Why Playing Violin makes you Smarter

[@magicalcrystal7352]

Hilary Hahn got the biggest brain

[@giocosovelasco]

true! btw, second haha

[@milanvarghese]

I vote for Jascha Heifetz and Niccolò Paganini too!

[@giocosovelasco]

wait... SIMPPPPPPPP

[@nathatleue]

@@giocosovelasco PROUD SIMP GANG

[@owdy3973]

Paganini big brain energy

[@ogorangeduck]

I've been playing music for as long as I can remember (been reading sheet music probably as long as I've been reading; started on piano in a very low-key music school from 3-7 and after that switched to private lessons, and I picked up violin at 8, with lessons starting at 9), and I start college next year (planning on eventually getting a doctorate in neuroscience). And even aside from any cognitive benefits, playing music just makes me feel better mentally (chamber music is so refreshing)

[@gopracticenow]

Albert Einstein was a violinist but even he is a lingling in math some say he had trouble playing on time or he plays too quickly Edit:thanks for the likes stay safe

[@physicsjeff]

Some say it's because his metronome was not at rest... I'm sure some of you will get that one.

[@elfakyn]

well, if you can play it slowly...

[@hrobert745]

A beginner buys a $100 violin on Amazon. After a few months he says, “This violin is junk! I need a better one!” See, he’s smarter already!

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

Haha... definitely

[@sting1111]

Yes a $100 violin is junk, but you can spend just a bit more and have an instrument good enough for a student with a proper set up. No one smart is going to spend $2000 when they are a beginner, this is my opinion. The point is getting more people interested in playing this fantastic instrument and that is why I support the availability of affordable string instruments, great channel Olaf! We are smarter.

[@sirspongadoodle]

@@sting1111well the 2000$ violin is categorised as a intermediate violin on his website, but I agree most people would probaly be happy enough learning on the cheaper end… personally my 70$ violin has been good enough for me to learn stuff like vibrato and go to lessons with… but that may not be the case for every violin that price…

[@musicblossom5512]

0:00 and 0:24 is probably me if I ever go to Australia!

[@ahh1180]

Completely explains why I’m super smart 🤷🏻

[@10fingersmusic23]

I know right!

[@GarGlingT]

String rewind itself is the most messy than maths.

[@erniemiller1953]

I got a violin for my birthday! It is scheduled to arrive on November 9th. It's not a $2000 violin, but my guitar, mandolin, and banjo will make up the difference.

[@fournotrumps]

I started my daughter off as a 4 year old learning suzuki method violin. She was always top of her class through school. She ended up with Music degree with honours and a Law degree with honours. She works as a lawyer but is a very competent musician too. Start your kids off with music as soon as their fine motor skills are good enough....and have them taught a second language as well if they are not in a bilingual household.

[@xoco.ozomatli]

There was a study somewhere in Europe (forgot where) that looked at nun's brains and dementia. As many know, being bilingual can delay the symptoms of dementia, but it doesn't prevent it, just delays it. There was a very strong correlation between knowing 5 languages as well as a native speaker and practically eliminating the chance of developing dementia at all. I wonder if music would count as a language.

[@skutaf]

I have a counter argument. Prove causality - otherwise many can say only smart(er) people join violin club.

[@agnidas5816]

it is a good arguement. There have been FMRI and MRI studies done showing improvements however. As well there has been at least one study on children's IQ scores after introducing music lessons. Usually the tests are with piano students iirc.

[@zackeryhardy9504]

