Dr Cameron Roberts’ Talk and Masterclass

On Thursday 25th September, we had the privilege of welcoming Dr Cameron Roberts at Channing, who gave a very interesting talk and masterclass on optimising practice for musicians. With the help of Kezia C (sax), Amber J (piano), Elizabeth S (violin) and Anna R-B (trumpet) for the masterclass part of the talk, Dr Roberts gave us a fascinating insight into how to practise intelligently, prevent the risks of muscular injury and fatigue, while increasing the odds of achieving our music performance goals, however small or large.

Dr Roberts started the talk with a brief overview of his own journey studying music and medicine at university. Thanks to his own observations and years of research (leading to the publication of his book in 2025, titled Optimising Pianism), Dr Roberts developed his own theory and philosophy on how to get the most out of our music practice time, by engaging more effective mental skills and more creative use of the musical elements. The combination of mechanical optimisation, mental and musical skills is what contributes to the overall quality of our practice and eventually our performance and interpretation. Dr Roberts talked about the Belief-Reality Malalignment and its problems, and the theory of the 3Ms (Music-metaphor, Mechanics-movement, Mental-memory). He explained that although our beliefs influence our actions, it is the reality of the function of the 3Ms that defines our musicianship and mastery of our chosen discipline/instrument, not our beliefs about them. In short, each one of the 3Ms and each of the connections between them needs to be optimised for optimised musical skill to occur. Almost certainly, he said, if our music skills are not improving or thriving, one or more of our beliefs, our mechanics, our mental skills, or our process of practising will be limiting our progress. He stressed that it is our job to find the source of our problems, identify what holds us back, and fix them.

In the masterclass part of the talk, he used Amber’s, Kezia’s, Elizabeth’s and Anna-Rose’s performances to talk about the principles of chunking, staying true to the score, clear imagery, and linking clues that are present in the score to create a vivid performance respectively.

Biography

Dr Cameron Roberts is a concert pianist who performs throughout Europe and Australia with many of the world’s finest instrumentalists. He studied medicine and a master’s in music at the University of Melbourne. He further studied piano at the Australian National Academy of Music and internationally. His performances and recordings are characterised by ‘a refinement of style’ and ‘a triumph of musical imagination’.

Dr Roberts currently works in London as a specialist teacher of advanced piano technique, motor skills optimisation and injury-prevention strategies for professional musicians. He talks regularly on the theme of his new book, Optimising Pianism (2025), which has been praised as ‘a revelation’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘absorbing’ by reviewers. He strongly argues that, like sports professionals, musicians can benefit from science-informed practice to enhance performance – be it technical or aesthetic – rather than rely on traditions and their hit-and-miss outcomes.