Research Statement “The Singer’s Anatomy”

Background This research output is a practitioner’s autoethnographic account of the psychological experience of singing performance, reflecting on an extensive 45-year performance career. The practioner/researcher focussed on the multilayered relationships between the performer and their inner thoughts, their repertoire, their collaborators and their audiences. In production the work was supported artistically by senior musicians and singers and technically by QCGU. The audience for the work was composed of peers and the broader artistic community.

Contribution The primary research question is: How can reflection on the underlying processes of performance evoke useful and healthy insights from singers?

In this research output new insights are evoked in response to a novel research framework of seven categories of underlying processes of performance. The framework is based on extensive reading on emotion and social cognition. The framework has been used to gather of reflections from a diverse group of singers via an online survey. The artistic research output is another, impactful proof of concept. Taken together, the data reveals that singers share common experiences beyond the ambit of context and style and generated insights about the nature of effective performance and performer well-being.

Significance The framework and the research results have been introduced to peers as a toolkit for supporting performers’ wellbeing at international conferences including Eurovox 2018 (The Congress of European Singing Teachers), The Mental Health Services (theMHS) Conference 2019 and the International Symposium on Performance Science 2019. The framework also continues to inform the development of inclusive performance practices in the disability and mental health sectors.