There are causal experiments that have been paired with the correlational data. Basically we already have the rat experiments conducted by Dr. Diamond which shows the effects of an enriched vs bare environments on rat brains. They had rats in a place with all sorts of toys, other rats, and overall a fun place for a rat to be. the other got put in a box with nothing. They found that the brains of the rats in the enriched environment had between 10-20% more grey and white matter than the rats in the other group. This became termed brain plasticity and is where the use it or loose it phrase came from. Now further experimental research in a variety of fields has shown that FMRI and MRI scans are able to accurately record brain activity and that high usage in areas lead read on those machines visibly leads to more brain matter than in groups who didn't have high usage in those areas. Also we have found though studies with similar to the one conducted by Dr. Diamond that higher grey and white matter leads to a smarter animal. The correlation is within the error of the tools of measurement and generally doesn't go the other way. The effect size is very high along with a very high B value in laboratory settings with manipulated subjects. Now it isn't fully experimental, but it is pretty darn good and has very good replicability. So we have FMRI and MRI scans are a good tool for measuring brain activity, and we know that brain activity increases intelligence. Now with the FMRI and MRI studies we have set up control groups and experimental groups to show not only that playing an instrument activates your brain, but it activates a lot of your brain. SO through the method of brain plasticity playing an instrument is proven to make your more intelligent just like activities such as ballroom dancing, playing chess, and other activities make you smarter. Its nothing unique to instruments that makes you smarter, but it is a way to keep your mind active which acts positively towards brain plasticity. Not to mention it is bound to brain plasticity, so you can only take it so far. There is a point at which it doesn't make you smarter in that your brain can only do so much without producing new brain cells which it doesn't do. So you are also bound by genetics in how far you can take your mind. But you can ensure that its being used at peak performance for your genetics. There is also a lot of data in terms of developmental psychology as to why an instrument is specifically developmentally advantageous, but I will say that its a lot of quasi experiments and correlations with mediators being used to explain variability which are based on experiments. There is experimental data on enrichment similar to the rat studies on monkeys which has been generalized to people through correlational studies and quasi experiments. And musical instruments are enriching when it comes to brain development as proven by the FMRI and MRI studies.

[@spick1923]

@@zackeryhardy9504 isn't the genetic argument used to justify a poor education system that fails to stimulate children with diverse needs? All sounds a bit brave new world/gattica to me.

[@zackeryhardy9504]

@@spick1923 Well it isn't certain of course. But genes play a pretty significant role in a lot of aspects of our personality. Under the current paradigm the consensus is that your genes dictate your baseline temperament which interacts with the environment to form your overall personality and various traits. Its both genetics and environment. The extent to which one is more important to the other is very debatable since its super hard to get an exact number on theses sorts of things. The current guess based off of many scientists gut feeling is 60% environment and 40% genetics, but it isn't a scientific assessment. There have been studies that have tried to do this, but they are rittled with confounds which have rendered them not very usefull. At the end of the day science is science and people will misuse it. If someone is using it as a justification for a poor education systme, then they don't understand the science. they meerly cherry picked the papers that go with their viewpoint while ignoring the papers they don't agree with.

[@firelunamoon]

Well one obvious reason playing the violin makes us smarter is because we watch Olaf's videos!

[@musicblossom5512]

Exams coming up. Let me just practice a bit...

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

Haha... good plan. But really, I'm pretty sure that practice breaks while studying can help. Actually I would love for people to experiment with playing while memorising... I suspect that the brain might create stronger neural connections... (don't take my word for it though... it's just a hypothesis)

[@musicblossom5512]

@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker I think I'll definitely give that go since I have a lot of material to remember! I think practice breaks (for me anyway) will be a lot more productive than checking social media for example as well. It would be interesting to experiment!

[@somebody9009]

*sigh* i've been playing violin for 3 years now and i'm still known as the idiot in class. only if playing violin can shield you from being the number one target for bullies

[@musicblossom5512]

@@somebody9009 I’m really sorry to hear you’re getting bullied. Keep playing the violin (especially if it’s your passion) it will hopefully take your mind of things, and even if you don’t understand, keep trying your best in class. I’m sure everyone has had moments where they feel like they don’t get anything. I know I have and I play instruments too! You don’t have to listen to or believe anything bullies may say. Hopefully there are people that truly support you and want to see you succeed. Stay with them :)

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

@@somebody9009 Hang in there... nobody deserves to be bullied. It's always a good idea to find a like minded group of friends who also love playing music.

[@gracehernandezvdghb7819]

great video olaf! i really appreciate your work and your videos, so keep it up😊 greetings from the philippines!

