Welcome to "Musical Dynaformics" lab!

Science & Technology for Musical Expertise & Musicians' Disorders

• We organize a workshop on music performance on the 29th of August, 2023. Please register here.
• Some new papers published on Cerebral Cortex, Movement Disorders, Journal of Movement Disorders.
• Our team will present at 2 symposiums at ICMPC 2023 (Dr. Cheung is an organizer, and Dr. Furuya is a symposist).
• On the 1st of April, 2023, two outstanding postodoctoral researchers joined our team. Welcome, Tatsuya and Yudai!
• Sony Corporate Blog introduced our education for pianists by using science and technology

Our projects are supported by the following grants.

• JST CREST ("Skill Acquisition". PI: Prof. Hideki Koike)
• JST CREST ("Music Recommendation". PI: Dr. Masataka Goto)
• JST Moonshot ("AI x Brain". Program Manager: Dr. Ryota Kanai)
• JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas ("No Brain Limit". PI: Dr. Kazuhisa Shibata)
• JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Fostering Joint International Research (B) & Exploratory Research. (PI: Shinichi Furuya)
• JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (PI: Dr. Masataka Goto)
• JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (PI: Prof. Ken Takiyama)

*: equally-contributed co-first authors​

1. Masato Hirano, Shinichi Furuya. Active perceptual learning involves motor exploration and predictive sensory integration. (in revision)
2. 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 (in press)
3. 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 (in press)
4. 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
5. 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
6. Kaito Muramatsu, Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Plyometric training enhances strength and precision of the finger movements in pianists. Scientific Reports 12: 22267
7. Ken Takiyama, Shuta Mugikura, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Impaired feedforward control of movements in pianists with focal dystonia. Frontiers in Neurology 13: 983448
8. Masato Hirano, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Multisensory interactions on auditory and somatosensory information in expert pianists. Scientific Reports 12: 12503
9. Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Noncontact and high-precision sensing system for piano keys identified fingerprints of virtuosity. Sensors 22(13): 4891
10. Yudai Kimoto, Masato Hirano, Shinichi Furuya (2022) Adaptation of the corticomuscular and biomechanical systems of pianists. Cerebral Cortex 32(4): 709-724
11. 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)
12. 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
13. Shinichi Furuya*, Reiko Ishimaru*, Noriko Nagata (2021) Factors of choking under pressure in musicians. PLoS One 16(1): e0244082
14. 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)
15. 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
16. 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
17. Shinichi Furuya*, André Lee*, Takanori Oku, Eckart Altenmüller (2020) Aberrant somatosensory-motor adaptation in musicians' dystonia. Movement Disorders 35(5): 808-815
18. Masato Hirano, Yudai Kimoto, Shinichi Furuya (2020) Specialized somatosensory-motor integration functions in musicians. Cerebral Cortex 30(3): 1148-1158
19. Yudai Kimoto, Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya (2019) Neuromuscular and biomechanical functions subserving finger dexterity in musicians. Scientific Reports 9: 12224
20. Takanori Oku, Shinichi Furuya (2019) Neuromuscular incoordination in musicians' dystonia. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders 65: 97-104
21. 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
22. 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
23. Shuntaro Kotani, Shinichi Furuya (2018) State anxiety disorganizes finger movements during musical performance. Journal of Neurophysiology 120(2): 439-451
24. Shinichi Furuya*, Sayuri Yokota* (2018) Temporal exploration of sequential movements in sequential movements shapes efficient neuromuscular control. Journal of Neurophysiology 120(1): 196-210
25. 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
26. 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
27. 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
28. Shinichi Furuya (2018) Individual differences in sensorimotor skills among musicians. Current Opinion in Behavioral Science 20: 61-66
29. Yuta Furukawa, Kazumasa Uehara, Shinichi Furuya (2017) Expertise-dependent motor somatotopy of music perception. Neuroscience Letters 650: 97-102
30. Eckart Altenmüller. Shinichi Furuya (2017) Apollos Gift and Curse: Making music as a model for adaptive and maladaptive plasticity. Neuroforum 23(2): 57-75
31. 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
32. Takanori Oku*, Shinichi Furuya* (2017) Skillful force control in expert pianists. Experimental Brain Research 235(5): 1603-1615
33. Eckart Altenmüller. Shinichi Furuya (2016) Brain plasticity and the concept of metaplasticity in skilled musicians. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 957:197-208
34. Moe Hosoda, Shinichi Furuya (2016) Shared somatosensory and motor functions in musicians. Scientific Reports 6: 37632
35. Kenta Tominaga, Andre Lee, Eckart Altenmüller, Fumio Miyazaki, Shinichi Furuya (2016) Kinematic origins of motor fluctuation in expert pianists. PLoS One 11(8): e0161324
