Alan Watson

Alan Watson is a Reader (Emeritus) at the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Zoology (Edinburgh) and a PhD in Neuroscience (St. Andrews). After postdoctoral studies in neuroscience at Cambridge University he joined the Anatomy Dept. of Cardiff University in 1989.

Alan taught gross anatomy and neuroscience to medical and science students and carried out neuroscience research over many decades. He became interested in the physiology of musicians and their musculo-skeletal problems after discovering that these were often poorly understood by the medical profession because they were not being viewed in a vocational context. He subsequently became involved with the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine, and in the setting up of an M.Sc. in Performing Arts Medicine at University College London. He has given numerous talks on these subjects at science, arts and literary festivals and many other events, and participated in several radio broadcasts (All in the Mind, Women’s Hour, Good Morning Wales etc.). He began teaching at RWCMD in 2011.

Alan was a Beit Memorial Fellow for Medical Research at Cambridge University. He has collaborated with Kevin Price (RWCMD) on studies of the physiology of brass performance, focusing on posture, breathing, and embouchure function. These studies involved students from RWCMD and Cardiff University, as well as professional musicians associated with the College. Their work was supported by a Wellcome Trust People Award (2007-2009) and a multi-conservatoire AHRC grant, ‘Musical Impact’ (2013-2017).
Alan is the author of The Biology of Musical Performance and Performance-Related Injury (Scarecrow Press, 2009) and, in collaboration with Nichola Harrison (Pembroke College, Oxford), A Singer’s Guide to the Larynx (Compton Publishing, 2019). He is also an Honorary Fellow of RWCMD.