[@gracehernandezvdghb7819]

oh 15 likes already? thanks for the likes and the heart, guys

[@grandmestredespoulpes2435]

I personally experienced something interesting : I used to play music when I was in a conservatory for music from 8 to 13 years old, at school I was particularly good in maths. At fourteen, due to a personal event, I stopped making music and I haven't been able to play since then (I recently turned 30 years old) but I remember clearly that starting 14 years old my marks fell down to the point that I nearly failed a school year, and my parents had to pay me private courses to avoid this failure. Since then I wasn't particularly good in maths anymore, but when I turned fifteen, I discovered a passion for cinema and its language (you know, acting, lights, colours, staging... musics), and even if was still not good at maths, my level in litterature improved very fastly. It's nice to see how your activities influence your brain development :)

[@sentimapathill3756]

Can you make a video about different types of violin makers? I think that would be really funny!

[@mulburncheesefits2201]

Your violins are so beautiful!! 😍 I wish I had money 😂😂

[@a.g.5590]

I started learning two years ago when I was 28 years old. It's my first instrument. Playing the violin honestly is a full brain workout. I often sweat during practice, even though I am standing still. Sorry TMI :D Greetings from Germany!

[@shimaass32]

Acutally mr olaf , i am in the process of convincing my parents to buy me a violin to practise it as a hobby beside the hectic college schedule of mine 😂😓 Thank you very much for your advice 💝

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

Yeah I knew that comment might help someone 🙂

[@icedcha]

This is in my youtube recommendation but I like it :D plus I'm not a native speaker, and my listening skill is a little bad actually. So thank you for the subtitle! :) it really help me.

[@brayanarroyo3053]

I literally live in the United States and I can’t wait to be old enough to travel because I want to purchase a violin from this guy.

[@philipq6906]

You can find a lot of good workshops in States

[@shipsahoy1793]

👍👍👍 Started in my youth playing acoustic and electric guitars, then bass, and eventually flute and saxophone, and I have played out on every one at one time or another. Now older, kids have gone independent, and I still don’t feel smart enough, so I’ve been learning violin these days. My grandfather always wanted to play the violin, he loved the sound of it, so I decided I would see how far I could go with it in his honor before my time has passed. Cheers Olaf !!

[@RachaelLongLastName]

The Berg Concerto has seen better days

[@RachaelLongLastName]

He finally understood the Pythagorean Theorem

[@stellajacobson231]

For as long I've attended school in any form or way I've always played either the violin or the viola. On top of that I've had a lot of problems in school such as concentration and being able to understand and take in new information. But everything ended well and my grades ended up being better than me nor any of my family would've hoped for, due to my problems, when I graduated high school. I wonder what differences there would've been if I hadn't have had music as a hobby and in that case, music saving my grades to a certain degree. (It's not my meaning to sound boastful or anything. I'm just wondering :))

[@nicoleanneveracruz7838]

When I was still studying, I was tested multiple times and revealed to be left brain dominant. I started playing violin and a bit of piano. I now test inconclusive or sometimes left, sometimes right side dominant.

[@dewaynebigmac1]

Enjoyed that, it was fun. Thanks 👍

[@justinblake7355]

All musicians are smarter, except drummers. Lol, just joking. One of the most brilliant musicians I have ever known was a percussionist, but it is fun to pick on drummers ;p

[@agnidas5816]

Bullies like to pick on people... There are far better activities to engage with...

[@uweschollmeyer9409]

Do you know what the people are called that like to hang around with musicians? Drummers

[@prestochango1800]

I'm not accusing anyone here of anything, Olaf's videos are a lot of fun and are often very informative. But while on the subject of viewing other's intellectual abilities based on their musical IQ, I know many music snobs who look down on others, for example folk musicians. Many times these guys can read and play sheet music, as well as play multiple instruments. There are a couple who I know personally who also compose their own music. Yet they are often dismissed due to the type of music being played. I am learning to play the violin and love it but you know a good fiddle tune now and then sure is a lot of fun. I love all the luthier videos, thank you for sharing your gift with the world.

[@ericrickert3045]

Watching Olaf makes you a smarter violin player!

