Serena Paese

Serena Paese graduated in piano performance (Conservatory of Music of Cosenza with pianist Giuseppe Maiorca, 2004). She studied chamber music and piano teaching methodology at the Conservatory of Music of Cosenza, Hindemith Foundation in Vevey, Conservatory of Luxembourg and the International chamber music academy 'Trio di Trieste' (2005-2011). She also earned a degree in Ancient literature and Archaeology. She works as a piano and music history teacher in secondary school.

She studied Music Psychology (MA in Music Psychology, Sheffield University, 2017). Her final thesis was about flow-state and mindfulness in mantras and instrumental training, the similarities between those processes and the role of sound. She has explored meditation techniques from different traditions and became interested in the effect of meditation to cope with music performance anxiety (MPA) because of a personal experience of MPA solved by the use of meditation techniques. The aim of deepening and promoting this effective tool for emotional self-regulation and awareness development led her to start a PhD in 2020 on the use of meditation to cope with MPA. The research is conducted under the supervision of Dr Hauke Egermann within the York Music Psychology Group.