How Many Calories Do You Burn Playing Music?

Calories Burned Playing Music Calculator and Formula

Playing a musical instrument is one of the most rewarding activities that you can do in your free time.

Although you don’t need a lot of physical effort to play a musical instrument, the repeated exercises that you get by playing music can add up to create a significant impact on your health.

When you play a musical instrument every day, it can help you burn calories.

The calories burned from playing music calculator will help you find the number of calories that you can burn from playing music.

Weight in Pound

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Calories burned playing Musical Instruments (Charts)

The following table shows how many calories are burned while playing a musical instrument for 30 minutes by an average person weighing 180 pounds:

1Accordion, sitting1.830 Min170 Cal

# Activity Name MET Time Spend Calories Burned
2 Cello, sitting 2.3 30 Min 217 Cal
3 Conducting orchestra, standing 2.3 30 Min 217 Cal
4 Double bass, standing 2.5 30 Min 236 Cal
5 Drumming (e.g. bongo, conga benbe) moderate, sitting) 3 30 Min 284 Cal
6 Drums, sitting 3.8 30 Min 359 Cal
7 Flute, sitting 2 30 Min 189 Cal
8 Guitar, classical, folk, sitting 2 30 Min 189 Cal
9 Guitar, rock and roll band, standing 3 30 Min 284 Cal
10 Horn, standing 1.8 30 Min 170 Cal
11 Marching band, baton twirling, walking, moderate pace, general 4 30 Min 378 Cal
12 Marching band, drum major, walking 3.5 30 Min 331 Cal
13 Marching band, playing an instrument, walking, brisk pace, general 5.5 30 Min 520 Cal
14 Organ, sitting 2 30 Min 189 Cal
15 Piano, sitting 2.3 30 Min 217 Cal
16 Playing musical instrunments, general 2 30 Min 189 Cal
17 Singing, sitting 2 30 Min 189 Cal
18 Singing, standing 2.3 30 Min 217 Cal
19 Trombone, standing 3.5 30 Min 331 Cal
20 Trumpet, standing 1.8 30 Min 170 Cal
21 Violin, sitting 2.5 30 Min 236 Cal
22 Woodwind, sitting 1.8 30 Min 170 Cal

About Calories Burned Playing Music Calculator

Different musical instruments require a different level of effort for carrying and playing them.

For example, you need more physical activity for playing the piano as compared with playing the flute.

So, the number of calories burned is different for all the musical instruments out there.

Our calories burned from playing music calculator will help you find the total calories that you burn from playing different instruments.

This calculator is simple to use, and it calculates the calories burned based on your input, in a short amount of time.

It doesn’t matter the kind of musical instrument that you play, you can find the calories burned playing that instrument with our calculator.

How to use this calculator?

Here is how you can find the calories burned from playing music:

  1. Enter your weight in the calories burned calculator.
  2. Enter the time you have spent playing a musical instrument.
  3. Click on the Calculate button to find the number of calories you have burned from playing music.

Formula for finding calories burned from playing music

You can find the calories burned from playing music through a manual calculation approach as well. You will need to use the formula for finding the calories burned per minute for that.

Here is formula for finding the calories burned per minute:

Calories Burned Per Minute = (MET x Weight(kg) x 3.5) / 200

Note: The MET in this equation is the measurement of the energy cost of physical activity, for a period of time. The MET values are predefined for all physical activities including playing various musical instruments.

The above equation gives you the value for the calories burned per minute. You need to multiply the answer of the above equation by the total number of minutes you have spent playing music. This will give you the total number of calories burned.

Here are the MET values for playing different musical instruments:

  • Playing an accordion – 1.8
  • Playing a horn – 1.8
  • Playing a trumpet – 1.8
  • Playing a flute – 2
  • Playing a guitar – 2
  • Playing an organ – 2
  • Signing – 2
  • Playing a cello – 2.3
  • Playing a violin – 2.5
  • Playing double bass – 2.5
  • Playing a drum – 3
  • Playing a trombone – 3
  • Marching band with brisk pace – 5

Does playing music help burn calories?

Playing music is a low-impact physical activity. So, the impact of it is not quite obvious in terms of burning calories.

But still, if you play an instrument that is difficult to handle, your body will try to adapt to its weight. This is one of the ways playing a musical instrument can help burn calories.

Since your body is occupied when playing or practicing a musical instrument, it can lead you to burn calories and lose weight.

How many calories does an average person burn playing music for an hour?

The number of calories burned playing music depends on the instrument that you have played during that time. For example, playing guitar for an hour can help you burn about 140 calories.

More Calorie Calculators:

Health benefit of playing music

Alleviates stress

Playing music is one of the best ways to get rid of the stress and worries that surround you all the time. It is a great way of refocusing your mind into doing something that makes you feel good about yourself.

Improves hearing

Learning to play a musical instrument has a huge impact on your hearing. It fine-tunes your hearing, and you get better at hearing specific voices, even in noisy environments.

Workout

Learning a musical instrument requires hours of practice, every single day. As you spend your time learning an instrument, it gives your body a lot of workouts. For example, learning to play the piano is a great workout for your fingers.

Posture improvement

Posture matters a lot when it comes to handling any musical instrument. So, when you learn to play an instrument, it forces your body to position itself in a certain way. This is what helps your body improve its posture.

Therapeutic benefits

Playing music can help you feel relaxed and sleep better during the night. Music therapy has become quite popular in the past few years because of its therapeutic effects.

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