[@mellissadalby1402]

I bought a Piere Lomont Master violin from Olaf Grawert and I really love it! It is a wonderful instrument, and setup perfectly. It is definitely a better instrument than my ability to play it (but I am improving, and having a really nice instrument makes me want to play more). Oh yeah, it is visually beautiful as well. I also like the Fluriel bow that Olaf sells.

[@Cote_d_Azur_Ceramics]

Hello, Olaf!!! I hope you will see my comment You're such a wonderful person, you are so inspiring and energetic! A had a really bad depression some time ago and your great passion to your work helped me a lot those times!!! Thank you *very much*

[@violinfanatickamraz1403]

I appreciate your skits Olaf. Cheers from USA

[@jinghuayu9829]

I really like your videos. Easy to understand and knowledgeable. I’m learning violin from 0 knowledge and your videos did help a lot for beginner to understand more about violin other than just practice ( well, practice is very important, 40 hours a day is essential LoL) My daughter just upgraded her violin to 3/4 size 3month ago, we will for sure to do the service at your studio when the time comes. Luckily we are in Brisbane. Yeah! And I will sure put a big investment into her 4/4 violin. We will follow you and hopefully when we get there, you have a perfect violin to suit her. Btw, can you please do a Video to talk about the bow? Thanks in advance

[@kaitokid3593]

Woah.. I have hope.. Been learning Violin for just 10 months and almost 2 years in guitar. I just notice that since a started playing instruments. I can now fairly understand our math lessons but not totally. I think playing instruments really helped.

[@rhondabuhler2984]

In June I injured my left hand and was unable to play for about four months. I got pretty grumpy without that emotional outlet 🤪. Thankfully I was able resume playing in September.

[@ЕленаБыкова-о3ъ]

Olaf, thank you for this video, continue doing them. I study lots of new facts because of you!✨ Greetings from Russia)

[@firefly-pd9ho]

I absolutely love the positive energy from your videos!

[@nihaimamoniquestamper7670]

Thank you for this teaching.

[@akimbogeo11]

You’re terrific. Thank you.

[@Hey78216]

Love videos like this. You've got some amazing content Olaf.

[@zackeryhardy9504]

So I will say as someone who has read the research that what matters is not necessary the music itself, but the act of using your brain makes you smarter. For adults its about brain plasticity or for in lamens terms, You use your brain or loose it. Playing a musical interment requires the usage of all different parts of your brain as it is a complex task. That means that you are using a lot of your brain which is a way of keeping your brain from degrading. In children what it does is allows for stimulation of different areas in the brain which allows for better outcomes developmentally. It requires the usage of fine mussel movements, thought process in terms of rhythm and timing, and the also understanding the emotion of music and its sound which utilizes a variety of brain lobes. Not to mention practicing helps with patience and discipline. All of these things lead to smarter and more competent people when they get older. Brain neurons get pruned away when they aren't used while neurons that get used get strengthened. In establishing these pathways you allow your brain to make itself more efficient. But its not only instrument playing that has this effect. Ballroom dancing is actually an exceptionally good task as far as utilizing your brain goes. Its actually slightly better in that it works out more muscles and requires all the same parts of the brain that playing an instrument utilizes. Basically using your brain makes you smarter and playing the violin requires you to use your brain.

[@langhamp8912]

A lot of ballroom dancers, including me, also play some sort of musical instrument. I'd say there's an awful lot of overlap between those two.

[@zackeryhardy9504]

@@langhamp8912 Fair enough. The ballroom study was actually done with nuns and with the intention to analyze the development of alzheimer's. Intelligence was one of the various measures that was included with that study. It is some interesting stuff.

[@langhamp8912]

@@zackeryhardy9504 An easier, faster, and more reliable way of seeing if a person is intelligent is to simply see if they are good-looking.

[@zackeryhardy9504]

@@langhamp8912 I personally am not sure as to the accuracy of that, But I am sure someone has done the correlations.

[@ylisa1]

Even viola players? :o

[@guitarmanjoe9450]

so then does that mean luthiers are even smarter than your average musician

[@billjordan8779]

There are luthiers who are not very good at playing the instruments they build and repair.

