Welcome to "Musical Dynaformics" lab!
Science & Technology for Musical Expertise & Musicians' Disorders
What's new?
recent updates
News
- Two new articles were recently published on iScience and Frontiers in Neurology. Congrats, Kazumasa and Takanori!
- Sony Corporate Blog introduced our education for pianists by using science and technology
Acknowledgement
Our projects are supported mainly by the following grants.
Our Pipeline circulating Research, Development, Education
Musical Dynaformics is a discipline for overcoming the "ceiling effect" of embodying creativity of musicians through elucidating neurophysiological, biomechanical, and psychological principles governing acquisition, sophistication, loss, and restoration of musical expertise and excellence. The goals of "Musical Dynaformics" are thus (1) to support for musicians to produce a variety of creative expression in their mind through the body and brain and (2) to prevent development of injuries triggered by practicing (e.g. musician's dystonia). To achieve these two goals requires unveiling and developing optimal ways of creating one's desired musical expression (e.g. training, skills), through a cross-disciplinary approach making synergy between neuroscience, biomechanics, robotics, psychology, cognitive science, informatics, and physiology, To facilitate it, we developed Music Excellence Platform, which is a novel platform consisting of sensing, recommendation, and training systems optimized for musicians.
Outcomes of the research and development on Musical Dynaformics are compiled and implemented into our physical education program for musicians; "PEAC" (Physical Education for Artists Curriculum). This educational package consists of lectures, hands-on coaching, and technology-based supports for musicians. Both lectures and coaching are based on evidences derived from research and scientific theories on biomechanics, neuroscience, and neurology, whereas tech-based physical supports make use of our states-of-art sensing & training systems developed by our engineering team (i.e. hardware and software).
The PEAC program is deployed into our academy program hosted by Sony CSL and NeuroPiano, which is our educational platform designed for young promising pianists. We believe PEAC will be a de facto standard of music education as a way of synergizing various conventional education with our physical education. Also, a fraction of the PEAC program has been and will be provided to music conservatories and other educational opportunities for musicians in different countries (e.g. HMTM Hannover, Hamamatsu Piano Academy).
Here, you can find further details of our pipeline circulating research, development, and deployment.
Our Pipeline
Circulating Research, Development, Education
Virtuosity Science
Sensorimotor skills for musical excellence
Optimize Musical Practice
Neural, Biomechanical, & Cognitive Mechanisms
Augmentation Technologies
Beyond Musicians' expertise
Dark-Side of Music Practice
Pathophysiology &prevention of musicians' injuries
Neuro-rehabilitation
Rehab. & Retraining for musicians' disorders
Performance Anxiety
Mechanism & Training for Choking Under Pressure
Publication List
Complete list is here
Journal Articles (peer-reviewed)
*: equally-contributed co-first authors
- Pei-Cheng Shih, Masato Hirano, Shinichi Furuya. Mind the gap: bridging chunks during complex movement sequence execution (under review)
- Masato Hirano, Yudai Kimoto, Sachiko Shiotani, Shinichi Furuya. Enhanced somatosensory inhibition sharpens hand representation and sensorimotor skills in pianists. (in revision)
- Kaori Kuromiya, Shinichi Furuya. Interplay of physical expertise and musical expression in pianists. (in revision)
- Yudai Kimoto, Masato Hirano, Shinichi Furuya. Decomposition of a complex motor skill in learning improves experts' expertise. (in revision)
- Shinichi Furuya, Takanori Oku, Hayato Nishioka, Masato Hirano. Surmounting the ceiling effect of motor expertise by novel sensory experience. (in revision)
- Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya, Andre Lee, Eckart Altenmuller (2024) Video-based diagnosis support system for pianists with musicians' dystonia. Frontiers in Neurology 15:1409962
- Masaki Yasuhara, Kazumasa Uehara, Takanori Oku, Sachiko Shiotani, Isao Nambu, Shinichi Furuya (2024) Robustness and adaptability of sensorimotor skills in expert piano performance. iScience 27(8): 110400
- Masato Hirano, Shinichi Furuya (2024) Active perceptual learning involves motor exploration and adaptation of predictive sensory integration. iScience 27:108604
