About the institute

Welcome to the Institute for Musicians' Motor PerformanceTM
(IMMP)

The Institute researches, develops, and teaches methods for improving musicians' motor performance. The focus is on musicians and motor performance because:

Without motor skill, there would be no music.
Motor skill - the ability of the body to create and direct motion - is the necessary medium by which each performing musician communicates the inner, musical imagination.

Musicians are the elite amongst fine motor performers. Studying musicians provides a crucial lens for understanding how these skills are acquired, trained and improved in extreme conditions, and to the highest known level of human expertise.

The Institute combines work in three critical areas:

1. High-level musical performance expertise: musician  insiders' knowledge of the physical, technical, psychological and musical-expressive demands of the field

2. Scientific research into the neurophysiology and biomechanics of musicians' fine motor performance

3. Clinical work with musicians: developing and teaching methodologies specifically aimed at improved (motor) performance for musicians. Scientific knowledge about human (neuro-)physiology is combined with knowledge of instrumental mechanics to create training methods adapted to each instrument's technical challenges, and each person's physique and musical goals.

We believe that the human motor system, if understood and used well, can learn and sustain musical performance at the highest level without pain and injury.

—   Courses

Develop and refine the fine motor skills, from (finger-)tips to toes

The course material will be offered in modules centered around solutions to different challenges that musicians face, from posture to finger independence to air flow and beyond.

The institute describes its training approach as addressing the 'Rest of the IcebergTM'. If muscle activations and joint angles are the visible output - a.k.a., the tip of the iceberg - the 'Rest of the Iceberg' is the input of our attention, our intentions, our expectations, and the processing of our sensory stimuli, all shaping how we prepare a movement and what we feel during a movement. It is the 'Rest of the Iceberg' that will determine the quality of the motion: e.g., the motion's precision, adaptability, ease, dynamism, and degree to which it will tire.

The goal is to acquire tools to harness the 'Rest of the Iceberg' for intelligent, nuanced, precise, dynamic, easy movement that will be able to convey the full range of one's desired musical expression.
Write your awesome label here.

—   About the IMMPTM founder

IMMP founder and director, Julia Tom

Julia Tom is the founder of the Institute for Musicians’ Motor Performance, where she teaches and researches the latest in motor strategies for musicians’ performance.

After graduating cum laude with a B.A. from Harvard University, Julia spent decades as a cello soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician performing on the world's major stages. Throughout this time, Julia has sought answers to the some key questions of the profession: 'How does one attain and sustain peak musical performance?' 'Is it possible to improve performance and sustain one's physical condition at the same time?' 

In the mid-2000's, Julia discovered a musicians’ motor retraining system called Dispokinesis, developed by the late physiotherapist and musician, Gerrit Onne van de Klashorst. After years studying with the acclaimed Dispokinesis teacher and former head of the Gesellschaft für Dispokinesis nach G.O. van de Klashorst, Joachim Schiefer, she received her Dispokinesis teaching certification in 2019. 

Julia credits Dispokinesis with transforming her own playing and physical condition. She has taught this paradigm-shifting approach to top performers worldwide, transforming previous legacies of physical strain and blocked performance into an ability to achieve the full range of musical expression. 

In addition to teaching and performing, Julia is developing research through her PhD studies in Kinesiology at the University of Toronto. Her trifeca of pursuits - teaching, researching and performing - allows for Julia to continually adapt and improve her work through cross-checking between each area. Effectiveness and applicability are Julia's driving principles. 

—   Media

TED-style talk - Julia Tom: "What's Touch Got to Do With It?"
Harvard University, June 2022.

—  Testimonials

Julia has performed magic on me...  I was having trouble conducting the Dutilleux [Violin Concerto], which has a lot of beats to make. My arm, my shoulder was starting to hurt me. With a few little exercises, it made things much better. So four times [conducting] Dutilleux without any problems! Thank you very much!
Maestro Myung-Whun Chung
In English
In Japanese
I came to Europe to study music ... but I also wanted to have a very good viola sound. [I wondered] "How should I use my body?" ... "What is the bowing system?"...

I heard from Julia that someone comes [Joachim Schiefer gave Dispokinesis lessons to Concertgebouw Orchestra musicians between 2014-18]. I went to him, and [it was] completely, "Ah, that's it!" I thought the heaviness comes like this [gestures from the shoulder]. But no, just like this [gestures from the hand and bow] is enough. Otherwise, you stop your sound yourself. This was for me, "Aha, of course!"... 

I'm very unhappy it comes so late. Still I'm very happy at this moment [I find] this is my direction ... It's very satisfying.
Ken Hakii
Former principal violist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, serving as principal violist from 1992 until his retirement in 2020
No one is offering this [Dispokinesis] - that's a pity. I arrived, I'm 26, and just because I'm doing an Academy, I heard about this ... Six years in a Superior Conservatory [Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris] and I never heard about it. And we're spending hours sitting, we're just destroying our body, and after that, you need results. You need to win the audition, you need to enjoy on stage. And you have the pain - you're just living with the pain. 

So yes, for me, we absolutely have to have access to this ... We need to be aware [of] what our bodies are doing.
Lauriane Chenais
Principal harp, North Netherlands Orchestra. Julia Tom taught Dispokinesis to Ms. Chenais when Ms. Chenai was an Academist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra (2018-19)
What I've been struggling to do is not to tense up. What I tend to do [when] I want to play soft is my shoulders start to get hunched and I engage my back, and there is no more flow in my body ... and my fingers start to get tense ...

This tension doesn't help me get the sound that I want. 

Through all of the work we have been doing ... I realize that I don't need to hold this much tension. It is actually countering what I'm trying to achieve.

Usually after I do [the assigned exercises], my fingers don't feel as constricted. They feel much more free. I feel like I'm not trying so hard and clenching. Instead, it feels like [the finger motion] is being led by something that is much more sensitive.
Mimi Ke
Pianist in Advanced Certificate Program at University of Toronto. In 2021-22, Ms. Ke took the year-long class, 'Performance Skills', taught by Julia Tom

Contact us

First Name
Last Name
E-mail address
Your message
Thank you!
Created with