[@guitarmanjoe9450]

@@billjordan8779 no shit he never said if you play an instrument well he said if you play an instrument

[@noominenne7782]

And violists must be the smartest, playing in the alto clef, a mind bender.

[@vanilla5576]

Olaf is just actually telling us to practice.

[@gieripaucar9454]

Love this!!!!! All the time.

[@yiacrazy]

Ask Olaf... I can't come all the way to you. How to you find a trusted place to buy an instrument? I'm in the US and around me, there are "box stores". I don't want a "CSO". What would a comparable Cello that is the next step past a "beginner" instrument? I want to enjoy my instrument, but I doubt I'll move on to anything beyond.... Thanks. Love your content...

[@brattingprincess]

I would look to your local luthiers esp in this terrible economic climate. If you find the luthier sketch you can walk away. If you have a seriously tight budget where you may or may not be able to buy a CSO even, I recommend sharmusic.com 100% because though the cheapest are barely NOT CSO, they def aren't CSO.

[@yiacrazy]

@@brattingprincess that link took me somewhere that is not about instruments. I did find someone local though. I have to make an appointment because of Covid, but she seems to be a good place to start. Thank you.

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

@@yiacrazy Have a look at my video about how to find a good instrument. There are some things to look out for. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIDRZauNjbeCpbc and a bit more about the price range to look for: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6jUcqesitRpqNk If you have a good luthier, it is best to go local, because you can build a relationship. When it comes to online, make sure that the instrument is really well set up and the place has an extremely good reputation.

[@MartinPodholaMlok]

I am a hobby player, I am a programmer (Ruby, Rust, neural networks) and unix server administrator :). But I studied high school jazz guitar. I think it is real, because we are training our brains differently, very intensively and creatively. Sorry for that, but I must say, instead of playing video games or just staring at TV :) (we do not own TV at home :))

[@cassandraloki2846]

Hi! Can i get your luthier expertise in knowing what makes the difference in the sound between a bright stardivarius and a dark Del Gesus?

[@michellehobdari8920]

Playing kazoo = 🧠

[@catalinaburgos6649]

Great video olaf! I wanted to ask something, how can I choose between two instruments? I play violin and flute but I need to choose one as my main, the thing is I don't know where to start. Maybe you could give me some insight... Anyway, thanks for the amazing content :3

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

What instrument gives you more joy to play Catalina? You can always pick up the other instrument later if it's a close contest.

[@fye00000]

Pure gold

[@rajasrisinharoy2687]

It's a great video, Olaf! Greetings from India.😊

[@bon_o]

Nice video

[@elonmust7470]

Hollywood doesn't know what they're missing, Olaf!!!

[@-E-M-M-]

I wish I live in australia ... :(

[@sakurahinata4984]

I'm actually planning to buy you one some day in 5 years. Is so sad the difference of the coin value 😢😢😢

[@Rimlightt]

Oh I've seen that video! Another reason why I wish I started at a younger age haha

[@eddyshair7880]

that was very InTerEsTiNg

[@siddharthsudarshanpandey325]

I am not a musician but a single look at these comments proves this point, a community which uses redundant jokes even if the channel is relatively small. If you go to another normal channel with 50k subs, and a vid with a 100 comments, you'll find that all the top comments are related to the subject matter of the vid. In a bigger channel, only jokes reach the top anyway because of "Wisdom of the crowd"(Brain Games, :p) . Also, Olaf is the man, only he can quote Ted-ed vids and make it sound genuine.

[@hobbybugs1286]

Nice

[@giangvu7902]

What is the name of the piece to the intro? Thanks

[@feb5th]

Are you smarter because you play an instrument? Or are you playing an instrument because you’re smarter? 🤔

[@lifewithjimmy4389]

I like a good sultry sounding violin but sometimes mine sounds hollow.😳after about a half hour it sounds better.😵‍💫

[@charleschia9642]

Hey Olaf, on the note of getting kids to learn violin and getting smarter, why don't you talk about violin sizing? I have a kid who is on 1/4 and the teacher is asking us to upsize to 1/2 for a better sound. His neck to palm is 1 cm shy of the 20 inch minimum that I see recommended on many websites for 1/2 size. Should we do it? What are the pros and cons to watch out for? He is 7 and is starting on Suzuki book 5.

