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Physical and mental health can shape how musicians pursue their art and the pleasure they take from it. The results of recent research, however, suggest that pain and ill health are widespread among musicians and that healthy approaches to making and working in music are far from uniform throughout the profession. Since 2000, the RCM Centre for Performance Science (CPS), led by Professor Aaron Williamon, has forged a distinctive programme of research designed to promote healthy music making and facilitate long, productive performing careers. Results have informed health promotion initiatives in music educational and professional contexts across Britain and internationally.
Learning from the Past is a priority in the RCM's research strategy, building on the College's reputation for bringing music's context to life, whether through concerts, recordings or text-based outputs. The rich RCM Collections provide a stimulating environment for advancing dialogue across the theory and practice of music. RCM Director Colin Lawson, an internationally recognised clarinettist, takes a lead in working from historical sources (often from within the RCM) to invigorate and illuminate performance. His multifaceted research and his leadership across the institution and beyond have radically advanced the understanding of music across a wide range of national and international beneficiaries, including the general public, the business community and the public sector. He challenges the cultural values and sociological assumptions of performance practice in ways which enrich the lives, imaginations and sensibilities of a broad cross-section of society.