What type of practice makes a musician perfect? What sort of child
is most likely to succeed on a musical instrument? What practice
strategies yield the fastest improvement in skills such as sight-
reading, memorization, and intonation? Scientific and psychological
research can offer answers to these and other questions that
musicians face every day. In The Science and Psychology of Music
Performance, Richard Parncutt and Gary McPherson assemble relevant
current research findings and make them accessible to musicians and
music educators. This book describes new approaches to teaching
music, learning music, and making music at all educational and skill
levels. Each chapter represents the collaboration between a music
researcher (usually a music psychologist) and a performer or music
educator. This combination of expertise results in excellent practical
advice. Readers will learn, for example, that they are in the
majority (57%) if they experience rapid heartbeat before performances;
the chapter devoted to performance anxiety will help them decide
whether beta-blocker medication, hypnotherapy, or the Alexander
Technique of relaxation might alleviate their stage fright. Another
chapter outlines a step-by-step method for introducing children to
musical notation, firmly based on research in cognitive development.
Altogether, the 21 chapters cover the personal, environmental, and
acoustical influences that shape the learning and performance of music.

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