Musical Dynaformics

Over the centuries, the virtuosity of musicians has fascinated audiences worldwide. Because musical performance involves both coordinated and independent movements of a large number of joints, it has not been elucidated firstly what biomechanical principles govern such virtuosic motor skills, and secondly what neuroplastic mechanisms underlie acquisition, sophistication, loss, and restoration of the virtuosity. To resolve these issues, I have been not only utilizing the concepts and technologies of robotics but also combining them with neurophysiological knowledge and techniques called “musical dynaformics.” The present talk introduces four research areas probing musical expertise by means of robotics. First, inverse and forward dynamics of a rigid body model allows the uncovering of neuromuscular skills optimizing energetic efficiency of movements by skilled pianists. Second, the combined use of haptic devices with electroenpharogram and transcranial magnetic stimulation identified the somatosensory-motor integration mechanisms subserving the production of the fast and precise movements of skilled pianists. Third, a miniature haptic device that can be attached to a musical instrument demonstrated impairments of the somatosensory-motor integration mechanism (i.e. internal model) in pianists suffering from focal dystonia. Fourth, specialized ways of utilizing robotics such as a haptic device and hand exo-skeleton based on neuroscientific theories enable enhancement of both somatosensory perception and motor dexterity of skilled pianists. Through the talk, I would like to propose a novel viewpoint of robotics as a unique means of probing and boosting sensorimotor virtuosity.