Centre for Music Performance Research
The RNCM Centre for Music Performance Research is directed by Professor Jane Ginsborg, Associate Director of Research.
Its members, PhD students and affiliates undertake research in music psychology and cognate disciplines including music education and music pedagogy.
Current and recent projects include:
Expert preparation for performance: singers’ practice, memorisation and long-term recall for words and melodies; verbal and non-verbal communication in collaborative rehearsal and performance; focus, effort and enjoyment in chamber music; the role of gesture in the development of mental representations for music; dancers’ long-term memory for movement to music; practice-based research; strategies for learning music; values and motivations informing the professional musical lives of conservatoire graduates; intelligibility of sung text
Interactive performance for musicians with hearing impairments (in collaboration with the University of Liverpool; funded by AHRC)
Promoting excellence in small group performance: teaching, learning and assessment (in collaboration with the University of Newcastle; funded by PALATINE)
Health promotion for music performance students; music performance students’ attitudes to health and experiences of ill-health.
Routes for dissemination include the peer-reviewed on-line journal edited by Jane Ginsborg (co-editors: Helena Gaunt and Susan Hallam), Music Performance Research, and the hosting of regular research seminars and international conferences.