- Mitsuaki Takemi, Mai Akahoshi, Junichi Ushiba, Shinichi Furuya (2023) Behavioral and physiological fatigue-related factors influencing timing and force control learning in pianists. Scientific Reports 13:21646
- Kazumasa Uehara, Masaki Yasuhara, Junya Koguchi, Takanori Oku, Sachiko Shiotani, Masanori Morise, Shinichi Furuya (2023) Brain network flexibility as a predictor of skilled musical performance. Cerebral Cortex 33(20): 10492–10503
- Johanna Doll, Andre Lee, Shinichi Furuya, Bernhard Haslinger, Eckart Altenmuller (2023) Musician’s Dystonia: Family history as a predictor for onset and course of the disease. Movement Disorders 38(8): 1559-1560
- Thomas Mantel, Andre Lee, Eckart Altenmuller, Shinichi Furuya, Masanori Morise, Bernhard Haslinger (2023) Reliability and Validity of the Embouchure Dystonia Severity Rating Scale. Journal of Movement Disorders 16(2):191-195
- Shinichi Furuya, Ryuya Tanibuchi, Hayato Nishioka, Yudai Kimoto, Masato Hirano, Takanori Oku (2023) Passive somatosensory training enhances motor skill of piano playing in adolescent and adult pianists. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1519(1): 167-172
- Kaito Muramatsu, Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Plyometric training enhances strength and precision of the finger movements in pianists. Scientific Reports 12: 22267
- Ken Takiyama, Shuta Mugikura, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Impaired feedforward control of movements in pianists with focal dystonia. Frontiers in Neurology 13: 983448
- Masato Hirano, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Multisensory interactions on auditory and somatosensory information in expert pianists. Scientific Reports 12: 12503
- Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Noncontact and high-precision sensing system for piano keys identified fingerprints of virtuosity. Sensors 22(13): 4891
- Yudai Kimoto, Masato Hirano, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Adaptation of the corticomuscular and biomechanical systems of pianists. Cerebral Cortex 32(4): 709-724
- Shinichi Furuya*, Reiko Ishimaru*, Takanori Oku, Noriko Nagata (2021) Back to feedback: aberrant sensorimotor control in music performance under pressure. Communications Biology 4(1): 1367 (press-release)
- Kahori Kita, Shinichi Furuya, Rieko Osu, Takashi Sakamoto, Takashi Hanakawa (2021) Aberrant cerebello-cortical connectivity in pianists with focal task-specific dystonia. Cerebral Cortex 31(10): 4853–4863
- Shinichi Furuya*, Reiko Ishimaru*, Noriko Nagata (2021) Factors of choking under pressure in musicians. PLoS One 16(1): e0244082
- Masato Hirano, Muzuha Sakurada, Shinichi Furuya (2020) Overcoming the ceiling effects of experts’ motor expertise through somatosensory training. Science Advances 6(47): eabd2558 (press-release)
- Nobuhiro Takahashi, Shinichi Furuya, Hideki Koike (2020) Soft exoskeleton glove with human anatomical architecture: production of dexterous finger movements and skillful piano performance. IEEE Transaction on Haptics 13(49): 679-690
- Shinichi Furuya, Takanori Oku, Yudai Kimoto, Hayato Nishioka, Masato Hirano (2020) Skillful and pathological movement coordination in musical performance. Advances in Exercise & Sports Physiology 26(2): 23-26
- Shinichi Furuya*, André Lee*, Takanori Oku, Eckart Altenmüller (2020) Aberrant somatosensory-motor adaptation in musicians' dystonia. Movement Disorders 35(5): 808-815
- Masato Hirano, Yudai Kimoto, Shinichi Furuya (2020) Specialized somatosensory-motor integration functions in musicians. Cerebral Cortex 30(3): 1148-1158
- Yudai Kimoto, Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya (2019) Neuromuscular and biomechanical functions subserving finger dexterity in musicians. Scientific Reports 9: 12224
- Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya (2019) Neuromuscular incoordination in musicians' dystonia. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders 65: 97-104
- Kazumasa Uehara, Shinichi Furuya, Hidemi Numasawa, Kahori Kita, Takashi Sakamoto, Takashi Hanakawa (2019) Distinct roles of brain activity and somatotopic representation in pathophysiology of focal dystonia. Human Brain Mapping 40(6): 1738-1749
- Kahori Kita*, Jaroslav Rokicki*, Shinichi Furuya, Takashi Sakamoto, Takashi Hanakawa (2018) Resting-state basal ganglia connectivity codes a motor musical skill and its disruption due to a disease process. Movement Disorders 33(9): 1472-1480
- Shuntaro Kotani, Shinichi Furuya (2018) State anxiety disorganizes finger movements during musical performance. Journal of Neurophysiology 120(2): 439-451
