When you read sheet music, play an instrument, and sing at the same time, your brain becomes a busy control center. It’s like running a whole orchestra 🎻 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅!

In fact, more than 25 different processes are happening in your brain all at once.

𝑳𝒆𝒕’𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏:

👀 𝟏. 𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑴𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑪 (𝑺𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑼𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔)

What your brain is doing:

• 👁 Looking at notes on a page

• 🎼 Figuring out what pitch (note) to play

• 🕒 Figuring out how long to play each note (rhythm)

• 🔊 Understanding signs for loud, soft, fast, slow, etc.

• 🎧 “Hearing” the music in your head before playing (called audiation)

✅ 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠: 𝟓

🎸 𝟐. 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝒀𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑨𝑵 𝑰𝑵𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑼𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑻 (𝑴𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑯𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕)

What your brain is doing:

• ✋ Moving your fingers, hands, or arms accurately

• 🥁 Making sure the movements are in time with the beat

• 🎚 Controlling pressure and speed to get the right sound

• 🎯 Adjusting when something doesn’t feel or sound right

• 🧠 Remembering where notes are on your instrument

✅ 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠: 𝟔

🎤 𝟑. 𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑰𝑵𝑮 (𝑼𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑽𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 + 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚)

What your brain is doing:

• 🎶 Controlling pitch so your voice is in tune

• 💨 Controlling breathing and posture

• 📖 Remembering the lyrics

• 🎵 Matching your voice to what you’re playing

• 👂 Listening to yourself and correcting mistakes

• 💓 Adding emotion or expression to your voice

✅ 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠: 𝟔

🧠 𝟒. 𝑴𝑼𝑳𝑻𝑰𝑻𝑨𝑺𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 (𝑷𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑻𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓)

What your brain is doing:

• ⏱ Keeping everything in time (beat, rhythm, voice, fingers)

• 👀 Paying attention to what’s coming next in the song

• 🔁 Switching focus between reading, playing, and singing

• 🧘 Handling nerves, emotions, or audience reactions

• 🧬 Making sure both sides of your brain “talk” to each other

✅ 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠: 𝟖

🎯 𝑮𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑶𝑻𝑨𝑳: 𝟐𝟓+ 𝑩𝑹𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑪𝑬𝑺𝑺𝑬𝑺 𝑨𝑻 𝑶𝑵𝑪𝑬

That’s right—when you sing, play, and read music at the same time, your brain is handling more than 25 different jobs all at once!

🌟 𝑾𝑯𝒀 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑰𝑺 𝑨𝑴𝑨𝒁𝑰𝑵𝑮

Doing this kind of multitasking regularly helps you:

• 🧠 𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚

• 🎯 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

• 🤹 𝑩𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

• 💖 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔

• ⚡ 𝑫𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈

𝑵𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎-𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔—𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈! 🎼