Get Off That Cushion and Grab a Guitar: 7 Reasons Why You Should Be Making Music Instead of Meditating

Mindfulness is overrated.  And this is coming from a former monk who spent years living in caves and forests perfecting my concentration.  

Right now, mindfulness is the hot thing when it comes to quieting the mind, sharpening focus, and managing stress.  Meta and Google offer meditation rooms for employees to unplug and unwind in.  Schools in America and the UK are integrating it into curricula.  Dozens of mindfulness apps have exploded onto the market with the promise of sunnier days (in exchange for a modest monthly fee, of course).

The claims behind the movement are true.  Mindfulness can reduce stress, take the edge off of life, lower the risk of depression, and make life more enjoyable.  My problem is that a better alternative is being ignored for the shiny new thing on the block.  That better alternative is music.

From ancient Greece to Song China to Victorian England, music, not meditation, has been the go-to for focusing the mind and uplifting the heart. In clamoring after the false panacea of mindfulness, this thread of tradition and wisdom has been abandoned.  

In this article, I hope to convince you to pick that thread up again and weave it back into your life.  I'll cover seven main reasons why you should start making music (if you aren't already):

1. Improved focus.
2. Boosted mood.
3. Increased short- and long-term memory.
4. Improved executive function.
5. Strengthened bonds.
6. Better application in daily life.
7. More sustainable.

Read on to see why making music's among the best mental health habits available and how it beats meditation.

1. Playing music improves focus

I’ve taught meditation for over 10 years. For 99% of folks, it’s hard. Just sitting down with their eyes closed for 20 minutes at a stretch can be a monumental task. A flurry of anxiety and thought overwhelms them. Their to-do list runs on repeat. Old grievances haunt them. And for most, if they manage a 30-minute-a-day routine, they can expect to see modest gains in 4 weeks, but it’ll remain a slog for years before they can consistently sit down and enjoy the delicious silence of meditation.

Music, on the other hand, boosts focus without the slog.¹ There are a few reasons why it comes so easily:

1. Music is beautiful and, therefore, easy for the mind to focus on. To prove it, compare how easy it is to focus on your favorite song versus the breath.  The breath doesn’t even come close, but there is one caveat: it will take some time for absolute beginners to make their instruments sing.
2. Music provides instant feedback.  If you’re falling asleep or daydreaming, you’ll quickly catch yourself because you’ll repeat the same lines, skip sections, or suddenly wonder where you are in a piece.  With this feedback, returning and re-establishing focus is easy. What happens when you’re meditating, and you drift off?  You’re lost and might only wake up once your timer buzzes, leaving you unsure whether you were serene or nodding off.
3. Music engages the entire mind. Playing an instrument requires memory, coordination, listening, feeling, and focus, leaving little space for the mind to wonder what’s for lunch or churn over a nasty conversation from last week. Brain imaging scans confirm this.  While playing an instrument, huge swathes of the mind are simultaneously activated and at levels not found in any other activity save psychedelics.

2. Playing music boosts mood.

Whether it’s the primal screams of Cobain or the radiant symphonies of Bach, music makes us feel - and feel good. That’s why Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and Fonsi’s “Despacito” have over 14 billion views, and that’s why fans pay $28,000 to catch Adele at Caesar’s Palace. Music sends listeners into the depths of sorrow, to the heights of love, or adrift into a pleasant chill, all buoyed by joy.  Research confirms this, finding that listening to music (studied much more in-depth than actually playing music) offers a big boost in mood.² 

The mood boost doesn’t depend on the type of music. Even Nirvana’s gritty “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” or the growling black hole of SUNN O))) elevates listeners and buffers against depression.³  A new guitar player can quickly learn to play Ed Sheeran or Nirvana and find themselves similarly moved.  To achieve that same emotional power through meditation, though, expect to spend years grinding away on the cushion.

There’s one caveat worth mentioning. For those actively dealing with depression, listening to sad music can worsen negative feelings.³ So if a friend’s locking themselves up in their room and playing Chopin’s gloom-tunes on repeat, please stop them and introduce them to Jason Mraz.

