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Dr Anna Detari

PhD, MSc, MA, BA

Anna Détári is a Lecturer in Performance Science within the Centre for Performance Science at the Royal College of Music. Anna’s main research interest is performing artists’ health and well-being. Informed by her work as both a performer and a researcher, her goal is to translate the latest scientific findings into effective practices to positively impact musicians’ lives in a meaningful way.  

Anna holds her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in flute performance which she completed at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and the University of Pécs in Hungary. Her interest in musicians’ health inspired her to complete a Master of Science degree in performance science at the Royal College of Music, followed by a doctoral degree at the University of York. Anna’s PhD research examined Musician’s Focal Dystonia - a task-specific neurological movement disorder - from a holistic perspective, considering psychological, psychosocial, and behavioural risk factors, to enhance existing treatments and establish preventative strategies.

As a member of the CPS, she continues her research into performers’ physical and mental health, focusing on motor movement acquisition, body mechanics, the psychosocial work environment of musicians, mental health, neurodiversity, and their implications for music performance and education.  

Selected publications 

Détári A (2023), Treating the musician rather than the symptom: the holistic tools employed by current practices to attend to the non-motor problems of musicians with task-specific focal dystonia, Frontiers in Psychology, 13 (1038775) [DOI].

Détári A & Nilssen TM (2022), Exploring the impact of the somatic method 'Timani' on performance quality, performance-related pain and injury, and self-efficacy in music students in Norway: an intervention study, Frontiers in Psychology, 13 (834012) [DOI].

Détári A, Clark T, & Egermann H (2022), Musician’s focal dystonia: a mere neurological disorder? The role of non-organic factors in the onset of musician’s focal dystonia: an exploratory Grounded Theory study, International Journal of Music, Health and Wellbeing, Spring/Summer [LINK].

Détári A & Egermann H (2022), Towards a holistic understanding of musician's focal dystonia: educational factors and mistake rumination contribute to the risk of developing the disorder. Frontiers in Psychology, 13 (2298) [DOI].

Détári A & Egermann H (2022), Musician’s focal dystonia: the practitioner’s perspective on psychological, psychosocial, and behavioural risk factors, and non-motor symptoms. Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 37(3), 200-207 [DOI]. 

Détári A, Egermann H, Bjerkeset O, & Vaag J (2020), Psychosocial work environment among musicians and in the general workforce in Norway, Frontiers in Psychology, 11 (1315) [DOI].

Faculties / departments: Research

Research

Research areas

Performance Science

Health and Wellbeing

 

Research students

Georgia Dawson

Akira Liu

Charlie-Jade Jones

 

