Dr Ingrid Pearson

BMus (Hons), Dip Ed, PhD, LTCL, LMusA, SFHEA, HonRCM

Ingrid Pearson performs as a clarinettist in the arenas of historical and contemporary performance. She has recorded for DG Archiv and performed with major UK period ensembles including the English Baroque Soloists, The English Concert, Florilegium, Gabrieli Consort and Players, The Hanover Band, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, in venues including London’s Barbican, Queen Elizabeth and Royal Albert and Wigmore Halls, the Salzburg Mozarteum and New York’s Lincoln Centre. Activities on modern clarinet include an AHRC-funded exploration of 19-tone equally-tempered microtonality and chamber music with Ensemble Émigré.

In tandem with her practical work, Ingrid’s activities across research and scholarship embrace historical and contemporary performance practices. Her publications encompass iconography, musical listening, organology as well as aspects of teaching and learning in the Conservatoire environment. Translations of Ingrid’s work appear in Chinese, German and Spanish.

Ingrid completed undergraduate studies at the University of Sydney. As a targeted graduate she was employed by the New South Wales Department of Education as both a classroom music teacher and tutor for the Performing Arts Unit. The award of an Overseas Research Scholarship then enabled Ingrid to move to the UK to undertake a PhD in performance practice at the University of Sheffield.

Following lectureships in the UK university sector Ingrid joined the RCM professoriate in 2005. She works across the College’s undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and is the Area Leader for the MMus in Performance and Programme Leader for the BSc in Music and Physics. In addition to supervising doctoral students, Ingrid teaches Level 4 Historical Studies, Level 5 Writing about Music, Level 5 Interrogating Collection Materials, Level 6 Research Project, Level 6 and 7 Repertoire Project, Level 7 Performing Research: Researching Performance and Level 7 Research Project (Performance).

She is involved in the Listening Experience Database and 3D Printed Musical Instruments projects.

Selected publications

Pearson I (2018), ‘Articulation’, ‘Iconography’ and ‘Oral tradition’ in C Lawson & R Stowell (eds.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historical Performance in Music, Cambridge University Press [DOI].

Pearson I (2017), Listening and performing: experiences of twentieth-century British wind players, in H Barlow & D Rowland (eds.), Listening to Music: People, Practices and Experiences [LINK].

Pearson I (2013), Research degrees in the conservatoire context: reconciling practice and theory, in S Harrison (ed.), Research and Research Education in Music Performance and Pedagogy (pp. 65-76), Springer [DOI].

Pearson I (2012), By word of mouth: historical performance comes of age, Performance Practice Review 17, 1, 21-36 [DOI].

Lawson C & Pearson I (2012), ‘Così fan tutte’ und der Charakter von E-Dur: Klangfarben der Klarinette', Acta Mozartiana, 59 (1), 36-44.

Pearson I (2007), Ferdinando Sebastiani, Gennaro Bosa and the Clarinet in Nineteenth-Century Naples, The Galpin Society Journal, 60, 203-214 [LINK].

Hair G, Pearson I, Morrison A, Bailey N, McGilvray D, & Parncutt R (2007), The Rosegarden Codicil: rehearsing music in nineteen-tone equal temperament, Scottish Music Review 1 (1), 99-126 [LINK].

Pearson I (2006), 18th- and 19th-century iconographical representations of clarinet reed position, in Z Blažekovic (ed.), Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography- special Chinese edition (pp. 143-154), Wuhan [ISBN 7-5354-3155-0].

View Ingrid's profile on Academia.eu. Visit website

Listen to Ingrid's lecture at Gresham College. Visit website

Faculties / departments: Historical Performance, Research, Academic staff