October 18, 2023
Aiko Watanabe, a first-year student in the master's program at the Graduate School of Media and Governance (at the time of the award) and a member of Associate Professor Shinya Fujii's laboratory at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, received the Sempre Award (Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research Award) at ICMPC17-APSCOM7, the Joint Conference of the 17th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) and the 7th Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (APSCOM).
The joint conference, ICMPC17-APSCOM, was held from August 24 to 28, 2023, under the theme of "LOOP." Members from Associate Professor Shinya Fujii's laboratory gave a total of 13 peer-reviewed presentations (4 oral and 9 poster presentations).
The presentations by Aiko Watanabe, researcher Takahide Etani, and laboratory alumna Shiori Honda each received a Sempre Award.
Award-Winning Project
Effects of recalling positive and negative music performance memories on subjective performance achievement and heart-rate variability: A pilot study
Aiko Watanabe
Comment from Aiko Watanabe
I am not only delighted but also deeply humbled to receive such an award. Having spent many years as both a performer and a teacher, I developed a strong interest in the conditioning of musicians, which led me to enroll in the master's program at the SFC Graduate School of Media and Governance last fall semester.
At this international conference, I gave a poster presentation titled "Effects of recalling positive and negative music performance memories on subjective performance achievement and heart-rate variability: A pilot study." The study explores how recalling distinct performance memories just before playing affects the actual performance of skilled musicians. Although the days were spent tentatively moving forward with experiments and analysis, the excitement and emotion I felt in the moments of visualizing and quantifying what had previously been only sensory were a new experience, unlike anything I had ever felt even while performing. I will not take for granted the good fortune of being able to present such a nascent study at an international conference. Instead, I will use this as encouragement to continue to devote myself to my work as a researcher.
Lastly, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my co-author Tomohiro Sanma and all the members of the Fujii Laboratory, who have always resonated with me and shared in the struggles; to the many professors who have provided me with enthusiastic guidance; and to Associate Professor Shinya Fujii, who always gives me strong inspiration.
Source: General Affairs Section, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) Office