Latest Publications

Matei, R. and Ackermann, B. and Allen, J. and Alpagut, U. and Ananda-Owens, K. and Araújo, L. S. and Arnold, R. and Árnason, K. and Babyak, T. and Baroody, M. and Barreto Kochem, F. and Bastepe-Gray, S. and Behel, K. and Beuschau, K. R and Bidlack, M. and Blouin, C. and Bull, A. and Bush, A. and Callan-Harris, S. and Chesky, K. and Chi, J-Y. and Chiu, R. and Cornett, V. and Cortesi, M. and Couth, S. and Détári, A. and Devadas, U. and Doğantan-Dack, M. and Dunbar, S. and Ege, G. and Evans, A. and Frost, M. and Fujimoto, M. and Garden, P. and Gilchrist, D. and Gilbert, D. and Ginsborg, J. and Gooding, L. and Grau-Sánchez, J. and Gregory, S. and Greasley, A. and Guptill, C. and Habe, K. and Habron-James, J. and Hatfield, J. and Herman, R. and Hildebrandt, H. and Hoffman, I. B. and Hunt, J. and Immerz, A. and Ingle, M. and Joukamo-Ampuja, E. and Kekenadze Gustafsson, I. and Koivisto, T-A. and Kurzbauer, H. and Laursen, A. and Lee, A. and Leclair, G. and Leech-Wilkinson, D. and Lewis (Hatheway), M. and Li, S-A. and Liley, K. and Lim, H. and Lubert, V. J. and Lubet, A. and Mamou, T. and McCrary, J. M. and Monterroso, I. and Morijiri, Y. and Mornell, A. and Mulvey, V. and Musgrave, G. and Norton, N. and O’Brien, I. and Ornoy, E. and Osborne, M. S. and Palac, J. and Palmer, T. and Panebianco, C. and Perkins, R. and Phillips, K. and Postu, A. and Rennie-Salonen, B. and Ripani, G. and Robinson, M. and Rose, D. and Saglamer, S. and Savvidou, P. and Sawicka, K. and Schiavio, A. and Schmalenberger, S. and Schmidtmann, G. and Stachó, L. and Şen, L. and Tan Sheren, J. and Shoebridge, A. and Shoda, H. and Sivan, N. and Smith, L. and Spira, A. and Stam, E. and Steemers, S. and Stryker, M. and Stubbe, J. and Su, Y-H. and Sunandan Honisch, S. and Suzuki, A. and Taylor, M. S. and Techamanapong, J. and Toma, I. and Türk-Espitalier, A. and Vasilyeva, L. and Vernia-Carrasco, A. M. and Wagner, I. and Walsh, S. and Wijsman, S. and Williamon, A. and Wristen, B. and Yang, J. M. and Ying, J. and Yoshie, M. and Young, B. (2026) Health promotion in tertiary music institutions: a position paper. Arts Education Policy Review ISSN 1063-2913 (print) 1940-4395 (online)

Détári, A. and Dawson, G. and Ballam, L. and Chapman, A. and Redelinghys, J. and Baines, E. and Furniss, P. and Hugill, A. and Heaton, P. (2026) The neurodivergent musician: a methodology report on a Participatory Action Research study. Neurodiversity, 4 ISSN 2754-6330 (online)

Korošec, K. and Lundqvist, L.-O. and Perkins, R. and Détári, A. and Osika, W. and Bojner Horwitz, E. (2026) Development of the Participatory Music Engagement for Mental Well-being (PaMEW) questionnaire: a pilot study with autistic adults. Psychology of Music ISSN 0305-7356 (print) 1741-3087 (online)

Détári, A. and Altenmüller, E. (2025) Preventing Musician’s Focal Dystonia: a guide for music educators. International Journal of Music Education ISSN 0255-7614 (print) 1744-795X (online)

Détári, A. (2023) Treating the musician rather than the symptom: the holistic tools employed by current practices to attend to the non-motor problems of musicians with task-specific focal dystonia. Frontiers in Psychology, 13 (1038775). ISSN 1664-1078

Détári, A. and Egermann, H. (2022) Musicians focal dystonia: the practitioner’s perspective on psychological, psychosocial, and behavioural risk factors and non-motor symptoms. Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 37 (3) pp. 200-206. ISSN 0885-1158 (print) 1938-2766 (online)

Détári, A. and Egermann, H. (2022) Towards a holistic understanding of musician’s focal dystonia: educational factors and mistake rumination contribute to the risk of developing the disorder. Frontiers in Psychology, 13 (882966). ISSN 1664-1078

Détári, A. and Clark, T. and Egermann, H. (2022) Musician’s focal dystonia: a mere neurological disorder? The role of non-organic factors in the onset of musician’s focal dystonia: an exploratory Grounded Theory study. Journal of Music, Health, and Wellbeing pp. 1-15. ISSN 2515-981X

Détári, A. and Nilssen, T. M. (2022) Exploring the impact of the somatic method ‘Timani’ on performance quality, performance-related pain and injury, and self-efficacy in music students in Norway: an intervention study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13 (834012). ISSN 1664-1078

Détári, A. and Egermann, H. and Bjerkeset, O. and Vaag, J. (2020) Psychosocial work environment among musicians and in the general workforce in Norway. Frontiers in Psychology, 11 (1315). ISSN 1664-1078

Contact

For enquiries please contact:

Dr Anna Detari

Lecturer in Performance Science

research@rcm.ac.uk

anna.detari@rcm.ac.uk