Impact of a Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment Program on Music Performance Anxiety in Secondary School Music Students: A Pilot Study

2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 53-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret S. Osborne ◽  
Dianna T. Kenny ◽  
John Cooksey
Keyword(s):  
Intervention Program ◽  
Relaxation Training ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Behavioural Treatment ◽  
Music Performance Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural Treatment ◽  
Performance Quality ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural

This study assessed the effectiveness of a combined individual and group cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) program to reduce music performance anxiety (MPA) in adolescent musicians. Twenty-three adolescents with high MPA from a selective high school were randomly assigned to either a seven-session intervention program or a behaviour-exposure-only control group. The intervention consisted of psychoeducation, goal setting, cognitive restructuring, relaxation training and behavioural exposure in the form of two solo performances with audience. Outcome measures included self-reports of MPA, trait and state anxiety, diagnostic interview for social phobia, heart rate, frontalis EMG, and performance quality. Significant improvements in self-reported MPA were observed at posttest for adherent students only ( i.e., students who were actively engaged in the program and who adopted program techniques). Adherent students also had higher MPA at commencement. Non-adherent and behaviour-exposure-only students both showed reductions in MPA over the study period but not to the same degree as adherent students. There appeared to be no effect of CBT on performance quality.

Virtual Reality Exposure Training for Musicians: Its Effect on Performance Anxiety and Quality

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josiane Bissonnette ◽  
Francis Dubé ◽  
Martin D Provencher ◽  
Maria T Moreno Sala
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
Training Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Virtual Training ◽  
Music Performance Anxiety ◽  
High Level ◽  
Virtual Reality Exposure

Music performance anxiety affects numerous musicians, with many of them reporting impairment of performance due to this problem. This exploratory study investigated the effects of virtual reality exposure training on students with music performance anxiety. Seventeen music students were randomly assigned to a control group (n=8) or a virtual training group (n=9). Participants were asked to play a musical piece by memory in two separate recitals within a 3-week interval. Anxiety was then measured with the Personal Report of Confidence as a Performer Scale and the S-Anxiety scale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y). Between pre- and post-tests, the virtual training group took part in virtual reality exposure training consisting of six 1-hour long sessions of virtual exposure. The results indicate a significant decrease in performance anxiety for musicians in the treatment group for those with a high level of state anxiety, for those with a high level of trait anxiety, for women, and for musicians with high immersive tendencies. Finally, between the pre- and post-tests, we observed a significant increase in performance quality for the experimental group, but not for the control group.

Development and evaluation of two brief group interventions for music performance anxiety in community musicians

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianna T. Kenny ◽  
Naomi Halls
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Sensitivity ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
Behavioural Therapy ◽  
Group Interventions ◽  
Empirically Supported Treatment ◽  
Music Performance Anxiety ◽  
Performance Quality ◽  
And Performance

This study presents the development, administration and evaluation of two brief group interventions for music performance anxiety (MPA) aimed at reducing anxiety and improving performance quality. A cognitive behavioural therapy intervention was developed based on an existing empirically-supported treatment Chilled (Rapee et al., 2006), focusing on cognitive, physiological and behavioural symptoms. The second treatment, anxiety sensitivity reduction, targeted primarily physiological symptoms and included relaxation strategies. Interventions were administered in a workshop format over one day with four intervention sessions, preceded by a pedagogic practice skills session that functioned as a control/placebo intervention. A quasi-experimental group randomization design compared the interventions in a heterogeneous sample of community musicians. Sixty-eight participants completed measures of trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, depression, and MPA. Participants performed four times (pre- and post-placebo, post-treatment and follow-up) and were assessed for state anxiety and performance quality at each performance. Results indicated that both interventions offered moderately significant gains for the musicians: anxiety was reduced and performance quality improved after each intervention and changes were maintained at follow-up. Anxiety sensitivity reduction showed a trend to exceed the CBT-based interventions, but a larger, higher-powered study is needed to confirm this advantage.

scholarly journals Music performance anxiety in classical musicians – what we know about what works

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Matei ◽  
Jane Ginsborg
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Music Performance Anxiety ◽  
Performance Quality ◽  
What Works ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Research Resources

When pursued professionally, the demands of musical training and performance can interfere with musicians' well-being and health. Music performance anxiety, while energising at optimal levels, impairs performance quality when excessive. A range of interventions has been explored to address it. However, the poor methodological quality of such studies and the complexity of this issue should mobilise further research resources in this direction.

