Education

Keio University Graduated School of Media and Governance D2

Profile

Aiko Watanabe is a saxophonist and an Alexander Technique teacher (ATI certified). She graduated from Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. She performs in various forms, including solo, chamber, brass band, and orchestra. She was a former part-time lecturer at Ogaki Women’s Junior College, Department of Music, and at Mie Prefectural Shiroko High School, where she taught the brass band course. During her performance activities, she felt stuck in her own method of playing and teaching, so she became a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, a mind-body educational technique. Through encounters with many musicians who had fallen into serious performance difficulties but were still striving to improve their performance, she developed a strong interest in the physical reactions of performers during performance, and enrolled in the master’s program at SFC. Currently, she is a member of Shinya Fujii’s lab, where she conducts research to find scientifically based ways to improve musicians’ performance.

Project

Elucidation of brain and autonomic nervous system activities and development of biofeedback techniques that lead musicians to a high-performance state

Publications

1. Watanabe, A., Kondoh, S., Samma, T., & Fujii, S. Enhanced subjective performance achievement in wind instrument playing through positive memory recall: effects of sympathetic activation and emotional valence. Frontiers in Psychology, 16(1544069), 1544069. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1544069
2. Watanabe, A., Kondoh, S., Samma, T., & Fujii, S. Enhanced subjective performance achievement in wind instrument playing through positive memory recall: Effects of sympathetic activation and emotional valence. bioRxiv, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.12.628097

Conference Posters

1. Yoshie, M., Watanabe, A., Fujimoto, M., Morijiri, Y., Environmental factors related to music performance anxiety among professional musicians. The 18th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC18). São Paulo, Brazil, July 21-25, 2025.
2. 藤本悠花, 渡邊愛⼦, 藤井進也, 川畑秀明. ⼆者間の楽器演奏時における⽣理測定及び運動測定に関する予備的研究ー共奏時の⽣理・運動測定のプロトコル化を⽬指してー. 第 20 回感性⼯学会春季⼤会, 京都工芸繊維大学, 2025 年3月5日
3. 渡邊愛子, 三摩朋弘, 近藤聡太郎, 藤井進也. 自伝的演奏記憶の想起がパフォーマンス評価及び心拍変動に及ぼす影響. 第18回Motor Control研究会, 大阪大学, 2024年8月22-24日
4. Watanabe, A., Samma, T., Kondoh, S., Fujii, S. Effects of recalling autobiographical music performance memories on performance self-evaluation and heart rate variability. The Neurosciences and Music – VIII: Wiring, re-wiring, and well-being. Helsinki, Finland, June 13-16, 2024.
5. Watanabe A., Samma T., & Fujii S. Effects of recalling positive and negative music performance memories on subjective performance achievement and heart-rate variability: A pilot study.The Joint Conference of the 17th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 7th Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ICMPC17-APSCOM7). Nihon University, Japan, August 24-28, 2023. [Sempre Award 受賞]

Media Coverage

• Musicians Play Better When They Remember How Well They Did Before
  • https://www.forbes.com/sites/evaamsen/2025/10/13/musicians-play-better-when-they-remember-how-well-they-did-before/（Forbes / 2025年10月13日）
• From memory to melody: how positive memories elevate musical performance
  • https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1099571（EurekAlert! / 2025年9月24日）
  • https://www.kgri.keio.ac.jp/en/news-event/169347.html（Keio University Global Research Institute / 2025年9月17日）
• 「音が変わる！うまくなる！たのしい吹奏楽」２巻『楽器別アドバイス』（学研プラス）
• 「THE SAX」 vol.89 特集『音が良くなる呼吸法』(アルソ出版）
• 「うたの雑誌ハンナ」 2020年春号 No.50 (ハンナ)

Awards

SFC大学院相磯賞, 2024年度
Sempre Award, The Joint Conference of the 17th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 7th Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ICMPC17-APSCOM7). Nihon University, Japan, August 24-28, 2023.

Contact

aikow[at]keio.jp

Twitter@NeuroMusicLab

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