- Shinichi Furuya*, Sayuri Yokota* (2018) Temporal exploration of sequential movements in sequential movements shapes efficient neuromuscular control. Journal of Neurophysiology 120(1): 196-210
- Shinichi Furuya*, Kazumasa Uehara*, Takashi Sakamoto, Takashi Hanakawa (2018) Aberrant cortical excitability explains the loss of hand dexterity in musician's dystonia. The Journal of Physiology 596(12): 2397-2411
- Shinichi Furuya*, Yuta Furukawa*, Kazumasa Uehara, Takanori Oku (2018) Probing sensory-motor integration during musical performance. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1423(1): 211-218
- Masato Hirano, Shinji Kubota, Shinichi Furuya, Yoshiki Koizume, Shinya Tanaka, and Kozo Funase (2018) The acquisition of skilled finger movements is accompanied by the reorganization of the corticospinal system. Journal of Neurophysiology 119(2): 573-584
- Shinichi Furuya (2018) Individual differences in sensorimotor skills among musicians. Current Opinion in Behavioral Science 20: 61-66
- Yuta Furukawa, Kazumasa Uehara, Shinichi Furuya (2017) Expertise-dependent motor somatotopy of music perception. Neuroscience Letters 650: 97-102
- Eckart Altenmüller. Shinichi Furuya (2017) Apollos Gift and Curse: Making music as a model for adaptive and maladaptive plasticity. Neuroforum 23(2): 57-75
- Sarah Pirio Richardson, Eckart Altenmüller, Katharine Alter, Ron L. Alterman, Robert Chen, Steven Frucht, Shinichi Furuya, Joseph Jankovic, H. A. Jinnah, Teresa J. Kimberley, Codrin Lungu, Joel S. Perlmutter, Cecília N. Prudente, Mark Hallett (2017) Research priorities in limb and task-specific dystonias. Frontiers in Neurology 8:170
- Takanori Oku*, Shinichi Furuya* (2017) Skillful force control in expert pianists. Experimental Brain Research 235(5): 1603-1615
- Eckart Altenmüller. Shinichi Furuya (2016) Brain plasticity and the concept of metaplasticity in skilled musicians. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 957:197-208
- Moe Hosoda, Shinichi Furuya (2016) Shared somatosensory and motor functions in musicians. Scientific Reports 6: 37632
- Kenta Tominaga, Andre Lee, Eckart Altenmüller, Fumio Miyazaki, Shinichi Furuya (2016) Kinematic origins of motor fluctuation in expert pianists. PLoS One 11(8): e0161324
- Christos Ioannou, Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2016) Objective evaluation of performance stress in musicians with dystonia: a feasibility study. Journal of Motor Behavior 48(6): 562-572
- Andre Lee, Jacob Voget, Shinichi Furuya, Masanori Morise, Eckart Altenmüller (2016) Quantification of sound instability in embouchure tremor based on the time varying fundamental frequency. Journal of Neural Transmission 123(5): 515-521
- Christos Ioannou, Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2016) The impact of stress on motor performance in skilled musicians suffering from focal dystonia: Physiological and psychological characteristics. Neuropsychologia 85: 226-236
- Shinichi Furuya, Takashi Hanakawa (2016) The curse of motor expertise: use-dependent focal dystonia as manifestation of maladaptive changes in body representation. Neuroscience Research 104: 112-119
- Shinichi Furuya, Takayuki Oku, Fumio Miyazaki, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2015) Secrets of virtuoso: neuromuscular attributes of motor virtuosity in expert musicians. Scientific Reports 5: 15750
- Shinichi Furuya, Kenta Tominaga, Fumio Miyazaki, Eckart Altenmüller (2015) Losing dexterity: impaired coordination of finger movements in musician's dystonia. Scientific Reports 5: 13360
- Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2015) Acquisition and reacquisition of motor coordination in musicians. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1337: 118–124
- Sara Winges, Shinichi Furuya (2015) Distinct digit kinematics by professional and amateur pianists. Neuroscience 284: 643–652
- Andre Lee, Kenta Tominaga, Shinichi Furuya, Fumio Miyazaki, Eckart Altenmüller (2015) Electrophysiological characteristics of task-specific tremor in 22 instrumentalists. Journal of Neural Transmission 122(3): 393-401
- Shinichi Furuya, Matthias Klaus, Michael Nitsche, Walter Paulus, Eckart Altenmüller (2014) Ceiling effects prevent further improvement of transcranial stimulation in skilled musicians. The Journal of Neuroscience 34(41): 13834-13839
- Andre Lee*, Shinichi Furuya*, Masanori Morise, Peter Iltius, Eckart Altenmüller (2014) Quantification of instability of tone production in embouchure dystonia. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders 20(11): 1161-1164
- Andre Lee, Kenta Tominaga, Shinichi Furuya, Fumio Miyazaki, Eckart Altenmüller (2014) Quantification of secondary task-specific tremor after temporal lobectomy. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8:559
