Abstract

Music performance is a particularly apt domain for studying psychosocial stress. Professional musicians are expected to deliver high quality performances, of often well-known pieces, for audiences who have come to expect technical mastery and novel artistic insight. While the psychology of performance has been studied systematically for several decades, corresponding research into applied performance physiology, by contrast, is relatively limited. This seminar explores recent research into the experience and consequence of performance stress, looking specifically at musicians’ cardiovascular and endocrinological responses to performing in public. It also introduces the Performance Simulator, an innovative new facility that allows musicians to develop and practice requisite performance skills.

Professor Williamon is a professor of Performance Science and currently leads the Centre for Performance Science at the Royal College of Music, London. His research focuses on skilled performance and applied scientific initiatives that inform music learning and teaching. Aaron is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the UK’s Higher Education Academy, and in 2008, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Music.

This talk is co-orgainised with the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (Sempre – http://www.sempre.org.uk/)