioned by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has revealed that 61% of Gen Z (born 1997–2012) say the arts were one of the most valuable parts of their school experience, compared with 45% of adults overall.

Over half of the survey respondents (54%) stated that access to the arts at school helped shape their confidence, resilience, or personal development – a figure that rose to 69% among Gen Z. 82% of UK adults believe all children should have access to high-quality creative activities in school.

This growing appreciation among younger generations comes despite a significant decline in arts subject entries at GCSE and A-level. Since 2010, entries have fallen by 48% at GCSE and 31% at A-level, according to Campaign for the Arts. Over the same period, STEM subjects like maths and physics have seen increased uptake.

Two new studies suggest that playing a musical instrument—even if you start in old age—could help protect your brain from the effects of aging and stave off cognitive decline.

In the first study, researchers compared older adults who had played music for decades with those who hadn’t. Brain scans showed that the musicians processed speech in noisy environments almost as efficiently as young adults, thanks to stronger neural connections. Non-musicians, by contrast, showed more signs of aging and had to work harder to complete the same task.

But the more exciting finding? A second study found that even seniors who only recently picked up an instrument—and stuck with it for four years—had healthier brains than those who stopped. Their memory was sharper, and crucial brain structures like the putamen hadn’t shrunk as expected with age.

These results point to the power of cognitive reserve—the brain’s ability to compensate for aging or damage. And music may be a particularly effective way to build it.

So whether you’re strumming a guitar, playing piano, or learning the violin for the first time—your brain might just thank you.

🎵 It’s never too late to tune your brain.

📄 RESEARCH PAPERS

📌 Xueyan Wang et al, "Never too late to start musical instrument training: Effects on working memory and subcortical preservation in healthy older adults across 4 years." Imaging Neuroscience (2025)

📌 Lei Zhang et al, "Long-term musical training can protect against age-related upregulation of neural activity in speech-in-noise perception", PLOS Biology (2025)

A musical smile for Sunday.....thanks to Tim Paul for sharing......♫

Welcome to all my students! Hope your first day of school was amazing! Looking forward to making music with you!