Mind boggling! Considering the possibilities of brain gym in learning to play an instrument

Abstract

This paper is one of the first presentations of research into brain gym's effectiveness in learning musical instruments. Brain gym (or Edu-K) is the popular, over-arching name for a system of exercises, approaches, and techniques intended to improve mental and physical performance. We explain the basic concepts and activities of brain gym and review the literature already published in other disciplines. We also track the short-term progress and experience of five instrumentalists when coached in brain gym. After one week, every participant rated brain gym as having a positive effect upon their playing. We also found that every participant had a more positive opinion of brain gym than they had prior to the experiment. While the findings are purely qualitative, they do suggest that brain gym has the potential to be an effective tool for music learning, and we encourage further research.