Today’s #WednesdayWisdom is about how music can improve your memory.
Many of us are in awe of a musician’s ability to play vast tracts of music without the dots and, as with London taxi drivers, musicians who regularly learn and perform pieces of music from memory increase the brain’s ability to so do.
However, in addition to music (and related to the speech processing we featured last week), those with music training are also better at remembering spoken words (verbal memory).
A study from Germany recently showed that students in year two who spent 45 minutes a week learning a musical instrument recalled more words recited to them than children who received no musical training or those who spent the same amount of time in science class. Playing music also seems to boost working memory; your ability to temporarily store and use information that helps you reason, learn, or complete a complex tasks.
Yet another reason to ensure your child has music lessons or that you don’t stop playing.