A stimulating piece by Liam Shaw (LRB Blog) about researchers who’ve developed an exoskeletal robotic device which enables pianists to play all the notes exceptionally fast. “Shinichi Furuya … was once an aspiring piano virtuoso. As he explained in a talk in 2017, in his teens he spent up to ten hours a day practising. The punishing schedule led to recurrent hand pain that no doctor could cure. His career since has focused on studying the mechanics of piano-playing – and, more recently, the potential application of robotics. He founded the NeuroPiano Institute in Kyoto, which aims to allow musicians to ‘surmount the limits of creativity’.”
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