Evidence indicates music training may be related to memory preservation in later life. University of Kansas researchers studied 70 healthy adults age 60 to 83 who were divided into groups based on their musical experience. The three groups of study participants included

• individuals with no musical training
• persons with 1 to 9 years of training
• persons with 10 years or more of training.

More than half of the musically trained persons played the piano while approximately a quarter had studied woodwind instruments such as the flute or clarinet. The musicians who had studied the longest performed the best on cognitive tests, followed by the low-level musicians and non-musicians

The results suggest a “strong predictive effect of high musical activity throughout the lifespan on preserved cognitive functioning in advanced age”.

Hanna-Pladdy & MacKay (2011). The relation between instrumental musical activity and cognitive aging, Neuropsychology, , Vol 25, 378-386.