Didn't learn a musical instrument? It may not be too late to benefit. A new study suggests that learning an instrument in your seventies may help preserve memory and reduce age-related brain shrinkage. Researchers found that older adults who continued practising a musical instrument over four years maintained their memory better than those who stopped, with the benefits most evident in brain regions involved in memory and learning.
The findings come at a time when preserving memory has become an increasingly important focus of healthy ageing. A 2024 study published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity found that cognitive decline can precede dementia by several years, underscoring the need for simple lifestyle interventions that may help maintain brain health as people grow older. The new research suggests that learning a musical instrument later in life could be one such intervention.
It’s never too late: What the study found
The research builds on an earlier intervention study conducted by the same team. In that project, older adults with no previous musical training learned to play the melodica, a small keyboard wind instrument, over a four-month period. The initial findings suggested that even a relatively short period of music training improved memory performance and affected brain function in areas associated with cognition.
Encouraged by those results, the researchers wanted to know whether the benefits would persist over time. They therefore followed the same participants for four years after the original intervention ended.
At the start of the original study, participants had an average age of about 73 years. After completing the training programme, some chose to continue practising their instrument regularly, while others stopped and instead engaged in different leisure activities. The researchers then compared changes in memory, brain structure and brain function between the two groups.
As described in the study, “few studies investigated these long-term benefits. In this regard, the current study tracked a cohort of older adults over four years after they had initially participated in a musical instrument training program.”
Of the participants available for follow-up, 13 older adults voluntarily continued musical instrument training for more than three years, while 19 discontinued their participation and pursued other activities. Researchers assessed verbal working memory, verbal memory and executive function using a series of cognitive tests. Participants also underwent brain imaging scans to examine structural and functional changes over time.
The findings revealed notable differences between the two groups.
“The continue group demonstrated better preservation of verbal working memory performance and right putamen gray matter volume over four years,” the researchers reported.
Participants who continued playing their instrument experienced less decline in verbal working memory, a cognitive ability that allows people to temporarily store and manipulate information. Working memory is essential for everyday tasks ranging from following conversations to remembering directions and making decisions.
In contrast, those who stopped practising showed the kind of age-related decline in working memory commonly observed in older adults.
The researchers found that the continued-training group also maintained greater volume in a brain structure called the putamen. The putamen is part of the basal ganglia and plays an important role in learning, motor control and cognitive functions, including working memory.
Importantly, the preservation of putamen volume was linked to better memory performance.
“Better preserved performance on behavioural verbal working memory tasks was correlated with better preserved gray matter volume in the right putamen,” the study noted.
According to the researchers, these findings suggest that musical instrument training may help preserve cognitive function by supporting neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganise itself throughout life.
The study also addressed a longstanding question in ageing research. Previous studies had shown that lifelong musicians often perform better on cognitive tests and have structural differences in their brains compared with non-musicians. However, it remained unclear whether these advantages reflected the effects of music training itself or whether people with naturally stronger cognitive abilities were simply more likely to become musicians.
Because all participants in the Kyoto University study began learning music only in later life and showed no major differences at baseline, the researchers believe their findings provide stronger evidence that musical training itself contributed to the observed benefits.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study to demonstrate the benefits of initiating musical instrument training in older age for mitigating age-related memory decline, brain shrinkage, and dysfunction in healthy older adults over several years,” they wrote.
How music may protect the ageing brain
Beyond memory performance, the researchers also examined how continued music practice affected brain function.
Their analyses revealed changes in the cerebellum, a brain region traditionally associated with movement and coordination but increasingly recognised for its role in cognition, attention and memory.
Participants who continued playing their instrument showed patterns of brain activity suggesting more efficient neural processing during memory tasks. Compared with those who stopped training, they displayed stronger activation within the cerebellum itself while relying less on compensatory activity in other brain regions.
“The combined evidence suggested enhanced cerebellar function and thus reduced reliance on other brain regions such as the cortical areas and brainstem for compensation,” the researchers explained.
As people age, the brain often recruits additional neural networks to compensate for declining efficiency in specific regions. The researchers suggest that continued musical training may help preserve the brain’s own specialised systems, reducing the need for such compensatory mechanisms.
The study found greater cerebellar activation, increased communication within the cerebellum and reduced dependence on broader brain networks among participants who continued training. Together, these changes point toward improved neural efficiency.