3. Playing music increases short- and long-term memory.

Having a poor memory might seem mildly annoying when you have to ask three times for someone’s name or while foraging through desk drawers to find your car keys before work, but it’s actually far costlier than that.  Memory is fundamental to every area of life.  Whether it’s accurately recalling the details of a policy when speaking with a customer, pitching your product to investors, following through on the schedule you set out, or precisely remembering what you said over a phone call with your partner, memory’s important, and a weak memory hamstrings all other areas.

Despite its importance, our memory is now faltering.  Few can remember phone numbers, names, or historical dates with the same alacrity as their grandparents, in large part thanks to Google, smartphones, and ChatGPT.  Playing music addresses this shortfall by strengthening both short- and long-term memory. The former is necessary while learning to play new songs, correctly sequencing different sections, and jamming; the latter while recalling songs already learned and any variations you’ve experimented with. As you play more and more, your repertoire expands and, with it, your memory.

Meditation modestly improves memory due to general improved brain function, but that’s doubly true for music, which both enhances brain function and explicitly exercises memory.  This improved memory, in turn, leads to better outcomes in every other area of life, including less time wasted wondering where you left your car keys.

4. Playing music improves executive function (EF).

EF is the boss of the brain that's involved in making decisions, planning, problem-solving, adjusting tactics on the spot, and managing behavior. It’s also a powerful predictor of success, and numerous studies now show that playing music strengthens this crucial area of the brain.⁴ The results are unsurprising. Music is a rich, complex task that draws upon and directs the mind’s entire arsenal toward a single goal: playing that tune.

As mentioned, music is more than just focusing; it requires accurately remembering the piece, properly sequencing parts, playing in time and key, and synchronizing your mind, eye, ear, and heart.  Learning music also draws on a host of skills largely absent in meditation, such as problem-solving, compartmentalizing and segmenting complex tasks, and patiently pushing through challenges.

Meditation also increases EF, but it remains unclear which of the two is superior and in what ways.  However, like with focus and memory, there’s good reason to believe that music boosts EF more due to its cognitive richness and associated tasks.

5. Playing music strengthens bonds.

Imagine inviting your friends over to meditate for the afternoon. While in some small circles that might get you a 🫡, in many that’ll get you a hard 🥱. As an avid meditator and teacher, I’ve never invited friends over to hang out and meditate.  I have, however, frequently brought friends over to chill, jam, and listen to music. 

Meditation is fundamentally a solitary activity.  You can meditate much the same in your room as in a zendo full of monks.  There are some benefits to sitting together, but it's not as pronounced as with music.

Music is both a solitary and social activity.  You can hammer away at your drum kit by yourself, join a few musician friends for a session, or entertain a small crowd with your percussion prowess.  Playing with friends, in particular, is an excellent way to connect, as you must listen carefully, respond fluidly, communicate when things go awry, and join together in creative collaboration.  This trumps quietly staring at a wall next to another human doing their own thing.

Reaching that level of skill does take time, but after a year of regular practice, most musicians can perform in public or jam with friends without risking embarrassing themselves.  In these amateur performances, everyone, whether it's your six-year-old nephew, your grandmother, or your parents, can join in and tap their feet or sing along.  These moments bring friends and family together and add a patina of magic to the occasion.

With meditation, no way.  No matter how awesome of a meditator you are, you aren’t sitting on the stage at your brother’s wedding telling everyone to close their eyes and follow their breath.  Meditation groups are a thing, but it's what happens after the meditation that brings people together - cookies and conversation.

6. Musical skills apply better to daily life.

A healthy body is critical to every endeavor.  Filing tax returns.  Writing reports.  Going out on a date.  If you’re weak, listless, and sickly, you’ll pay for it in every other area.  The same is true of having a healthy mind, and music fortifies the mind.  The power of music lies in its ability to exercise a more diverse range of abilities than meditation.  The sweet craft improves focus, resilience, short- and long-term memory, executive function, and connections to others. All of these carry over into daily life, where they pay big dividends.

Meditation devotees are quick to defend that meditation sharpens focus and outperforms playing the violin or drums, but the truth is the opposite. First, training concentration through music is easier and more efficient for the reasons explained earlier.   Second, formal meditation is miles away from what single-mindedness looks like in the real world while music mimics the complexities of everyday life. 

