Aaron Williamon

Aaron Williamon

Aaron Williamon is head of the Centre for Performance Science (CPS) at the Royal College of Music, London. His research focuses on music cognition, skilled performance, and applied psychological and health-related initiatives that inform music learning and teaching. His book, Musical Excellence, is published by Oxford University Press and draws together the findings of initiatives from across the arts and sciences, with the aim of offering musicians new perspectives and practical guidance for enhancing their performance. In addition, Aaron is interested in how audiences perceive and evaluate performances and, in 1998, was awarded the Hickman Prize by the Society for Education, Music, and Psychology Research (SEMPRE) for his work on this topic. He has performed as a trumpeter in chamber and symphony orchestras, brass bands, and brass quintets in both Europe and North America.

Email: awilliamon@rcm.ac.uk

Teaching
  • Level 1 Professional Skills
  • Level 2 Psychology of Music
  • Level 3 Psychology of Performance
  • Lectures on music psychology as part of the MMus in Advanced Performance
  • Research supervision on the BMus, MMus, and DMus programmes

Publications (selection)
  • Kreutz G, Ginsborg J, & Williamon A (in press), Health-promoting behaviours in conservatoire students, Psychology of Music. (See www.sagepub.co.uk to download.)
  • Rosenkranz K, Butler K, Williamon A, Cordivari C, Lees AJ, & Rothwell JC (in press), Sensorimotor reorganisation by proprioceptive training in musician's dystonia and writer's cramp, Neurology. (See www.neurology.org to download.)
  • Thompson S, Williamon A, & Valentine E (2007), Time-dependent characteristics of performance evaluation, Music Perception 25, 13-29. (See www.ucpress.edu to download).
  • Rosenkranz K, Williamon A, & Rothwell JC (2007), Motorcortical excitability and synaptic plasticity is enhanced in professional musicians, Journal of Neuroscience 27, 5200-5206. (See www.jneurosci.org to download.)
  • Williamon A (2007), The art of musical memory, Studien zur Wertungsforschung 47, 30-41.
  • 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. (See www.sagepub.co.uk to download.)
  • McPherson GE & Williamon A (2006), Giftedness and talent, in GE McPherson (ed.), The Child as Musician: A Handbook of Musicial Development (pp. 239-256), Oxford University Press.
  • Williamon A & Thompson S (2006), Awareness and incidence of health problems among conservatoire students, Psychology of Music 34, 411-430. (See www.sagepub.co.uk to download.)
  • Williamon A, Thompson S, Lisboa T, & Wiffen C (2006), Creativity, originality, and value in music performance, in I Deliège & G Wiggins (eds.), Musical Creativity: Multidisciplinary Research in Theory and Practice (pp. 161-180), Psychology Press.
  • Lisboa T, Williamon A, Zicari M, & Eiholzer H (2005), Mastery through imitation: A preliminary study, Musicae Scientiae 9, 75-110.
  • Rosenkranz K, Williamon A, Butler K, Cordivari C, Lees AJ, & Rothwell JC (2005), Pathophysiological differences between musician's dystonia and writer's cramp, Brain 128, 918-931. (See www.oxfordjournals.org to download.)
  • Williamon A (ed.) (2004), Musical Excellence, Oxford University Press. (See Oxford University Press.)
  • Williamon A & Egner T (2004), Memory structures for encoding and retrieving a piece of music: An ERP investigation, Cognitive Brain Research 22, 36-44. (See www.elsevier.com to download.)
  • Williamon A & Thompson S (2004), Psychology and the music practitioner, in JW Davidson (ed.), The Music Practitioner: Research for the Music Performer, Teacher, and Listener (pp. 9-26), Ashgate.
  • Lindström E, Juslin PN, Bresin R, & Williamon A (2003), ‘Expressivity comes from within your soul’: A questionnaire study of music students' perspectives on expressivity, Research Studies in Music Education 20, 23-47.
  • Thompson S & Williamon A (2003), Evaluating evaluation: Musical performance assessment as a research tool, Music Perception 21, 21-41. (See www.ucpress.edu to download.)
  • Williamon A & Valentine E (2002), The role of retrieval structures in memorizing music, Cognitive Psychology 44, 1-32. (See www.elsevier.com to download.)
  • Williamon A, Valentine E, & Valentine J (2002), Shifting the focus of attention between levels of musical structure, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 14, 493-520. (See www.tandf.co.uk/journals to download.)
  • Williamon A & Davidson JW (2002), Exploring co-performer communication, Musicae Scientiae 6, 53-72.
  • Williamon A & Valentine E (2000), Quantity and quality of musical practice as predictors of performance quality, British Journal of Psychology, 91, 353-376. (See www.bps.org.uk to download.)
  • Williamon A (1999), The value of performing from memory, Psychology of Music 27, 84-95. (See www.sagepub.co.uk to download.)


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