The researchers proposed that learning and practising music may continuously challenge the brain through a combination of sensory, motor and cognitive demands. Reading musical notation, coordinating finger movements, controlling breathing and monitoring auditory feedback all require multiple brain systems to work together.
The putamen and cerebellum appear to be particularly important in supporting these processes.
“The results emphasise the role of subcortical neuroplasticity in the cognitive benefits induced by musical training,” the researchers wrote.
The findings also support broader theories about how music influences the brain.
One explanation highlighted by the authors is the concept of the “Bayesian brain,” which suggests that the brain constantly updates internal models of the world based on new information. Ageing is thought to reduce this flexibility, making it harder for the brain to adapt. Musical training may help maintain this adaptive capacity by continually engaging learning and prediction systems.
The researchers also linked their findings to the “OPERA” hypothesis, which proposes that music strengthens neural networks involved in language and cognition because music requires high levels of overlap, precision, emotion, repetition and attention.
Together, these mechanisms may explain why musical training appears to support memory and cognitive health.
The authors noted that their findings align with previous evidence showing that musicians often demonstrate advantages in memory and executive function. However, unlike many earlier studies, the current research followed individuals who only began learning an instrument in older adulthood.
The researchers also suggested that music may offer a particularly valuable alternative for older adults who find physical exercise difficult because of pain, mobility limitations or other health conditions.
“For those who struggle to engage in physical activity due to body pain or other problems, playing musical instruments can be a great alternative. How fortunate that practising music has such a positive impact on the brain and cognitive function!” corresponding author Kaoru Sekiyama said.
Limitations to consider
Despite the promising findings, the researchers cautioned that the study had several limitations. The sample size was relatively small, with only 32 participants included in the final analysis. Participants were not randomly assigned to continue or stop training, meaning that motivation, interest in music or other personal factors could have influenced the results.
The researchers also acknowledged that all participants learned the same type of keyboard instrument, making it unclear whether similar benefits would occur with other instruments. Future studies involving larger and more diverse groups will be needed to confirm the findings and explore whether different forms of musical training produce comparable effects.
Nevertheless, the researchers believe the study provides compelling evidence that taking up music later in life can help support healthy cognitive ageing.
“Taken together, these results suggested the musical instrument training effects in mitigating age-related decline in verbal working memory and subcortical structure and function,” they concluded.
What experts say
According to Dr Lokesh B, Senior Consultant – Neurology, Aster CMI Hospital, Bengaluru, the findings are biologically plausible because the ageing brain retains the ability to adapt and form new neural connections through a process known as neuroplasticity.
"Learning a musical instrument simultaneously engages multiple areas of the brain responsible for memory, attention, hearing, movement and coordination. Regular practice strengthens these neural networks and keeps them active, which may help slow age-related decline in thinking and memory," he said.
Dr Lokesh noted that the study's findings of better preservation of verbal working memory, reduced shrinkage of the right putamen and more efficient cerebellar function are consistent with what is known about how the brain responds to repeated learning and skill development. However, he cautioned that music training should not be viewed as a treatment for dementia.
"While learning an instrument is not a cure for dementia, it can be an effective way to support healthy brain ageing when combined with regular physical activity, adequate sleep, a balanced diet and social interaction," he added.
Commenting on how much practice is needed, Dr Lokesh said the study reinforces that consistency matters far more than becoming an accomplished musician. He pointed out that participants who continued practising for four years after the initial training showed better cognitive outcomes than those who stopped.
"Older adults do not need to become expert musicians to benefit. Even short, consistent practice sessions several times a week may help keep the brain active, provided they are maintained over time. The type of instrument is probably less important than choosing one that is enjoyable enough to encourage regular practice," he said.
He explained that instruments requiring reading music, careful listening and coordinated finger or breathing movements can provide valuable mental stimulation, but stressed that making music a regular habit is what is likely to matter most.
For older adults with limited mobility or chronic pain, Dr Lokesh believes learning a musical instrument could serve as a useful complementary activity because it provides cognitive stimulation without demanding strenuous physical exercise.
"The key is to choose an instrument that feels comfortable to play, begin with simple lessons and practise in short, enjoyable sessions several times a week. Setting realistic goals and being consistent is more important than playing perfectly. Music should complement, not replace, other healthy lifestyle measures such as good nutrition, adequate sleep, social engagement and whatever level of physical activity is medically appropriate," he said.
This story is done in collaboration with First Check, which is the health journalism vertical of DataLEADS