- Floris van Vugt, Shinichi Furuya, Henning Vauth, Hans-Christian Jabusch, Eckart Altenmüller (2014) Spatial and temporal symmetries in motor primitives in skilled piano performance at different tempi. Experimental Brain Research 232(11): 3555-3567
- Shinichi Furuya, Ayumi Nakamura, Noriko Nagata (2014) Acquisition of individuated finger movements through musical practice. Neuroscience 275(C): 444-454
- Shinichi Furuya, Ayumi Nakamura, Noriko Nagata (2014) Extraction of finger coordination pattern associated with motor learning in piano practice using principal component analysis. Neuroscience Letters 577(C): 38-44
- Andre Lee, Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2014) Epidemiology and treatment of 23 musicians with task specific tremor. Journal of Clinical Movement Disorders 1:5
- Shinichi Furuya, Michael Nitsche, Walter Paulus, Eckart Altenmüller (2014) Surmounting retraining limits in musicians’ dystonia by transcranial stimulation. Annals of Neurology 75(5): 700-707
- Marieke van der Steen, Eva Molendijk, Eckart Altenmüller, Shinichi Furuya (2014) Expert pianists do not listen: the expertise-dependent influence of temporal perturbation on the production of sequential movements. Neuroscience 269(C): 290-298
- Andre Lee, Kenta Tominaga, Shinichi Furuya, Fumio Miyazaki, Eckart Altenmüller (2014) Coherence of coactivation and acceleration in task-specific primary bowing tremor. Journal of Neural Transmission 121(7):739-742
- Shinichi Furuya, Ayumi Nakamura, Noriko Nagata (2013) Transfer of piano practice at submaximal speed in fast performance of skilled finger movements. BMC Neuroscience 14: 133
- Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2013) Finger-specific loss of independent control of finger movements in musician's dystonia. Neuroscience 247C: 152-163
- Andre Lee, Shinichi Furuya, Matthias Karst, Eckart Altenmüller (2013) Alteration in predictability of sensory outcome of motor action in focal hand dystonia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7: 172 (7 pages)
- Sara Winges, Shinichi Furuya, Nathaniel Faber, Martha Flanders (2013) Patterns of muscle activity for digital coarticulation. Journal of Neurophysiology 110(1): 230-242
- Andre Lee, Kenta Tominaga, Shinichi Furuya, Fumio Miyazaki, Eckart Altenmüller (2013) Task-specific tremor in violinists: evidence of coactivation in the 3-8 Hz frequency range. Movement Disorders 28(13): 1890-1892
- Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2013) Flexibility of movement organization in piano performance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7: 173 (10 pages)
- Shinichi Furuya, Michael Nitsche, Walter Paulus, Eckart Altenmüller (2013) Early optimization in finger dexterity of skilled pianists: implication of transcranial stimulation. BMC Neuroscience 14:35 (8 pages)
- Rebecca Schaefer, Shinichi Furuya, Leigh Smith, Blair Kaneshiro, Petri Toiviainen (2012) Probing neural mechanisms of music perception, cognition, and performance using multivariate decoding. Psychomusicology 22(2): 168-174
- Shinichi Furuya, John Soechting (2012) Speed invariance of independent control of finger movements in pianists. Journal of Neurophysiology 108(7): 2060-2068
- Shinichi Furuya, Tomoko Aoki, Hidehiro Nakahara, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2012) Individual differences in the biomechanical effect of loudness and tempo on upper-limb movements during repetitive piano keystrokes. Human Movement Science 31(1): 26-39
- Shinichi Furuya, Martha Flanders, John Soechting (2011) Hand kinematics of piano playing. Journal of Neurophysiology 106(6): 2849-2864
- Shinichi Furuya, Tatsushi Goda, Haruhiro Katayose, Hiroyoshi Miwa, Noriko Nagata (2011) Distinct interjoint coordination during fast alternate keystroke in pianists with superior skill. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 5: 50 (13 pages)
- Hidehiro Nakahara, Shinichi Furuya, Tsutomu Masuko, Peter Francis, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2011) Performing music can induce greater modulation of emotion-related psychophysiological responses than listening to music. International Journal of Psychophysiology 81(3): 152-158
- Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller, Haruhiro Katayose, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2010) Control of multi-joint arm movements for the manipulation of touch in keystroke by expert pianists. BMC Neuroscience 11(1): 82 (15 pages)
- Shinichi Furuya, John Soechting (2010) Role of auditory feedback in the control of successive keystrokes during piano playing. Experimental Brain Research 204(2): 223-237
