Perform Project
Performance Enhancement Research FOR Musicians
Many performers and teachers are now pointing to the importance of strong mental skills to facilitate effective practice and successful performance. Such skills include imagery and mental rehearsal, metacognition, and cognitive strategies.
The first aim of this project was to conduct a broad survey of skills and methods employed by musicians when preparing for performance. From this, a better understanding emerged of the function that mental skills play in musicians' practising and performing routines, as well as how they may best be developed and integrated.
Building upon insight gained from this early work, the second aim of the project was to develop and deliver an intensive, musician-focused mental skills training programme. As well as exploring the impact of the training on musicians’ performance experiences, a greater understanding of the issues and implications inherent in delivering this sort of programme was sought. Results indicated that those students who participated in the project enhanced their practice effectiveness, developed heightened levels of self-efficacy, and increased their imagery abilities.
From this, guidelines were elaborated for how best to incorporate mental skills training within the curricula of music conservatoires. Interdisciplinary methods for assessing the efficacy of novel training programmes were also developed.
People
Terry Clark, RCM
Tânia Lisboa, RCM
Aaron Williamon, RCM *
* Project contact awilliamon@rcm.ac.uk
Outputs
Clark T & Williamon A (2009), Developing evidence-based interventions to enhance performance, in A Williamon, S Pretty, & R Buck (eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Performance Science 2009 (pp. 97-102), European Association of Conservatoires (AEC).
Clark T & Williamon A (2011), Evaluation of a mental skills training program for musicians, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 23, 342-359.
Clark T & Williamon A (in press), Imagining the music: Methods for assessing musical imagery ability, Psychology of Music.
Clark T & Williamon A (2009), Imagining the music: A context-specific method for assessing imagery ability, in A Williamon, S Pretty, & R Buck (eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Performance Science 2009 (pp. 572-578), European Association of Conservatoires (AEC).
Clark T, Williamon A, & Aksentijevic A (2012), Musical imagery and imagination: The function, measurement, and application of imagery skills for performance, in DJ Hargreaves, DE Miell, & RAR MacDonald (eds.), Musical Imaginations: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Creativity, Performance, and Perception (pp. 351-365), Oxford University Press.
Clark T, Williamon A, & Lisboa T (2007), The phenomenology of performance: Exploring musicians’ perceptions and experiences, in A Williamon & D Coimbra (eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Performance Science 2007 (pp. 35-40), European Association of Conservatoires (AEC).
Connolly C & Williamon A (2004), Mental skills training. In A Williamon (ed.), Musical Excellence (pp. 221-245), Oxford University Press.
Gregg M & Clark T (2007). Theoretical and practical applications of mental imagery, in A Williamon & D Coimbra (eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Performance Science 2007 (pp. 295-300), European Association of Conservatoires (AEC).
Gregg M, Clark T, & Hall C (2008). Seeing the sound: An exploration of the use of mental imagery by classical musicians, Musicae Scientiae, 12, 231-247
Wöllner C & Williamon A (2007), An exploratory study of the role of performance feedback and musical imagery in piano playing, Research Studies in Music Education, 29, 39-54.