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How Playing An Instrument Benefits Your Brain

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Did you know that playing a musical instrument is like taking your brain to the gym for a workout? Can you imagine how strong your muscle can develop by working out with weights. That’s nothing compared to the way playing a musical instrument can work out your brain! Check out the cute video below that shows what happens to your brain when you play a musical instrument.

There are many studies showing how beneficial it is for developing brains to learn a musical instrument. Like muscles in our bodies, it is beneficial for ALL ages to  play a musical instrument!

How Playing An Instrument Benefits Your Brain

I found it interesting that listening to music is good for your brain, but playing it is much better! Both sides of your brain. This is why the part of your brain called a ‘Corpus calosum’ increases in both volume and activity. It’s the bridge between the two hemispheres.

The video talks about musicians having enhances memory functions. We know that these benefits are unique to musicians as compared to other activities like sports and painting. The activities in your brain when playing an instrument are different than any other activity.

With the modern tools, we can actually take a peak in our brains to see what they do when performing different activities.

There are many reasons to learn to play an instrument. Helping your brain to develop is a good one to consider. This is especially important for kids as their brains are beginning to develop.

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At a Home-school Convention a number of years ago, a mom ran to our booth. She wanted to let us know that her teenage daughter just loved our program.

She told us that not only did her daughter love learning to play the guitar but all of her grades were going up too! I’m not surprised knowing what playing an instrument actually does to your brain!

Besides making you smarter, playing music is very therapeutic. Another student always told me that playing the guitar took him to a different place. All the stress of everyday life disappears.

Playing an instrument has a lot of benefits, but when it’s connected with worship, it’s in another whole category. We can connect to our living God through music!

 

Try Our Worship Guitar Class Lessons

Playing The Guitar Is Good For Your Brain and Using It To Worship Takes It To A Higher Level! Check Out Our Lessons Click Here To Learn More

Facebook Giveaway

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Facebook GiveawayChance to win Online Streaming Videos

In celebrations of completing our Worship Guitar Class main DVD’s into an online video format, we’re running another Facebook Contest. All the videos are now posted and to make it even easier, we’ve added more information inside the videos, like actually seeing the words and chords of the songs.

The new video format will work on any computer or mobile device, including iPads, iPhones, Smart Phones, and more. You can find the contest at the Worship Guitar Class Facebook Fan Page. 

Look for the big red tab that says ‘Giveaway’. When the current contest is over, you can find a signup form there to be notified of the next contest or event. If you have a mobile phone, tabs don’t show up for Facebook. To find the contest on a mobile device… click here. Be patient while it loads.

More info is here: Worship Guitar Class about the contest.

Music Is A Great Stress Buster!

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Live MusicI just read an article in the LA Times yesterday about how live music at a VA Hospital in Fresno makes a tremendous difference in the stress levels of the Veterans there. Good music is soothing to the soul. It’s both healing to hear and healing to play, especially with worship songs.

This isn’t surprising. When King David was young he spent hours playing music as a shepherd boy. Later, it was his playing the calmed the spirit of King Saul. Have you experienced that too? That playing music can bring you such peace.

At the VA Hospital in the article, they used money donated to improve the hospital’s aesthetics to hire first a harpist, then later a classical guitar player. They discovered that they didn’t see this same benefit with recorded music. I wonder what that recorded music was and if it may have been different than the live.

It’s nice to see that guitar music was beneficial to these patients. At one of our Worship Parties, a dear friend told me later that God had healed her heart through the worship. Keep playing your guitars and worshiping our Amazing God!

A neuroscientist, Mr. Levitin, said that music can actually adjust and alter your brain chemistry. The whole article is here – Live Music At Fresno’s VA hospital makes a big difference.

Guitar Practicing Tips

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How To Practice the GuitarStart with Prayer

As a Christian, I have always recommended starting any practice session with prayer. Paul says to do everything to God’s glory. I remember reading Brother Lawrence’s book years ago. He was a monk from the 1600’s who’s letters have become the book ‘Practicing The Presence of God.’ He talked about peeling potatoes to God’s glory.

The first tip in practicing your guitar is to start with a prayer. The Scriptures also say that you have not because you ask not. You can actually make your practice a time of worship. Thank God for His many wonderful attributes and ask Him for help with keeping focused on Him and with learning the guitar.

You can worship with instrumental music, too. I remember hearing Christopher Parkening, a classical guitarist, say that his motivation for playing the guitar had changed from playing to make money to playing for God’s glory, after he became a Christian. [Read more…]