- Hidehiro Nakahara, Shinichi Furuya, Peter Francis, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2010) Psycho-physiological responses to expressive piano performance. International Journal of Psychophysiology 75(3): 268-276
- Shinichi Furuya, Rieko Osu, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2009) Effective utilization of gravity during arm downswing in keystroke by expert pianists. Neuroscience 164(2): 822-831
- Hidehiro Nakahara, Shinichi Furuya, Tsutomu Masuko, Satoshi Obata, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2009) Emotion-related changes in heart rate and its variability during perception and performance of music. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1169(1): 359-362
- Shinichi Furuya, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2008) Expertise-dependent modulation of muscular and non-muscular torques in multi-joint arm movements during piano keystroke. Neuroscience 156(2): 390-402
- Shinichi Furuya, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2008) Organization of the upper limb movement for piano key-depression differs between expert pianists and novice players. Experimental Brain Research 185(4): 581-593
- Shinichi Furuya, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2007) Roles of proximal-to-distal sequential organization of the upper limb segments in striking the keys by expert pianists. Neuroscience Letters 421(3): 264-269
- Hiroshi Kinoshita, Shinichi Furuya, Tomoko Aoki, Eckart Altenmüller (2007) Loudness control in pianists as exemplified in keystroke force measurements at different touches. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 121(5Pt1): 2959-2969
- Shinichi Furuya, Hidehiro Nakahara, Tomoko Aoki, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2006) Prevalence and causal factors of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremity and trunk among Japanese pianists and piano students. Medical Problems of Performing Artists 21(3): 112-117
- Tomoko Aoki, Shinichi Furuya, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2005) Finger tapping ability in male and female pianists and nonmusician control. Motor Control 9(1): 23-39
Conference Articles (peer-reviewed)
- Ruofan Liu, Yichen Peng, Takanori Oku, Erwin Wu, Shinichi Furuya, Hideki Koike (2024) PianoKeystroke-EMG: Piano Hand Muscle Electromyography Estimation from Easily Accessible Piano Keystroke. SIGGRAPH ASIA 2024. link
- Vincent KM Cheung, Lana Okuma, Kazuhisa Shibata, Kosetsu Tsukuda, Masataka Goto, Shinichi Furuya (2023) Decoding drums, instrumentals, vocals, and mixed sources in music using human brain activity with fMRI. Decoding drums, instrumentals, vocals, and mixed sources in music using human brain activity with fMRI. Proceedings of the 24th ISMIR Conference. 197-206
- Ruofan Liu, Erwin Wu, Chen-Chieh Liao, Hayato Nishioka, Shinichi Furuya, Hideki Koike (2023) PianoSyncAR: Enhancing Piano Learning through Visualizing Synchronized Hand Pose Discrepancies in Augmented Reality. 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR). 859-868
- Erwin Wu, Hayato Nishioka, Shinichi Furuya, Hideki Koike (2023) Marker-removal Networks to Collect Precise 3D Hand Data for RGB-based Estimation and its Application in Piano. Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV). 2977-2986
- Ruofan Liu, Erwin Wu, Chen-Chieh Liao, Hayato Nishioka, Shinichi Furuya, Hideki Koike (2022) Synchronized Hand Difference Visualization for Piano Learning. ACM SIGGRAPH 2022 Posters. 1-2
- Nozomi Kugimoto, Rui Miyazono, Kosuke Omori, Takeshi Fujimura, Shinichi Furuya, Haruhiro Katayose, Hiroyoshi Miwa, Noriko Nagata (2009) CG animation for piano performance. ACM SIGGRAPH 2009 Posters. link
Research Topics
Beyond the limits of Human Sensory-Motor-Cognitive Skills
”surmounting the ceiling effect"
Optimized Biofeedback
Multimodal Bio-/Neuro-feedback, Hand Exoskeleton, Haptic Interface, VR/AR training, AI-based recommendation
Optimal Practice
Online & Offline Learning, Memory consolidation & interference, Neuroplasticity, Practice regime, Supervised/Reinforcement learning, Internal model, Imagery training
Neuromuscular Skills
MoCap, Data Glove, EMG, Force & position sensors, Robotics, Data science & Machine learning
Sensory-Motor Integration
Psychophysics, Sensory assessment, Multimodal integration, EEG, TMS, peripheral nerve stimulation, Perceptual Learning
Injury Prevention & Retraining
Epidemiology, Biomechanics, Intervention, Rehabilitation, Exoskeleton, Haptic device, Machine Learning
Focal Dystonia, Stage Fright
