That means we’ve had music much longer than we’ve had widespread agriculture, which cropped up around 12,000 years ago. Making music promotes brain plasticityYour brain’s ability to rewire itself—called brain plasticity—is what allows you to learn new skills. Live music stimulates the brain more than recordingsYou might think a Spotify subscription is enough to get all these benefits and more, and it’s true that recorded music is great. The study monitored the amygdala of subjects listening to both recorded piano music and a performance by a live pianist. The live music “elicited significantly higher and more consistent amygdala activity,” according to the study, and there were more effects.