Every time a musician practices, their brains rewire by strengthening synapses, building new neurons, and rebuilding the myelin sheath.

The Grammy Awards on Sunday will celebrate the most accomplished musicians of our time, although a neuroscientist at Oregon Health & Science University says music is a boon for virtually anyone who can carry a tune.

“It turns out that practicing a musical instrument might be the most difficult and challenging thing a human brain can do,” says Larry Sherman, Ph.D., a professor in the Division of Neuroscience at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at OHSU.

Image is in the public domainSherman says there’s a case to be made that the communal activity of playing music together has likely bound human communities together for thousands of years.

Sherman’s own research focuses on neurodegeneration, especially in conditions such as multiple sclerosis in which myelin, the protective coating around the nerve fibers in the central nervous system, becomes damaged.

Since his initial joint appearance with Grammy-nominated vocalist Valerie Day and jazz pianist Darrell Grant in Portland in 2008, Sherman has spoken regularly on the neuroscience around music, love, chocolate and even racism through venues such as Science on Tap.