Early piano practice gets brain on course for flourishing career

Early piano practice gets brain on course for flourishing career: "It is well-known that most of the world's great pianists were already practicing their scales and arpeggios while still under 10 years old, and the study, published in the Nature Neuroscience journal, shows that this is no coincidence.

Childhood is the best time in life to boost the brain's so-called white matter, according to the study, and boost the pyramidal tract, which is a major pathway of the central nervous system, transmitting signals between the brain and the pianist's fingers.

The scientists, who investigated the brains of eight concert pianists in their thirties who started practicing as young children, found that the pyramidal tract is 'more structured in pianists than in non-musicians'.
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