Getting in touch with our immediate natural environment; exploring ways to engage with the (in-)availability of resources; communicating in movement with ourselves and with each other; creating new connections; negotiating what we need to thrive.

Bettina Bläsing studied in Bielefeld, Münster and Edinburgh and holds a doctorate in biology, specializing in relationships between movement and cognition. In 2019, she was awarded the venia legendi in sports science at Bielefeld University for her habilitation on memory, learning and expertise in dance. Until 2023, she worked as a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Rehabilitation Science at TU Dortmund University, focusing on dance in the context of disability and inclusion. Bettina has published more than 50 scientific articles and book chapters and co-edited several books featuring neurocognitive perspectives on dance and the performing arts. She also works as dance and improvisation teacher and science journalist.

In this workshop, practice mysteries will be investigated, insights discussed, and solutions proposed. By combining their experience as piano teachers, performers, and researchers, The Practice Sleuths, aka Graham Fitch and Adina Mornell, will take a magnifying glass to practice methods and learning strategies in order to explain the science behind their answers so that participants can solve future problems on their own.

Graham Fitch maintains an international reputation as a pianist, teacher, workshop leader and writer. He regularly publishes in Pianist Magazine, with video demonstrations on the magazine’s YouTube channel. He runs a private studio in London, working with professional performers, talented youngsters and piano teachers, Graham also helps amateur pianists develop their playing. He is a tutor on The Piano Teachers’ Course UK and at the Summer School for Pianists at Stowe, gives sell-out courses at Finchcocks, and offers courses in Blonay, Switzerland. He published an ebook series based on his popular blog and curates a considerable library of written and video content on his website, the Online Academy.

Over and over again we come across situations in life in which we have to leave our comfort zone. We start to have doubts and ask ourselves: Can I do this? Am I good enough? We become insecure and fearful. Mental techniques help us to perceive our own resources and to master these difficult situations more easily. In the workshop you can expect a helpful selection of useful exercises for everyday use.

Bettina Hafner, M.A., M.Sc. is an organizational psychologist. She works as a coach, team developer and trainer in various industries and universities. For over ten years she was an exam coach at the Technical University of Munich, helping students through difficult study situations. During this time, she learned a lot about the power of coaching and mental techniques – her heart still beats for empowering people in every kind of challenging situations.

Your education is over, you’re busy with your career, but you’re looking for ways to better thrive in your own work. This workshop will explore nurturing mindsets for self-reflection and self-improvement. The solutions discussed will include concepts from “Adult Learning Theory,” “Communities of Practice,” and “Structured Video Analysis” as well as techniques for developing collaborative support among professional colleagues.

Frank Heuser is Professor Emeritus of Music Education at UCLA where he taught courses in music education and supervised student teachers. His research focuses on developing ways to improve music pedagogy. He has used electromyography to investigate tone commencement problems in brass players, developed strategies to improve pre-service music teacher education, and is currently applying the principles of information design to improve teaching materials employed in music instruction. He is a guest conductor and clinician for public school ensembles and has served on a variety of arts education committees for the State of California as well as on evaluation panels for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Explore practice strategies that can not only make daily practice more engaging and effective, but facilitate more creativity and freedom on stage as well.

Performance psychologist Noa Kageyama is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and the Cleveland Institute of Music. A conservatory-trained violinist with degrees from Oberlin and Juilliard before completing a Ph.D. in counseling psychology at Indiana University, Noa specializes in teaching musicians how to utilize sport psychology principles and demonstrate their full abilities under pressure. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, CNN, and other media outlets. He maintains a coaching practice, has taught over 8000 musicians through his online courses, and authors The Bulletproof Musician blog and podcast, reaching over 45,000 subscribers every week.

The genesis of this session can be traced to past AiM conferences, where the idea of applying rhythmical stimuli to the training of elite athletes took flight, and has recently been subjected to scientific investigation. We will present our emergent findings and provide a basketball-related demonstration to bring key scientific principles to life.

Professor Costas Karageorghis is a UK author and academic whose expertise is in sport and exercise psychology. He is a Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Scientist and Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Professor Karageorghis is also a double-accredited member and Fellow of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences. He has held several leadership positions, including most recently as Divisional Lead for Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences at Brunel, University of London (2018–2022). Professor Karageorghis’ main area of research concerns the application of music and audio-visual stimuli in sport and exercise. His scientific output includes over 200 scholarly articles.

They are around us, can be fun but distracting, diminishing our drive, sometimes annoying and even harsh. But they keep us on track and alive, help us to thrive and reach our goals. I call them our “dragons”. How the scientific form of Qi Gong can help us using their power will be the topic of my workshop.

Born in 1977 in Klagenfurt/Austria, Mag. Dr. Klaus Rom studied physical education and physics at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Austria. Since 2003, he has been teaching and doing research at the institute for human movement, sport and health science at the K.F. University and in schools. His scientific focus is on the theory of sports training. He is an experienced mountaineer and triathlete (Olympic distance and Ironman). Besides his physical activities Klaus Rom is an experienced saxophone and guitar player, father of 3 kids, husband, keeper of about 14 sheep and up to 20 chickens, and – guess what – never bored.

The Zurich Centre for Musicians’ Hands (ZZM) at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and the Future Initiative SIRIUS 6.0 at the University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart (HMDK) represent use-inspired research focusing on bringing the full potential of musicians’ hands to the fore. Both workshops – one for instrumentalists in general and one for pianists – give insight into ongoing research and how results translate into practical consequences for teaching, counseling and therapy.

Oliver Margulies, PhD, MA, MAS, studied violin and viola in Zürich and Basel and performs in ensembles and orchestras. He received his certification as a Dispokinesis teacher in 2008, earned his MAS in Music Physiology at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in 2011, and his doctorate in 2018. He is a lecturer for Music Physiology at the Stella Vorarlberg Private University for Music, Co-founder of the Zurich Centre for Musicians’ Hands (ZZM) and, since 2010, lecturer and research associate in the department of Music Physiology, Preventive and Musician’s Medicine at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).

Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender is professor for piano pedagogy at the University of Music and the Performing Arts (HMDK) Stuttgart, Germany with publications also in the Netherlands, USA, Brazil, South Korea, Japan and China. Her research at the interface of pianism–music physiology–musicians’ medicine (causes of PRMD, risky angles) is based on her 14 years collaboration with Prof. Dr. Christoph Wagner, pioneer of music physiology in Germany. Ulrike Wohlwender is founding member of the Zurich Centre for Musicians’ Hands (2009) as well as co-founder and head of the Future Initiative SIRIUS 6.0 (2020).

Silvia Molan has been engaged in the Future Initiative SIRIUS 6.0 at the HMDK Stuttgart, Germany, as a co-founder since 2020. She teaches piano at the Esslingen School of Music, was a lecturer at the Hochschule für katholische Kirchenmusik und Musikpaedagogik (HfKM) Regensburg, Germany, and is currently a visiting lecturer at the HMDK Stuttgart for “Coaching SIRIUS 6.0” focusing on individual healthy playing techniques, also for standard keyboards. She holds multiple first and special prizes, including the 2010 Prelúdio, Brazil’s most celebrated competition for young soloists, has performed with orchestras in Brazil and regularly appears in solo and chamber music concerts across Europe and America.