How does learning to play a musical instrument change the brain? Can music be instrumental (pun intended!) in helping people recovering from strokes? These are just two questions being answered by researchers at McGill university and the Montreal Neurological Institute. Neurologist Robert Zatorre and his PhD Student Melanie Segado worked with Prof. Marcelo Wanderley, an engineer in the Schulich School of Music, and his student Avrum Hollinger in creating a cello that could be played in an MRI scanner to see how the brain changes as a result of playing a musical instrument.