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

The way I check is to have the player try to wrap their hands around the scroll. The player should be able to comfortably wrap their hand around the entire scroll. It's never worth changing too early. I hope that helps.

[@charleschia9642]

@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker Thanks Olaf. Well, he's not able to wrap around the scroll but he's able to play in tune. I dropped by a local luthier to have the strings changed and sought his opinion. He watched my son play the 1/2 and remarked that he looks like he could handle the violin, and we should just follow the teacher's directions. Well, I guess I'm not going to raise an objection with the teacher and go ahead with the upgrade. Hopefully, I'm 'smart' with this move.

[@frianaengineer9622]

Love this video 💖😂

[@Minunmaani]

I have braindamage from childhood 1990. This covidthing damages those areas that are already damaged in my brain, so I got this idea to buy violin to protect my brain as far it is possible. I have had violin for two weeks now, I practice every day from morning six to evening (with brakes ofgcourse). If I get the covid, I hope this helps. And, I really love that violin!

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

It's wonderful to hear that you are getting into playing violin? All the best on this wonderful journey

[@Minunmaani]

@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker Thank you! And the most, thank you for amazing content you put out for us!

[@gopracticenow]

Hi Olaf I have a question does it matter if the lines on the edges of the violin are engraved or its bad if its just drawn

[@gopracticenow]

Pamela Santini thanks so much

[@onigawara8850]

Will that explains why I can't play anything

[@giocosovelasco]

Olaf's smile can cure and disease lmao

[@10fingersmusic23]

So how much smarter are you if you play multiple instruments?

[@SoulTaker8281]

My mom won’t let me have a violin and I really want to learn it’s my dream to play a violin

[@GarGlingT]

Violinist maintaining themselves to save budget. It is difficult to tune strings already, this maybe true.

[@andy3704]

I like it 🤣👍

[@agnidas5816]

Piano makes you smarter than violin playing though. And being a multi instrumentalist even more. And one who also studied more than one language on top of that is even smarter. The younger the age at which you begin to study many things like that the smarter you end up being. And if you eat a healthy wholefoods plant based diet your cognition improves even more. Then you add some mindfulness meditation and your default mode network stops overacting and you can be practically better at all tasks involving cognition and your general stress levels plummet. Then if you consume nootropic substances or fungi on top of that you can be even smarter. And if with all that you also get a good nights sleep every night you get even smarter and your memory improves.

[@ericksonlk]

Funny thing... Playing Super Mario 64 "increased amount of gray matter in two regions of the brain-the hippocampus and cerebellum-but those who played the piano, did not".

[@nerdcartoon2544]

_When I'm playing on a VSO_ Yep that's why I'm dumb

[@zwz.zdenek]

As others have argued, it's a case of selection bias. Only children from wealthy families can play an instrument and they got wealthy because the family is smart. I keep seeing this around myself all the time - being smart is "wrong." Take two normal sets of children, give instruments & musical education to one, leave the other with regular school. See if the instruments really improve anything.

[@influennzapyloric4073]

Lol lower iq with a VSO--I'l take note of that! In all seriousness, this was cool and informative. I hope people will start playing or parents will buy a violin for their children to start, thanks to your video.

[@josequins9099]

0:47 hmmm, want something less shrill? A bit deeper? My man, get yourself a viola! #violasareunderrated

[@WatchOnYT]

So that's why Asians are more successful. Just kidding, I play a few musical instruments, and goodness, since I came back to playing, everything was just a lot easier on my mind. Go practise, your daily tasks will get a lot easier.

[@keithhicks1750]

Very interesting but I can see that the beard is false 😂

[@Bouzhe]

Well people who get their kid to play violin are most likely to be high mid to high class and generally tend to do better in school. So, music might help but I doubt it's the main reason.

