Hamish is Lecturer in Music Studies at the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington. His research, teaching, and public engagement activities are informed by his triple expertise as performer, musicologist, and music theorist. Hamish completed his PhD and MA in musicology at Princeton University in 2015, and holds two other Masters degrees (in piano performance and musicology) from Victoria University. His research incorporates performative, historical, critical, and theoretical approaches, and centers on issues of musical meaning, performance and embodiment, performance pedagogy, music-dance relationships, and music theory and analysis. His work has been published in Music Theory Online, Music Theory Spectrum, and Dance Research.

Hamish performs regularly as pianist. After gaining second place in the National Concerto Competition in 2001, he established himself as one of New Zealand’s most promising young pianists. He went on to perform as concerto soloist with several orchestras, and to form collaborations with performers from the NZSO, NZSM, and Royal New Zealand Ballet. Hamish is a member of the NZ Six Hands Trio and of Duo ombré. His scholarly research and piano performance inform one another. Hamish explores the ways musical meanings are formed through the embodied participations of performers, listeners, and musical thinkers. Central to all his work is his conviction that we are all “performers.” Whether listening to music, performing music, or recalling music in our head, we position ourselves and our bodies in performative ways, often unconsciously. Hamish’s research covers the many different modes of embodiment through which embodiers make sense of, and take meaning from, the powerful art of music.

Several publications explore the diverse musical experiences of embodiers of nineteenth-century piano music. This research presents evidence—from the nineteenth century to today—that imagining supplemental sound is a necessary part of performing and listening to piano music, and that imagined sounds (and real or imagined bodily exertions) are shaped not only by compositional features, but also by common techniques of illusion that pianists use in various musical contexts.