Because making music involves crafting and understanding a songs emotional content and message, musicians often have higher levels of executive function. A category of interlinked tasks that includes planning, strategizing and attention to detail. The brains of musicians are different from the brains of non musicians. There are about 5 different areas where the brains of musicians are larger structurally. These include hearing and listening, motor actions to produce sounds, memory, emotion, attention, learning. Brain plasticity Brain plasticity refers to the brains ability to rewire itself, and create new neural circuits.  In the past, it was thought that only children could exhibit brain plasticity, however scientists have proven that adults exhibit plasticity as well. A famous study on juggling, published in Nature, showed that adults exhibited brain plasticity after learning to juggle.  It is interesting to note that, the brain returned to normal after they stopped practising. This means that you need to continue to play the piano in order to benefit from the increased brain function. Brain plasticity is how playing piano affects the brain.