Abstract
Summary
Title:
Cues from within: Exploring interoception in musicians’ health and performance
Author:
Sigrun Eng, MA in Music Education, PhD Fellow
Affiliation: Norwegian Academy of Music, Centre for Research in Music and Health (CREMAH), Oslo, Norway
Email: sigrun.eng@nmh.no
Category: Paper Presentation
The study of interoception – the brain’s processing of internal bodily signals – is an expanding field in neuroscience and health research, with increasing evidence linking it to conditions such as chronic pain, anxiety, and stress-related disorders. The concept of interoception is central in somatically oriented therapies aimed at noticing and regulating autonomic nervous system arousal. Recent brain theories (e.g., the predictive coding theory) even propose that interoception plays a significant role in cognition, emotion, and meaning-making. Thus, the implications for musicians are at least threefold; interoception seems to play a role in health questions, in performance psychology, and in the practical and artistic sides of music making.
This paper presentation discusses interoception in the context of musicianship. It forms part of a PhD project that investigates how interoceptive capacities may influence musicians’ health conditions such as chronic pain, focal dystonia, and music performance anxiety. The presentation is based on the theoretical and conceptual groundwork for upcoming empirical studies, exploring interoception as a multi-layered phenomenon and drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from psychology, health sciences, and somatic approaches.
The aim is to introduce the concept of interoception to the field, focusing on its relevance to musicians’ health, performance preparation, and artistic decision-making. The presentation addresses educators, clinicians, and performers, offering practical examples and reflections on why knowledge about interoception might be useful for musicians. It invites dialogue to inform and shape the empirical research that lies ahead.
Bio:
Sigrun Eng is a PhD fellow at the Centre for Research in Music and Health (CREMAH) at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Her research explores interoception in musicians’ health and performance. She holds a master’s degree in music education and is a certified Somatic Experiencing practitioner. Alongside her academic work, she is an experienced and versatile cellist. She was a long-time member of the award-winning ensemble Slagr and currently explores the cello as a folk instrument in her solo project Solungcello. In her research, she integrates scholarly perspectives with embodied knowledge from her musical practice across genres, as well as from somatically informed methods.