Many people say that learning an instrument makes children smarter. Is it true? Playing music does change the brain. Violin players have a bigger brain area for the fingers of their left hand. Six-year-old children who took piano lessons for 15 months also showed changes.

But a big study of almost 7,000 children found that music lessons did not really improve school grades or IQ. Play music because you enjoy it.

Studies have shown that musicians' brains differ from those of other people. In 1995, German researchers found that string players had a larger brain area for the fingers of the left hand, which press the strings, but not for the right hand, which holds the bow.

But did practice change their brains, or were talented people more likely to become musicians? A 2009 study followed six-year-old children, and those who took piano lessons for 15 months showed greater changes in areas for finger movement and hearing than the others. Many parents hope that music will also raise math scores or IQ. However, a 2020 analysis of 54 studies with 6,984 children found almost no effect in well-designed studies. Music training improves musical skills but does not raise general intelligence.

That musicians have distinctive brains is well established. In 1995, a German team using magnetoencephalography found that string players had an enlarged cortical representation of the fingers of the left hand, which press the strings, but not of the right, bow-holding hand, and the difference was greater in those who had started young.

Later work showed that musicians' brains responded about 25 percent more strongly to piano tones, and that professional keyboard players differed in gray matter in motor, auditory and spatial regions. Such cross-sectional studies, however, cannot rule out self-selection: perhaps people with certain brains become musicians. A 2009 longitudinal study addressed this by comparing six-year-olds who took 15 months of piano lessons with children who did not; the trained group showed greater structural changes, and these tracked gains in finger dexterity and sound discrimination.

By contrast, the popular belief that music boosts general intelligence fares poorly. A 2020 meta-analysis of 54 studies involving 6,984 children found that when groups were randomly assigned and controls did another activity, the effect was virtually zero. Small benefits appeared only in weaker designs. Even the 2009 study lacked random assignment, so family background may also have played a role.