tDCS, TMS, EEG, Machine Learning, Multivariate analysis, Hand exo-skeleton, choking under pressure
Fulltime members
Researchers, Engineers, Evangelists
Project Researcher
Augmenting creativity and reward in music performance and perception
Naoya SAKABE
Project Engineer
Developing software platform for enhansing skill learning
Sachiko SHIOTANI
Lab Manager
Physical Therapist (PT)
Kaori KUROMIYA
Ph.D. student and Evangelist
Evidence-based physical education for pianists
Non-fulltime members
Visiting Researchers, Engineers, Project Staffs in Music Excellence Project
Takashi Nomoto
Project Engineer
High-resolution estimation of body posture
Research Assistants (RA) & Internship Students
part-time student members at Sony CSL
Development
Shogo Sawaguchi (University of Tokyo)
Daichi Hayama (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Ken Yoshizoe (Tokyo Institute of Technology)Ryo Nakabayashi (University of Tokyo)
Yori Namioka (Tokyo Univ. of the Arts)
Yukiya Mita (University of Tokyo)
Kosei Matsuyama (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Hironori Kawamoto (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Satoshi Takimoto (Tokyo Institute of Technology)Research
Liu Ruofan (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Junya Koguchi (Meiji Univ.)
Andrea Hidalgo (University of London Goldsmiths)
Huan Zhang (University of London)
Alumni
Shu Sakamoto (McMaster University, Canada)
Mai Akahoshi (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Reigo Ban (University of Tokyo)
Taisuke Matsushiro (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Manabu Endo (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Akira Kobayashi (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Takaharu Suzuki (University of Tokyo)
Yuli Kamiya (University of Tokyo)Keitaro Murakami (University of Tokyo)
Hidetaka Katsuyama (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Erwin Wu (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Tamaka Harada (University of Tokyo)
Kengo Matsuzaka (Waseda University)
Yosuke Kawasaki (Keio University)
Daiki Usami (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Current External Collaborators
- Prof. Eckart Altenmuller (Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Hannover University of Music, Drama, and Media)
- Prof. Andre Lee (Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Hannover University of Music, Drama, and Media)
- Prof. Maria Herrojo Ruiz (University of London Goldsmiths)
- Prof. Hideki Koike (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Prof. Takashi Hanakawa (Kyoto University)
- Prof. Ken Takiyama (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology)
- Prof. Kazuhisa Shibata (RIKEN CBS)
- Prof. Masataka Goto (AIST)
- Prof. Jun Rekimoto (Sony CSL/University of Tokyo)
Alumni Students
Past members (grad students from Sophia University)
Ryuya TANIBUCHI
Bachelor & Master (2016~2019)
Robotics-based training for musicians
Mizuha SAKURADA
Bachelor & Master (2016~2019)
Optimal practice for acquiring musical virtuosity
Tomohiro
SAITO
Bachelor & Master (2016~2019)
Human interface for musicians
Yuta
FURUKAWA
Bachelor & Master, JSPS DC1 (2015~2019)
Metaplasticity of auditory-motor system in musicians
Shuntaro
KOTANI
Bachelor & Master (2015~2018)
Hand motor control under mental pressure
Moe HOSODA
Bachelor & Master (2015~2018)
Sensory-motor coupling in musicians
Shogo KUWABARA
Bachelor (2016~2017)
Exoskeleton for hand motor training
Hiroshi
MATSUI
Bachelor (2016~2017)
Online visuomotor coordination in musical performance
Sayuri
YOKOTA
Bachelor (2015~2016)
Impacts of variable practice on muscular synergy in musical performance
Ami
SHIMIZU
Bachelor (2015~2016)
Hand synergy in musician's dystonia
Mamoru
TAYA
Bachelor (2014~2016)
Development of piano-embedded sensors
You
MURATA
Bachelor (2014~2015)
Identification of musician's dystonia using deep neural network and random forest
Hiroshi MATSUBAYASHI
Bachelor (2014~2015)
Machine learning approach for characterizing musician's dystonia
On Media
Introduction of "Musical Dynaformics" on Sony Stories
Musical Dynaformics: R&D for enhancing expertise and preventing injury
PEAC: Technology-based support for musicians
PEAC: Physical Education for Artists Curriculum
Neuro-rehabilitation for Musicians' Dystonia @ RTL (in German)
Joint Event with Lang Lang @ SONY Explora Science (in Japanese)
Sony CSL Stories (3oth year anniversary)
An overview of activities of Sony CSL incl. a brief introduction of our research
TEDxSophia 2016 "Harmonizing Science with Musicians"
Introduction of Music Excellence Project (in Japanese)
Interested in working at MED lab?
