There are a lot of articles discussing how playing (and learning) music can develop the Brain in positive ways included are some good quotes:
“There’s a lot of evidence,” Gaab says, “that if you play a musical instrument, especially if you start early in life, that you have better reading skills, better math skills, et cetera. The question is, what is the underlying mechanism?”
Additionally, the study showed that students who played instruments in class had more improved neural processing than the children who attended the music appreciation group. “We like to say that ‘making music matters,’” said Kraus. “Because it is only through the active generation and manipulation of sound that music can rewire the brain.”
There are a lot more articles on this subject matter but below are some interesting ones to start off with.
http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2014/07/music-language-brain
