Rian de Waal (1958-2011) has written a book about the piano, and how the development of piano playing has been very much dependent upon musicians who were able to cross borders. In Metamorphoses, the Art of the Virtuoso Piano Transcription, De Waal takes us on a journey through the capricious history …

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was used to study the cerebral underpinning of resonance behavior in professional keyboard musicians (n=12). The activation paradigm implied that subjects listened to two-part polyphonic music, while either critically appraising the performance or imagining …

Guest lecture ‘Entrepreneurship in Music’. Course ‘De Ondernemende Musicus’ (‘The Entrepreneurial Musician’) , Prince Claus Conservatoire, Hanzehogeschool, 19-12-2012

Young musicians at the conservatoire: talent or attainment? The mastery of a music instrument comes after many hours of practice: on the average 10,000. It should therefore be no surprise that most great musicians started their studies at an early age. Moreover, the technical achievement of playing a …

Musicians engaging with people with dementia. Presentation Greece.

In this fMRI study, it was hypothesized that mirror neurons in the premotor-parietal network would be activated while improvising performers listened to music. Such activations would suggest that perception is engaging the action repertoire of the improvising musician. Recognition and understanding of …

Minisymposium together with Prof. Dr. C. Stoeger (Musikhochschule Koeln) and Dr. B. Lion (University for Music and Performing Arts, Vienna).

Guest lecture ‘Entrepreneurship in Music’. Course ‘De Ondernemende Musicus’ (‘The Entrepreneurial Musician’) , Prince Claus Conservatoire, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, Groningen, 11/1/2012.

Using fMRI, ten improvising musicians were contrasted with 10 non-musicians to explore brain activations while playing by ear. Subjects either imagined playing the music they were listening to, without moving their hands, or assessed the performance verbally without actually speaking. Half of the music …