[@bencze465]

You're right to some extent but not sure it's something directly related to rich people. I grew up in a communist country and were quite poor in a village where most people didn't even have cars and there were kids learning to play music. It was folk music so instruments related to that but a lot of violin. It's probably more like it takes people that care about their kids development, and people that are better off financially are usually there as they're more driven to be successful and want their kid the same. But it's not the money, it's what made them successful in pursuing a professional career in the first place. The idea presented here is probably not related to this, but to the concept that you train your brain like your physique, if you perform complex tasks often you'll be smarter.

[@marynazajda5719]

I am violinist

[@somebody9009]

is it just me or does it actually look like olaf just bleached the wig he used for the harry potter and the socerer's tone (and he's wearing round glasses). maybe the old (and probably greasy if he's going to play violin at such age) harry suddenly wanted to be the boy version of hermione and decided to learn violin

[@hellcatz25]

See that violists

[@TheVoitel]

Of course you need to be careful with such interpretations. Yes, being challenged helps to develop the brain, and playing music does activate lots of your brain. But then there are lots of other things that do too. But that is okay. But it get’s problematic when you look at people who play music vs all people and deduct that the first group is smarter *because* they are in the first group. There are all different kinds of causation that can exist in superposition. A can cause B, but maybe B causes A. Maybe A and B are cause by a totally different thing C. For example: Clearly we can see that the group of theoretical physicists is by a large margin smarter than the group of all people. But does that mean that being a theoretical physicist is making you smarter? Or does it mean only smart people become theoretical physicists? Well, for music it is unlikely that mainly smart people play music. But there might be things like: People who play music are often from middle to high income families. Low income families often cannot afford having their children play musical instruments, and often so not have the incentive to do so. But low income families often also cannot provide their children the same amount of academic support. Thus a group that is significanly less represented in the group of musicians might also be less represented in the group of smart people to an absolutely unrelated cause. Also we might see things like: Parents who have their children play an instrument might be more likely to also pressure the child for good academic results. There might even be complex things like: Smart people earn more on average than less smart people, thus giving them more opportunity to have their children learn an instrument, and these children might be genetically predisposed to be smarter. One might even argue that becoming musician is not a smart decision, as you won’t make a lot of money. So musicians just have more smartness left. But then I guess smartness is one of the things that increase if we spend it ...

[@superspicyspinalfluid6190]

oh so i'll become number 1 big brain?!?

[@Native_love]

Hmmmm, no comment.... 😁

[@superspicyspinalfluid6190]

i hope my grades go up

[@peacefulanthony2822]

Can’t wait for my Piere Lomont to get here so I can raise my IQ by 2000

[@eddyyaeji6769]

I can just feel the butthurts of Hundreds 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@lotsabirds]

Instrumentalists are smarter! The good doctor indicated that instrumentalists' brains are larger in five places! It therefore follows that instrumentalists heads must be larger in order to house their immense brains. Violinists, being the smartest of all instrumentalists have the largest heads of all ! LOL! It follows from this that Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot and in Tibet, Yeti....having an immense head, as well as large feet potentially can become the most incredible violinists of all. Rivaling Heifetz, Stern and Paganini...or is that Page Nine?....Bigfoot has been known to beautifully render Air on the G String, while holding a cello under his chin as if it were a violin! Vocalists, particularly opera singers, are also quite smart as evidenced by the sopranos big head, often covered by thick tufts of hair ...soprano singers are usually also noted for larger.......nevermind. It has yet to be determined why tenors have such large heads as their heads sizes seem not to be related to smartness. LOL!! I am, of course the exception....being a tenor who is almost as smart as a violinist while still having what is still considered a normal sized head! 🤣

[@AskOlaftheViolinmaker]

😂

[@sam8603]

Hey Violists, they said why violinist are smarter no violists so don’t get too ahead of yourselves lol

[@frogzlover]

And I'm guessing playing viola has an opposite effect? 'Cause it's a crappy instrument. (jk lol)

[@emjeez8242]

Not all violinist or musicians are smarter😆😅

[@grauenritter9220]

haha no

[@kristadzive]

sonds like propoganda