Live Music Performance: The Relationship Between Flow and Music Performance Anxiety

Most studies exploring the relation between flow and Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) have focused on the disposition of generally experiencing flow and the occurrence of MPA. Little is known about the connection between experiencing flow and MPA as it relates to a specific performance. In this study, flow and MPA have been investigated in 363 orchestral musicians in relation to a particular live music performance. The musicians were asked to fill out a questionnaire immediately after a concert. Flow experience during the performance was measured using the Flow Short Scale. The Performance-specific Questionnaire on MPA (PQM) was used for MPA. The PQM addresses particular aspects of MPA and refers retrospectively to the time before and during the performance as well as to the moment of filling out the questionnaire after the performance. Using three scales, the functional coping, the perceived symptoms of MPA and self-efficacy were determined for each time point of the performance. The results showed that experiencing flow was on average higher among orchestral musicians compared to a sample of the general population. However, there were differences between the professional and non-professional musicians. All PQM scales showed significant correlations with the global flow scale. Regression analysis on the global flow score found that regarding the time before the performance the PQM scale symptoms of MPA were diametrically connected with the flow experience. The PQM scale functional coping was shown to be positively related to the flow during the performance. Moreover, high self-efficacy was found to be closely related with stronger flow experience. Furthermore, flow seems to have positive effects on functionally coping with MPA and the self-efficacy after the performance. These findings confirm the negative relationship between flow and symptoms of MPA, offering further approaches in understanding the relationship especially for live music performances.

Conservatory Students’ Music Performance Anxiety and Educational Expectations: A Qualitative Study

Music performance anxiety (MPA) can seriously and negatively affect musicians’ performance and quality of life—physically, mentally, and behaviorally. In the present study, factors related to the MPA of students receiving classical Western music education in the conservatory in a holistic framework were examined to ascertain the physical, mental, and behavioral symptoms; temporal processes; environmental factors; coping strategies; and educational expectations and desires related to this condition. In addition to investigating causative factors in such a framework, the content analysis method was used on data collected from semi-structured interviews with conservatory students. The results show that the main causative factors of MPA included a jury’s negative evaluation, attitudes, and/or behaviors; their symptoms included trembling, muscle contraction, and distraction. The main coping strategy among participants was positive self-talk; remarkably, they had no theoretical knowledge of positive self-talk. Most significantly, considering that performance is integral to musical education training, students stated that the conservatory needs to integrate into the curriculum a course, counseling, and activities that address MPA.

The relationship between music performance anxiety and self-efficacy in sixth- to eighth-grade instrumental students

The purpose of this nonexperimental, quantitative study was to test social cognitive theory as it relates self-efficacy to anxiety. Music performance anxiety (MPA) and music performance self-efficacy (MPSE) were tested within a stratified random sample of Grades 6–8 instrumental music students ( N = 228) enrolled in middle schools located within the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. To determine levels of MPA and MPSE, participants completed the Music Performance Anxiety Inventory for Adolescents (MPAI-A) and the Music Performance Self-Efficacy Scale (MPSES). A correlational research design was used to test both the strength of the relationship between MPA and MPSE and the extent to which MPA could be predicted by two sources of self-efficacy: mastery experience and verbal/social persuasion. Results revealed a statistically significant, weak negative correlation between MPA and MPSE and a significant predictive relationship between MPA scores and the linear combination of mastery experience and verbal/social persuasion. Recommendations for future research include an investigation into the following: (a) the relationships between verbal/social persuasion and MPA among middle school-aged students, (b) strategies for teaching self-efficacy as a coping mechanism for MPA, and (c) how the relationship between MPA and MPSE is affected by proximity to performance.

Music Performance Anxiety in Adolescent Student Singers

<p>This project seeks to sidestep the debilitating effects of music performance anxiety by cross-referencing knowledge from the areas of adolescent psychology with literature on MPA in singers in general in order to target adolescent singers early in their training. As well as considering the causes, symptoms and treatment of music performance anxiety, the project examines the role of the natural anxieties of adolescence in triggering music performance anxiety and seeks to chart a way through. Its intended readership is the classical singing teacher.</p>

Music Performance Anxiety in Adolescent Student Singers

<p>This project seeks to sidestep the debilitating effects of music performance anxiety by cross-referencing knowledge from the areas of adolescent psychology with literature on MPA in singers in general in order to target adolescent singers early in their training. As well as considering the causes, symptoms and treatment of music performance anxiety, the project examines the role of the natural anxieties of adolescence in triggering music performance anxiety and seeks to chart a way through. Its intended readership is the classical singing teacher.</p>

A critical review of child perfectionism as it relates to music pedagogy

Perfectionism as a construct has received increasing attention in recent years, in particular with regard to its potentially debilitating effects. In this critical literature review, the prevalence and development of perfectionism in school-age musicians are examined, with an eye to the implicit values of neoliberalism and settler colonialism represented in music curricula. Parent, teacher, and cultural influences are considered, as well as the role of perfectionism in children’s experience of music performance anxiety. Suggestions that perfectionism in this context may be a product of punitive methods in education and inequitable distribution of resources are discussed. Recommendations are made for pedagogical practices and research with children, as well as implications for parents, with specific attention focused on the need to deviate from the idea that perfect performances are the only measurements of success in music.

The Relationships Between Music Performance Anxiety and the Mindfulness Levels of Music Teacher Candidates

In this study the relationships between the Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) levels and mindfulness levels of Music Teacher Candidates (MTC) were investigated. A large sample of undergraduate students (N = 524) from seven different universities from around Turkey took place in the study. The data was collected with both Kenny&rsquo;s MPA inventory and the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire. The Pearson Moments Correlation Coefficient was used in determining the relationships between the MPA and mindfulness levels of the MTC. To determine whether the MPA of students and mindfulness differ in terms of piano lesson achievement and daily piano practice time (DPPT) variables, a variance analysis (ANOVA) and a Kruskal Wallis H test analyses were used. Students&rsquo; mindfulness levels were negatively correlated with their MPA levels. Their piano lesson achievement levels had positive relationship with mindfulness and a negative relationship with their MPA. Similarly, their DPPT had a positive relationship with mindfulness and a negative relationship with MPA.

Higher music education students’ experiences and management of performance anxiety: A qualitative study

This study was undertaken with the intent of exploring three overarching research questions concerning music performance anxiety (MPA). The first objective was to collect descriptive accounts of the everyday experiences of MPA in educational settings. The second objective was to investigate the adaptive coping strategies students utilized to manage their MPA, which were distilled from the data in light of the self-regulated learning framework. Finally, the perceived institutional support around MPA was investigated. A semi-structured interview approach was used as the main data collection method ( n = 10). All students interviewed perceived themselves as experiencing MPA to some extent; however, the intensity of these experiences varied. The most common MPA coping strategies mentioned were increasing individual practice time, and mental skill practices. All students mentioned the importance of preparation, which was associated with self-confidence, leading to higher self-efficacy beliefs, which in return had a positive impact on their management of MPA. Teachers and peers were identified as integral to sustaining students’ well-being and MPA regulation efforts. A positive teacher attitude toward the management of MPA appeared to encourage students’ help-seeking efforts.