Dr George Waddell

BMus, MMus, PhD, ARCT

Lecturer in Performance Science

Doctoral Supervisor

George Waddell is Lecturer in Performance Science at the Royal College of Music. He is also a Lecturer and honorary Research Associate in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. His research focusses on how performance is learned, valued, and assessed, including decision-making among judges and audiences and how technology can be used to enhance how performance is assessed and learned. He also serves as Project Manager and Principal Investigator on projects addressing the health and wellbeing of performers and those who engage with music.

George was a member of the first MedTech SuperConnector cohort, an accelerator for emerging medical technologies, and has worked in the conceptualisation, design, and testing of new technologies to enhance performance. He designs and leads courses on scientific research methods, the psychology of performance, enterprise and innovation, musicians’ health and wellbeing, professional skills, music and emotion, and the science and practice of performance evaluation. He is a co-author of the research methods textbook Performing Music Research (Oxford University Press).

George holds a PhD in Performance Science from the RCM. He completed his BMus and MMus in piano performance at Brandon University (Canada) while studying psychology. He was awarded the Brandon University Gold Medal for the Master of Music Degree and holds an ARCT Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He is a Consulting Editor for the journal Musicae Scientiae and an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Performance Science.

Selected publications

Ramirez R & Waddell G (2022), Technology-enhanced learning of performance, in GE McPherson (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Music Performance, Oxford University Press.

Waddell G & Williamon A (2022) Measuring the audience, in S Lee (ed.), Scholarly Research for Musicians (2nd edition), Routledge

Williamon A, Ginsborg J, Perkins R, & Waddell G (2021), Performing Music Research: Methods in Music Education, Psychology, and Performance Science, Oxford University Press [ISBN 9780198714545] [WEBSITE].

Dalmazzo DC, Waddell G, & Ramirez R (2021), Applying deep learning techniques to estimate patterns of musical gesture, Frontiers in Psychology, 11 (575971), 1-15 [DOI].

Waddell G, Perkins R, & Williamon A (2019), The Evaluation Simulator: a new approach to training music performance assessment, Frontiers in Psychology, 10 (557), 1-17 [DOI].

Waddell G & Williamon A (2019), Technology use and attitudes in music learning, Frontiers in ICT, 6 (11), 1-14 [DOI].

Waddell G, Perkins R, & Williamon A (2018), Making an impression: error location and repertoire features affect performance quality rating processes, Music Perception, 36, 60-76 [DOI].

Waddell G & Williamon A (2017), Eye of the beholder: stage entrance behavior and facial expression affect continuous quality ratings in music performance, Frontiers in Psychology, 8 (513), 1-14 [DOI] [VIDEO].

Find out more about George and the Centre of Performance Science. Visit website

Find out about the TELMI project. Visit website

Faculties / departments: Research, Academic staff