The performer’s conscious and subconscious processes in preparation for a concert or recital and their parallels with more traditional research has only recently come to broader scholarly attention. A number of important articles this decade, particularly in Rink’s Musical Performance (2002), the 2007 themed edition of The Dutch Journal of Music Theory, and the forthcoming Zurich University Yearbook based on an ELIA conference on the topic (2009), specifically deal with issues of process (with its interdependent and cyclical activities of preparation, rehearsal, interpretation, and reflection) and product, exploring its broader relationship to research. Professor Huib Schippers (Griffith University) expands on the findings of this research and discusses his experiences leading the Queensland Conservatorium Research Center and establishing a research culture focussed on the understanding of musical processes as research.

Behind the Music is based on the idea that it is possible to identify research methods and patterns in almost any progression towards a performance: from defining the general idea or concept (this can be an individual or group process), to the initial choice of repertoire / material; to follow-up research into books, scores, records, and memory through to final choices on approach, repertoire, and material. In processes commonly identified as research, these stages would correspond to defining the research question, literature review, and choice of methodology. Next, the musician typically moves to the studio. This is the lab or experimental phase of the research. Here, thousands of deeply considered and split-second decisions are made using music notation or memory; ideas from publications about music (structure, history); consulted or remembered recordings in private collections libraries and performaces; learned, acquired and developed values; experience and assessment of audience reactions; and probably most importantly an aural library, which, for a practicing musician, would typically consist of 20,000 to 50,000 hours of listening, learning, and playing (Schippers, 2007).

Every performance is informed by such processes, even though the final outcomes are often not primarily intended as ‘research products.’ The presentation will try to outline some of the key ideas of practice-led research in music performance and strategies to operationalise these in academic environments.