No matter if you’re a musically inclined person or not, it always benefits a person to learn to play an instrument. Learning an instrument could change your life, or at the very least give you a fun anecdote about how awful your trombone phase was.

It actually helps with your memory! When you play an instrument, you not only have to remember what notes you are meant to play and what the melody sounds like, you have to remember and learn the techniques to use your hands/mouth. Muscle memory is a phenomenon that allows you to enhance your understanding of ability, particularly a sport or an instrument. For example, if you’ve been driving for a long time, your feet get used to the amount of pressure they need to apply to the pedals in order to drive at a consistent speed. One could argue that practicing a musical instrument could strengthen your muscle memory and general memory, making it easier to develop in other areas.

It also opens up other opportunities for you. Interesting talents can make you seem a better candidate for many things. Perhaps when you apply for college, you have the extra experience of playing cello in a youth orchestra. You’ll likely be considered a better candidate as opposed to someone with the same school credits but no instrument – it makes you seem interesting. In a different scenario, maybe your best friend is getting married. They ask you to do something at the wedding for them, but you hate giving speeches. If you played an instrument, you could perform that for them instead.

Finally, it’s fun and lets you connect to your interests on a deeper level. Have you ever seen a movie/tv show or played a video game and fallen completely in love with its soundtrack? If you know how to play an instrument, you could learn to play it! You could even create themes or music for things you like that don’t have a soundtrack. One fun idea is creating your own “villain theme” or “hero theme”.

All those reasons should be plenty to convince you to play an instrument. No go out and learn one!