Researcher：Ikumi Osaki

Current Duties

Research Themes

I am conducting research in the field of performance science.

Although many people may not very familiar with this field of research, I am able to pursue it thanks to the various connections that Yamaha has made throughout many years of involvement in music.

For example, in the field of music education, it is common for teachers to provide instruction about how to play an instrument, such as “relax your arms.” The type of instruction given should be based on the student’s level and the purpose of the lesson, such as achieving the expression necessary for the song and preventing pain due to excessive force while playing.
Although there is a vague consensus among performers about which approaches are better, there have not been enough attempts to measure and analyze this statistically.
For this reason, we are conducting a variety of measurements and analyses with the aim of clarifying what strategies are used to adjust the body according to the content of a performance and the instrument.

This research can be applied not only to the support of performers, but also to the design of instrument bodies that are more comfortable to play. Some musical instruments have not changed significantly for more than a hundred years, and some are designed to match the physique of adult men. We are conducting research to create opportunities for reconsidering instruments that can be played more enjoyably by a wider range of ages and body shapes.

Approach to Work

In this field of performance science, the cooperation of various people is indispensable for taking measurements and performing data analysis for systems that include people and instruments.

When dealing with performance information such as MIDI, we work with many people inside and outside Yamaha, such as the Piano Division, which is familiar with the specifications of the pianos being used, piano teachers and professional performers who cooperate with experiments, and salespeople who look for collaborators who meet our conditions.
A lot of preparation is required before obtaining any data, from setting up experimental protocols to selecting measurement equipment, conducting preliminary experiments and reviews, and adjusting the measurement schedule to invite external collaborators.
This research area also focuses on phenomena that include people, so it is important to communicate with the person being measured so that they can participate without anxiety and perform as usual.

The field of performance science is often of interest to performers, and one of the interesting aspects of this research is that they can tell a lot of stories based on their own experience.
Since we can talk with many performers and obtain hypotheses and new research topics based on these conversations, performing measurements is enjoyable even though the preparation is difficult.

Presentation of Research Results

There are not many educational and research institutions in Japan that are studying this field.
Therefore, it is also very important to visit overseas academic societies to actively exchange information and make Yamaha’s efforts widely known.

As part of this initiative, we gave a poster presentation at the ISPS: International Symposium on Performance Science in Poland on the relationship between piano playing posture and the adjustment of piano chairs. With the cooperation of a teacher involved in music education and a person from the same department who is involved in performance measurement, we were able to discuss with a variety of researchers the results of our efforts from the establishment of the experimental protocol to our analysis.

In the future, I would like to continue to disseminate our efforts to think scientifically and support performers both at home and abroad.

Also during my stay, the International Chopin and His Europe Festival was held in Warsaw.
I was fortunate that our work scheduled allowed me the opportunity to watch a recital using a period instruments. This business trip allowed me to experience music from a variety of aspects.

In this way, I feel that if there are things that are of interest or useful for future consideration rather than “just the work in front of me”, I can experience a variety of things when my schedule allows, and I can get a chance to increase the scope of my work by gaining knowledge from a wide range of areas. This is something that I value in our department.

An Environment where I can Choose My Own Path Forward

My major field of study was unrelated to music, and originally I had no experience in handling performance information.
However, I have been interested in research topics of performance science for a long time. I proposed this path because it had not yet been pursued at Yamaha, which lead to the establishment of my current field of research.

Although the details must of course align with company policies, this is an environment that provides a wide range of discretion for carrying our work.