Effects of Meditation on Music Performance Anxiety

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-130
Author(s):  
Joanne C Chang ◽  
Elizabeth Midlarsky ◽  
Peter Lin
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Music Performance Anxiety ◽  
School Of Music ◽  
Meditation Group ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Manhattan School Of Music

This study investigated the effect of meditation on music performance anxiety. Participants were 19 students between the ages of 18 and 41 yrs, who were recruited from the Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College of Music, Yale University School of Music, and State University of New York at Purchase. The experimental group received a series of eight meditation classes, and the control group received no meditation training. After the 8-week training period, all performed in a concert. Pretests and post-tests of music performance anxiety were given and post-tests of state anxiety and of performance concentration. Performance anxiety decreased among participants in the meditation group, in contrast to participants in the control group, whose performance anxiety did not decrease. Differences in regard to post-test state anxiety and performance concentration were not significant. An additional benefit of meditation was a reported increase in relaxation pleasure even in the period immediately before the performance. Results indicate that meditation may be a useful tool for aiding performers to combat performance anxiety.

scholarly journals Music performance anxiety: A clinical outcome study into the effects of cognitive hypnotherapy and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing in advanced pianists

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Brooker
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Implicit Processes ◽  
Music Performance Anxiety

Numerous investigations into music performance anxiety have focused on the conscious mind. However, little research has focused on implicit processes for alleviation of this condition. Cognitive hypnotherapy (CH) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), therapies which target implicit processes, were investigated in an intervention study with advanced pianists ( n = 46). Participants were of mixed gender aged 18–26 years (three over 30) and were randomly assigned to a therapy or control group. The therapy groups received two interventions of either CH or EMDR during a two-week period between two concerts. Quantitative data were collected through performance assessment, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and a self-report questionnaire (SRQ). The SRQ and a log of performance experience also allowed for qualitative assessment. Results showed that both therapy groups (but not the control) experienced a significant reduction in state anxiety post therapy and a significant improvement in performance. Trait anxiety decreased significantly below baseline levels post intervention in the EMDR group. This is an important area for future research in music psychology and has broader implications in other fields.

scholarly journals The relationship between music performance anxiety, subjective performance quality and post-event rumination among music students

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole Nielsen ◽  
Regina K. Studer ◽  
Horst Hildebrandt ◽  
Urs M. Nater ◽  
Pascal Wild ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
Music Students ◽  
Music Performance Anxiety ◽  
Performance Quality ◽  
Social Events ◽  
High Anxious ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Different Levels

According to cognitive models, the negative perception of one’s performance and the post-event rumination (PER) occurring after stressful social events maintain social anxiety. These aspects have hardly been studied in music performance anxiety (MPA), a specific form of social anxiety. The first aim of this study was to analyze the development of negative and positive PER over two days following a soloist concert, depending on the usual MPA level. The second aim was to investigate if subjective performance quality serves as mediator between MPA and PER. Negative and positive PER were assessed 10 minutes, one day and two days after a concert in 72 music students with different levels of usual MPA. Subjective performance quality was measured 10 minutes after the study concert. An increasing usual MPA level was associated with more negative and less positive PER. Both decreased over time. Negative PER decreased less rapidly in high-anxious than in low-anxious musicians and positive PER decreased more rapidly in low-anxious than in high-anxious musicians. Subjective performance quality mediated the relationship between MPA and PER. These findings extend previous knowledge in social anxiety to the field of MPA and have implications for interventions aiming at reducing MPA.

The Effects of Music-assisted Coping Systematic Desensitization on Music Performance Anxiety

2001 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-125
Author(s):  
Alan D Reitman
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Tension ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Systematic Desensitization ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Music Performance Anxiety ◽  
Error Count

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effects of music-assisted coping systematic desensitization on music performance anxiety. Eighteen musicians (19–45 years old; mean age = 26.66 years), ranging in experience from student to professional, with self-reported performance anxiety were randomly assigned to three groups: (1) verbal coping systematic desensitization; (2) music-assisted coping systematic desensitization; and (3) a wait-list control group. Subjects in the treatment groups received eight 75-minute group sessions of coping systematic desensitization. The treatment also included at-home relaxation practice, which made use of prerecorded relaxation scripts, with and without preferred music. All subjects participated in 5-minute pre- and post-treatment performances in front of three raters. Dependent measures included continuous monitoring of heart rate and frontalis surface electromyography (sEMG) during pre- and post-tests and during a 5-minute resting condition, the Spielberger State–Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Performance Anxiety Response Questionnaire, and the Music Performance Anxiety Questionnaire, administered pre- and post-treatment, and error count. Results indicated no significant differences between groups on physiological and self-report measures (p > 0.05). Error count was rendered invalid due to low interrater reliability. Self-report measures revealed within-group trends toward reduction in cognitive indices of anxiety for both treatment groups. Anxiety-related muscle tension (frontalis sEMG) also showed a within-group decline for the music-assisted treatment group. It was concluded that further research is warranted into the use of music-assisted cognitive– behavioral treatments for musicians.

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