36. 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
37. 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
38. 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
39. 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
40. Shinichi Furuya, Takayuki Oku, Fumio Miyazaki, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2015) Secrets of virtuoso: neuromuscular attributes of motor virtuosity in expert musicians. Scientific Reports 5: 15750
41. Shinichi Furuya, Kenta Tominaga, Fumio Miyazaki, Eckart Altenmüller (2015) Losing dexterity: impaired coordination of finger movements in musician's dystonia. Scientific Reports 5: 13360
42. Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2015) Acquisition and reacquisition of motor coordination in musicians. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1337: 118–124
43. Sara Winges, Shinichi Furuya (2015) Distinct digit kinematics by professional and amateur pianists. Neuroscience 284: 643–652
44. 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
45. 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
46. 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
47. 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
48. 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
49. Shinichi Furuya, Ayumi Nakamura, Noriko Nagata (2014) Acquisition of individuated finger movements through musical practice. Neuroscience 275(C): 444-454
50. 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
51. Andre Lee, Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2014) Epidemiology and treatment of 23 musicians with task specific tremor. Journal of Clinical Movement Disorders 1:5
52. 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
53. 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
54. 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
55. 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
56. Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2013) Finger-specific loss of independent control of finger movements in musician's dystonia. Neuroscience 247C: 152-163
57. 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)
58. Sara Winges, Shinichi Furuya, Nathaniel Faber, Martha Flanders (2013) Patterns of muscle activity for digital coarticulation. Journal of Neurophysiology 110(1): 230-242
59. 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
60. Shinichi Furuya, Eckart Altenmüller (2013) Flexibility of movement organization in piano performance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7: 173 (10 pages)
61. 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)
62. 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
63. Shinichi Furuya, John Soechting (2012) Speed invariance of independent control of finger movements in pianists. Journal of Neurophysiology 108(7): 2060-2068
64. 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
65. Shinichi Furuya, Martha Flanders, John Soechting (2011) Hand kinematics of piano playing. Journal of Neurophysiology 106(6): 2849-2864
66. 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)
67. 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
68. 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)
69. 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
70. Hidehiro Nakahara, Shinichi Furuya, Peter Francis, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2010) Psycho-physiological responses to expressive piano performance. International Journal of Psychophysiology 75(3): 268-276
71. Shinichi Furuya, Rieko Osu, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2009) Effective utilization of gravity during arm downswing in keystroke by expert pianists. Neuroscience 164(2): 822-831
72. 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
73. 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
74. 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
75. 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
76. 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
77. 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
78. Tomoko Aoki, Shinichi Furuya, Hiroshi Kinoshita (2005) Finger tapping ability in male and female pianists and nonmusician control. Motor Control 9(1): 23-39

Keitaro Murakami (Tokyo Univ.)

Ryo Nakabayashi (Tokyo Univ.)

Yuli Kamiya (Tokyo Univ.)

Yori Namioka (Tokyo Univ. of the Arts)

Yukiya Mita (Tokyo Univ.)

Hidetaka Katsuyama (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Kosei Matsuyama (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Daiki Usami (Tokyo Institute of Technology) 

Erwin Wu (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Masaki Yasuhara (Nagaoka University of Technology)

Kengo Matsuzaka (Waseda Univ.)

Yosuke Kawasaki (Keio Univ.)

Junya Koguchi (Meiji Univ.)

Liu Ruofan (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Tamaka Harada (Tokyo Univ.)

Shu Sakamoto (McMaster University, Canada)

Mai Akahoshi (University of Zurich, Switzerland)

Reigo Ban (Tokyo Univ., Japan)

Satoshi Takimoto (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)

Taisuke Matsushiro (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Manabu Endo (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Akira Kobayashi (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Takaharu Suzuki (Tokyo Univ.)

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.

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.