Performance Studio

Overview

The Performance Studio is location on Level 7 of Westmead Innovation Quarter. The studio is a state-of-the-art multi-purpose audiovisual and motion capture research facility, allowing the scientific study of music performance, spatial audio, dance, gesture, rhythm and synchrony. With a seating capacity of 40 people via retractable seating, the Performance Lab is an ideal venue for functions, conferences, musical performances, and research.

Research Theme: Art & Music Sciences 

Theme leader: Dr Andrew Milne

Collaborators include: Prof. Roger Dean, Dr Simon Chambers, Dr Anna Fiveash, Dr Steffen Herff, Dr John Taylor, Dr Mark Temple (faculty); Siyao Cheng, Anita Connell, Cameron Undy (PhD candidates).

The Performance Lab is used to support the following areas of the Art & Music Sciences research theme:

• Perception and cognition of music for Western and non-Western listeners – e.g., affective responses to musical loudness, timbre, harmony, tonality, rhythms, meter, and spatialisation, and the way such responses vary between cultures.
• Sociocultural mediation of music production and appreciation.
• Computational and algorithmic generation of music – e.g., through mathematical idealisations and deep learning.
• Use of music to enhance well-being and in therapeutic contexts – e.g., investigating cognitive benefits for older adults learning musical instruments, and using music to positively influence mood.
• Studying musical performance and interaction between performers – e.g., how the rhythmic timing of one performer influences another performer.
• Effects of music on the brain – e.g., using EEG to show how heard rhythms are transformed into brainwaves.
• Development and testing of new musical interfaces – hardware and software – designed to facilitate the production of conventional and novel music (e.g., microtonal or polyrhythmic).
• Composition and performance of new and experimental music informed by the above research topics (research-led practice).

Facilities