More about our research? www.neuropiano.net
Research Assistant
for students
Internship
for students & postdocs
Post-doc
for PhD students/holders
Opportunities to Join MED Lab
For students and post-docs
Students & Internship
I can only accept some students who get involved in our research projects as a paid project-based part-time member (e.g. RA and internship who assists running experiments and data analysis as well as other activities related to research and development). The part-time members are required to have some expertise (e.g. programming, prototyping, human experiment), and will be selected through our formal selection process. Please feel free to contact me about the details. You can join us as a part of our JST CREST project or Sony CSL internship program. I have/had accepted students from Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Tokyo, pre-med student from the United States, master students from University of London Goldsmiths, and a physical therapist (PT). Your workplace will be Sony CSL Tokyo. So please keep in mind that you are required to stay in Tokyo during this period. We will provide financial supports based on your expertise and what projects you get involved in.
If your supervisor formally agrees with my co-supervision of your research, I'm willing to accept it, based on mutual consent after a formal interview process. I have/had supervised students from different universities in this way (e.g. Kwansei Gakuin University, Hannover Medical University (MHH), Sophia University, Tokyo University of the Arts, the University of Tokyo, Nagaoka Institute of Technology). Currently, I have been co-supervising 2 PhD students.
If you are an international student/scholar, you can also work with us temporarily (e.g. 3-6 months) as an internship student/scholar, if you can come to and work at Tokyo. If you are a graduate student, I do recommend you to obtain a permission of your formal mentor. Our company, Sony CSL, has an international internship program covering cost of your flight and accommodation (there's a max. limit of the coverage), which you may want to apply for (email here). Apart from our company's program, Japanese government has some fellowships for temporally-visiting scholars, which can fund your trip and stay (e.g. JSPS).
In any case, we particularly welcome students with basic skills and knowledge of computer programming (e.g. Matlab, R, Python, and/or C++) and statistics.
Post-docs
If you are interested in working with us as a post-doc, please get in touch.
Your country may offer fellowships supporting your research activities in Japan (e.g. Alexander von Humboldt, DFG, Marie Curie, Fulbright). Also, the Japanese government (JSPS) provides a fellowship for young foreign researchers (max. 2 yrs, recommended!).
We have a space, equipment, and projects for post-docs in my team (SONY CSL at Tokyo), and can provide unique opportunities of investigating a lot of expert musicians and musicians with focal dystonia with neurophysiological, robotic, VR/AR, and psychophysic techniques. Our institute has many international scholars, and all of the researchers and staffs communicate in English. You may have opportunities of networking and collaborating with our research colleagues in Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka, because I have some grants collaborating with the other scholars in different cities.
Post-docs are strongly encouraged to have fundamental knowledge/skill of both statistics (e.g. R) and programming (e.g. Matlab, Python). People with experience of programming (C++, C#, JAVA, Python, LabView, and/or Unity), haptic interface, human psychophysics, physiological measurement such as TMS/EEG/EMG, robotics, and/or machine learning are also highly welcomed. Although we study musicians, our primary focus in research is neuroplasticity of sensorimotor skills and training to overcome limits of experts' expertise.
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