Issue #3 Notes from The Music Hub February 16, 2025

How Music Helps with Problem-Solving, Part 4

Playing an instrument changes your brain.

There are numerous studies that show how music affects brain health, including the way the two hemispheres communicate.

Among other benefits, musicians have a thicker corpus callosum, which helps with cognitive processing and motor control.

What I want to talk about today is the way learning to play music helps with problem-solving. It does so in several ways, so this will be a multi-part series.

The fourth way music helps develop problem-solving skills is by encouraging patience and perseverance.

Learning to play an instrument is not a skill that can be developed overnight. It takes months, and even years, of effort depending on what your goals are.

It takes time to fluently read music or to train your fingers in patterns of movement. It takes patience and understanding with yourself to keep on trying when you make mistakes.

In a lot of ways, musicians develop nerves of steel.

Making mistakes and continuing to try is a normal part of the process.

You can't give up at the first mistake, or the tenth, or the hundredth.

You keep going, believing that with enough time and the right strategies you will figure it out and be successful.

As I mentioned in previous newsletters, trying new strategies and breaking the problem down are part of the ways musicians learn to solve problems.

But it can take time to see which strategy works best for you.

Some things just cannot be sped up. And the solutions to some problems simply take time to mature.

Learning music makes this truth very tangible.

It goes against the common desire for instant success, immediate access, and next-day delivery.

Learning to play an instrument teaches us to sit with a problem and let it resolve in its own time.

What's new inside the app!

This week, I had some tech trouble and did not have time to redo the videos. I will take this week to figure out the source of the problem. (Is it my software, the camera, or the adaptor?) I should have these videos edited and up next week. The PDFs of the songs for Lesson 20 are done, but they will not be helpful without the instructional video, so I will wait to put them up.

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• Instructional videos of theory concepts
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• PDFs of songs*
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• Community Forum and Private Facebook Group
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*Arrangements of songs that are still under copyright must be purchased separately to ensure that I comply with legal regulations and that royalties are properly sent to the right person.

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Happy Music Making!

Heather Niemi Savage, composer, pianist & educator

Founder of The Music Hub