(5 min vid) TED-Ed: How playing an instrument benefits your brain – Anita Collins

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-playing…

When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. What’s going on? Anita Collins explains the fireworks that go off in musicians’ brains when they play, and examines some of the long-term positive effects of this mental workout.

Lesson by Anita Collins, animation by Sharon Colman Graham.