While working in an office, you don’t just type out the same ten words over and over again for eight hours straight.  You have multiple, complex tasks and deadlines to juggle. Colleagues approach you to ask about projects while you’re busy writing an email. As you speak to a client, you must not only focus on what they’re saying but also consider objectives, policies, the client’s history, and the direction you want to move the conversation.  While discussing with your engineering team about how to solve an issue with overheating, you must listen to and hold several complex arguments simultaneously while processing, evaluating, and giving feedback on the one currently presented.

Following the breath won’t cut it, but playing Beethoven’s Symphony No5 on Piano will.

7. Playing music is more likely to stick.

Finally, music is a mental health habit that most folks are likelier to stick with than meditation. Sitting down and focusing on a mantra is challenging for most meditators. Many find it so difficult that they quit after a few weeks and decide it isn’t for them. As a teacher, I’ve seen this countless times, and I understand. Starting your day marinating in anxiety for 20 minutes isn’t nice.  For beginners with high-stress or chaotic minds, I suggest they explore other options to ground themselves and master the art of attention.  My go-to practices are sketching, exercise, or music.

For those that stick with meditation, most regularly enjoy the practice only after a few years of light practice - and that's including a few long retreats to give their serenity access a boost. That’s a very steep curve that most never overcome. They either give up on their mental health routine altogether or seek alternatives that fit better into their life: yoga, running, a long slow morning coffee ritual, or early morning walks through the neighborhood. What many don’t know is that music’s one of the best alternatives available.

Like with meditation, learning to play music has a learning curve, but it’s one of months, not years. Since most adults are already familiar with a musical instrument from childhood, that curve is often shorter.  And once you cross that threshold, there’s a world of beauty and delight at the tip of your fingers. 

With an infinite selection of songs, styles, and techniques, there’s always something new to learn or improve upon. Since you can select your favorite tunes, you can start your day making the music your ears and heart love. If you start in the morning, waking up is less of a chore when you have Mozart’s divine compositions awaiting you.

Between its ease of entry, the beauty of its tunes, and the diverse options available to keep things interesting, music is more likely to stick than meditation.  At the end of the day, the most effective routine is the one that you actually do.

The Downsides

Music has its disadvantages. The first few months include some boredom, frustration, and struggle before becoming familiar with the instrument and getting a few tunes under the belt. This craft also has a higher cost of entry, with solid instruments easily costing $100.  Music’s also less mobile than meditation.  You can meditate easily while waiting for a doctor’s appointment; playing the flute will get you thrown out. In addition, there are some practical issues with neighbors, dogs, and roommates.  Your neighbors aren’t going to call the HOA because you were sitting quietly in your room for too long.  They might if you’re blasting “Immigrant Song” from your amps at 11pm.

Another downside is that deeper meditative states are difficult to access through music. However, those states are usually accessible only to adept meditators who’ve spent thousands of hours training and, even then, can be elusive without dedicated daily practice. For a vast majority of folks, this is not a consideration.

Many senior meditators who can easily access those states still prioritize music or other arts in their daily routine for all of the other benefits it brings: better daily life application, improved memory, and increased EF.

Make Music, Don’t Meditate

If you’re looking for a daily activity to add to your mental health routine, choose music. It offers better and more benefits across the board compared to meditation.  Sharper focus.  Better mood.  More powerful memory.  Improved EF.  Stronger bonds with family and friends.  Better application to daily life.  And, finally, it’s easy to stick with.  There are always exceptions, so you should carefully assess where you’re at and weigh your options, but for most, my advice is to get off that cushion and grab a guitar.

References

1. Hudziak JJ, Albaugh MD, Ducharme S, Karama S, Spottswood M, Crehan E, Evans AC, Botteron KN; Brain Development Cooperative Group. Cortical thickness maturation and duration of music training: health-promoting activities shape brain development. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2014 Nov;53(11):1153-61, 1161.e1-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2014.06.015. Epub 2014 Sep 3. PMID: 25440305; PMCID: PMC4254594.
2. Schaefer HE. Music-Evoked Emotions-Current Studies. Front Neurosci. 2017 Nov 24;11:600. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00600. PMID: 29225563; PMCID: PMC5705548.
3. Taruffi, Liila, and Stefan Koelsch. “The Paradox of Music-Evoked Sadness: An Online Survey.” PLOS. October 20, 2014, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110490.
4. Zuk J, Benjamin C, Kenyon A, Gaab N (2014) Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Executive Functioning in Musicians and Non-Musicians. PLoS ONE 9(6): e99868. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099868.