HÂþ»­

Performance Laboratory

A man wearing a light blue shirt, using digital tablet to control a visual simulator, with two students, a female soprano and a male pianist, performing in front of a simulator.
Across two spaces, the HÂþ»­ has constructed a world leading Performance Laboratory in which performance can be practised, trained, simulated, and studied.

The Centre for Performance Science (CPS) and HÂþ»­ Digital have been awarded £1.9 million from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and World Class Laboratories Fund (WCL) to enable a major redevelopment of the Royal College of Music’s Performance Simulator facility, expanding its pioneering research in the arts as well as business, sport, medicine, education and creative practices.

The Performance Simulator facility is an integral part of the HÂþ»­ and allows musicians to practise performance in real-world, dynamic performance conditions with reactive virtual audiences and audition panels. Since its launch in 2011, it has been used by HÂþ»­ musicians to develop and refine skills in stage presence, communication and stress management, and to conduct valuable detailed post-performance analysis. The Performance Simulator has also been used as a training facility for performers in other fields, notably for public speaking, interviewing and business pitching. It has been used by a wide range of external performers, including athletes, tech executives, entrepreneurs and civil servants.

The AHRC investment has allowed the upgrade of the existing Performance Simulator to a state-of-the-art Performance Laboratory. Across two spaces, it features fully virtual recreations of iconic HÂþ»­ venues built within a leading video game engine and featuring fully interactive audiences and audition panels. Via a Meyer Constellation acoustic system, it can change the acoustic of the venue at the touch of a button, and Steinway Spirio self-playing piano allows performers to capture and recreate performances in a variety of settings. A suite of research tools, from eye-tracking to motion capture, allows researchers to understand performance in real time.

In addition to being used across HÂþ»­ activities the Performance Laboratory can be hired for bespoke training, with clients including the Imperial College Business School, Football Association, and the United Nations Development Programme.

To find out more about the original project that led to the Performance Laboratory, check out the Performance Simulator project.

Project partners

 

Supported by

Project team

Richard Bland

Project outputs

Enquiries

Questions about our research community and our current research projects should be directed at our Research and Knowledge Exchange Manager.

For all press and media related enquiries please contact our Press team.

Emma Hewett

Research and Knowledge Exchange Manager

+44 (0)20 7591 4734

research@rcm.ac.uk

Commercial enquiries

For enquiries relating to the Performance Laboratory

laboratory@rcm.ac.uk

Press office

All press and media enquiries

press@rcm.ac.uk

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