The Brains of Musicians - Dr. Ellen Winner on Neuroplasticity

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Dr. Ellen Winner, of the Arts and Mind Lab at Boston College, is an expert on child prodigies and learning in the arts. In this clip of our fascinating chat, Ellen discusses the cognitive development and brain plasticity of musicians as we age. Can an old dog really learn a new trick?

[jbridgehall]

I started playing the viola at 80 years old and I’m told my progress is excellent! It’s never too late and you can teach an old dog new tricks!!😀

[whatabouttheearth]

the larger parts of musicians brains is where the crazy lives

[Rockstarguitarstudio]

This is very interesting stuff. I don't think you should get discouraged by this interview, as some of you seem to be.
Nowhere did she say you can't learn new things, only that there is some evidence that it will be harder. The real reality though, is that kids have more time to practice than adults. If an adult dedicates several hours of proper practice a day, they will advance fairly quickly.

I've been teaching guitar since a year after I started playing (around 18-19 years now). I've taught many seniors successfully. My oldest student was already 68 when he started. He had just retired and had always wanted to learn guitar. He started practicing 2-4 hours per day, because he easily had the time and enjoyed it. He went from beginner to a high intermediate- somewhat advanced skill level in less than a year. He had never played another instrument, and he was significantly less coordinated than many other students when he started. He simply put in the time necessary, with proper guidance of what and how to practice.

Bottom line, it's more about having enough time to dedicate to learning something, practicing the right material, in the correct manner, than how old you are when you start.

[SuperRichierich]

My thought is that it is not simply playing that makes a player good, but what you play as well. This means that factors other than the physical aspects of practice inform your playing, so listening to music and how you interpret that music counts too.

[gavinjones]

As an English monoglot, i moved to Italy at age 51. I have never had any success learning languages, though i tried hard to speak italian. At age 56, I started to study music and play bass. As my musical ability improved, my language skills improved too. My memory became notably better.
This is clearly an anecdotal case and far from a scientific study. That said, I am now 59, reasonably fluent in Italian, making rapid progress in both theoretiacal and mechanical aspects of music and i have absolutely no intention of quitting bass. For myself, the benefits reach far beyond the music (which I love) and are significant enough that they cannot be ignored.

[clarkewi]

Fascinating. I have played music since I was a child and played drums and a little guitar in several small combos, big bands and orchestra's. by the time I graduated university. But my working life took a completely different direction as a graphic designer and later high school science teacher. I am getting ready to retire and am trying to revive my interest in jazz guitar playing. It's hard work but I am progressing slowly. Playing music seems to stimulate the brain so I think its good for health and well being.

[stringbenderbb]

Very interesting but...I learned Handstand walking after the age of 35 and made my biggest improvements regarding Guitar echnique since Cracking the Code started. Picking the trilogy lick or the Gilbert lick are possible after a good warm up. I am 41 now. Regarding younger people and skills my observation was, that they get it fast and loose it fast.

[TheCompleteGuitarist]

I can tell you now that the brains of prodigies are the same as most people's regular brains. Everyone more or less becomes a prodigy in speaking their native language and musical skills emanante or are processed in the same part. What makes a prodigy is access to the language of music and suitable encouragement at the stage in which languages are easier to learn by children. The key to becoming a great musician is access to sufficient good quality aural resources and the information age with platforms such as youtube have enabled a rise in virtuoso musicians and polyglots. It's hard to learn a foreign language if you never hear it. I speak as a language teacher/learner and musician and music teacher with 35 years experience observing these two phenomenons.

[rafaelmch]

I was born a musician and started playing by ear when I was 9, when my grandma was gifted a keyboard. I went on to study the piano and play the guitar and bass by ear. I also studied how to produce electronic music. I definitely think u can become a musician but my 2 sisters and mom started studying the keyboard when I did (before I studied the piano) but they all gave up and probably don't care enough to remember how to play it.

[janetread]

I started violin lessons at 65 when I retired. I’m now at Intermediate level after 8 years, and it’s been a hard slog, but I really enjoy it. I hope it helps my brain!

[ForViewingOnly]

A really interesting video, thanks. If Dr. Ellen happens to be reading the comments, I just want to tell her she is a very beautiful woman!

[castelodomar]

@Troy Grady
I speak 4 languages and learned computer programming languages by anchoring the concepts to my spoken language skills. I've since gone on to playing guitar, ukulele, bass, and percussion over the past several years. I learned music theory quite easy by viewing music as a language and anchoring it to all my other languages. It's about chunking and associating it with previous knowledge. It's about nailing down the bigger picture and seeing patterns and concepts. So with playing guitar, I was able to learn it and apply skills across other instruments. I'm nearly 50 now but I haven't slowed down. My friends think I'm a "genius" now that I've got my PhD and am fluent in a bunch of languages, plus playing music, but the honest truth is that no one sees how much time I invest in my learning and practice. To be fair, I'm anything but a professional musician, but I can finally hold my own now and am excited to keep learning. Bottom line: there might be some nature as a factor in my abilities, but it's mostly been obsessive learning, practice, and application.

Keep up the great work! I really liked your Cracking the Code series!!

[annazully]

currently taking a neuroscience course and am learning the piano quite profusely so this is a v interesting topic!

[OmniaViridis]

I would love to have my brain scanned. For so many reasons. I'm insanely musically inclined and I have bipolar so I've always wondered how those factors effect my brain.

[itsjavaman]

I Always thought that it was the same for muscle memory and growth. I used to ride a bike longer distances as a kid. I put cycling away for a few years, at a time but always seem to ne able to pick up where I left off so to speak. it's like waking up the body. after a long nap.

[joniarmel]

I’ve been singing since 4 years old. Stated listening to music at 5. Wrote poetry at 13. Learned quitar at 9. Self taught piano . Wrote lyrics and music and recorded eighty songs . Just stopped all this in 2019. I was absolutely miserable. I had to rewire my brain to push away words. Learned to sleep and shut down my thoughts. Learned to have normal conversations. The creative world of building a song is celestial. I’m just kinda numb right now . Just here. I miss it terribly.

[bobsmith-ovkn]

I only started seriously playin piano at the age of 20 or so, and after just 6 years or so, I can play pieces bordering on the absolute highest virtuoso literature available. I'm confident given another few years, that last level will be relatively easy to conquer (assuming I wanted to)

[paulthoresen]

Worth noting that most of the greats have been playing since they were kids, and sometimes taught by legends eg Satch got lessons from really practiced jazz musicians.

I hope in the future music is just like reading and writing, compared to the days when that was a rare and remarkable skill. Jamming with people is like having a wordless conversation, you get to really know people without even hearing them talk

[Javier-qkms]

When I was in colleague I heard young (around 19) and older (around 35) people say "I just can't learn it" without trying enough AND not having the proper mentor to quit learning maths and physics, they were stuck. I would seat and help my friends to study and very importantly saying "it is not that difficult, you can do this" and would see them going from failing tests to passing test. Can they reach an elite level? I don't know but I can say for sure they managed to overcome an emotional barrier "I can't" and then they would take off and improve their skills. I think there is bigger number of emotional distractions (pay the bills, feed the children, etc.) that makes people not able to focus as they would like to on learning something new, I am more concerned about really.

[dudldupiano]

This is really interesting. Thanks a lot !