There’s nothing quite like picking up a guitar and strumming out some chords. Listening to someone playing the guitar can be mesmerising, it can evoke emotion and a good guitar riff can bring out the best of a song. Many guitar players find a soothing, meditative quality to playing, along with the essence of creating music or busting out an acoustic version of their favourite song. But how does playing the guitar affect the brain?

More and more scientific studies have been looking into how people who play the guitar have different brain functions compared to those who don’t. What they found was quite astonishing and backed up what many guitarists may instinctively know deep down.

Guitar Players’ Brains Can Synchronise

You didn’t read that wrong! Yes, a 2012 study[1] was conducted in Berlin that looked at the brains of guitar players. The researchers took 12 pairs of players and got them to play the same piece of music while having their brains scanned.

During the experiment, they found something extraordinary happening to each pair of participants – their brains were synchronising with each other. So what does this mean? Well, the neural networks found in the areas of the brain associated with social cognition and music production were most activated when the participants were playing their instruments. In other words, their ability to connect with each other while playing music was exceptionally strong.

A cross section of CMA students practicing...
Mastery is best nurtured through diligent practice.

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How to Prepare For a Stage Performance

1. Learn your lines. Practice makes perfect, so think of learning your lines as studying for a test that if you fail everyone knows and you can not take it again. Use a highlighter to make your lines jump off the page. When studying, say the words out loud. Have a friend run your lines with you when you're not in rehearsal.

2. Learn your song. Singing memorization is just as important as dialogue. Lyrics can be tricky. Study and go over them as much as possible. Sing in the mirror so you can see what you look like while singing, this helps correct any mistakes you may or may not have made.Learn your notes and harmonies as well. Even if you know your lyrics, it won't sound as good unless you get the notes right.

3. Practice any dancing. You must have the patience and time' to work at it everyday. Take your time and learn the steps the right way first so you do not have to go back and slow everyone else down.

4. Decide how you want to affect the person you are talking to (or singing to) with your lines. Do you want to charm them, offend them, destroy them, etc.? This is called an objective and may change as you go through the rehearsal process and discover new things about the piece.

5. Always make a strong choice about your character. In other words, I "kind of" love the other person is a weak choice. I'm crazy about the other person is a strong choice. Ambiguity does not work on stage. Remember to exaggerate all character choices so that the story and your character come across clearly.

6. Next is blocking. This means learning where you are and where you have to go during a scene. In any play you've got to know what's going on around you so you can hear your cue to give a line or move in the scene.

7. On the night of the performance everyone is always nervous - it's a sign of sanity! Besides, being too relaxed and over-confident can hurt your performance