scholarly journals An investigation of relationships between Flow Theory and music performance anxiety

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Li Li

This dissertation comprises three projects designed to investigate the relationship between flow and music performance anxiety and using flow to alleviate music performance anxiety. One investigation is a comprehensive literature review on flow theory and music performance anxiety. The literature review showed that flow and music performance anxiety were negatively correlated, and that facilitating flow can provide a powerful tool to reduce music performance anxiety. The second investigation is a quantitative study aimed to explore relationships between flow and music performance anxiety, which involves seventy-five participants from different music majors and education levels. Data were collected by questionnaires. Results indicated that items from four dimensions of flow (clear goals, unambiguous feedback, autotelic experience, and loss of self-consciousness) were most significantly and negatively correlated with MPA, and that strategies related to these four dimensions items may help to reduce MPA. Gender, age, education level, major, and performance form had no direct impact on flow experience, while performance time and performance frequency were significantly positively correlated with one flow dimension (unambiguous feedback). Educational level was positively correlated, and performance time and performance were negatively correlated, with MPA items. Music performers could benefit by practicing more to prepare for their performances, especially for the soloists. The third investigation is a qualitative study aimed to provide a theoretical framework for facilitating flow and reducing music performance anxiety. Data were collected by seven interviews, and ground theory method was used in the analysis. Based on this analysis, a theoretical framework for facilitating flow and reducing music performance anxiety was generated, which included three themes: preparation of performers, modeling by teachers, and construction of flow experience.

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amélie J. A. A. Guyon ◽  
Regina K. Studer ◽  
Horst Hildebrandt ◽  
Antje Horsch ◽  
Urs M. Nater ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianna T. Kenny ◽  
Naomi Halls

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Spahn ◽  
Franziska Krampe ◽  
Manfred Nusseck

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.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariadna O Brugués

Music performance anxiety (MPA) affects many individuals regardless of age, gender, experience, and hours of practice. In order to better understand the epidemiology of MPA, a review of the literature was done. Sixteen articles, meeting EBM criteria, were identified and analyzed. Children rarely suffer from MPA, while adolescents show symptoms similar to adults. Females are generally more affected than males. There is no relation between professional experience and performance anxiety. Great musicians such as Pau Casals and Enrico Caruso suffered from MPA. Nevertheless, students affected by MPA may decide not to become professional musicians because of their inability to cope with the devastating effects of performance anxiety. Solo performances showed higher MPA scores than ensemble performances. Despite these conclusions, long-term cohort studies with larger, homogeneous groups of subjects would be desirable, according to the evidence-based medicine criteria.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Matei ◽  
Jane Ginsborg

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.


2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-130
Author(s):  
Joanne C Chang ◽  
Elizabeth Midlarsky ◽  
Peter Lin

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 792-805
Author(s):  
Claudia Castiglione ◽  
Alberto Rampullo ◽  
Silvia Cardullo

Individual, social and situational factors might play an important role on the experience of anxiety during musical performances. The present research focused on the relationship between self-representations, including musical self, and performance anxiety among a sample of Italian professional and amateur musicians (N = 100; age, M = 23.40, 50% females). We predicted that higher self-discrepancies (actual vs. future self) would be associated with higher performance anxiety in a musical setting (vs. a non musical one), via musical self, and only in professional musicians. The results confirmed our hypothesis. Higher discrepancies between actual and future self-representations were positively associated with higher performance anxiety levels via the musical self only in participants who play instruments at a professional level. Furthermore, musical self influenced performance anxiety levels in a music related setting (i.e., a concert) but not in a non musical one (i.e., an exam).


2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veerle L. Simoens ◽  
Sampsa Puttonen ◽  
Mari Tervaniemi

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 205920432198952
Author(s):  
Jasmine Tan ◽  
Kelly Yap ◽  
Joydeep Bhattacharya

While it may seem effortless for great musicians to deliver beautiful works of art, little is known about the hard work behind these performances. Musicians require grit to sustain effort over many years of training but flow can sweeten this experience. Growth mindset, referring to the belief that ability is malleable, is often related to grit and has been theorized to be conducive to flow. Self-identified musicians, between 18 and 57 years of age ( N = 162), participated in an online survey investigating the potential links between grit, growth mindset, and dispositional flow. Correlational analyses revealed that grit was a significant predictor of flow but no correlations between growth mindset and grit or flow were found. Furthermore, a hierarchical regression analysis taking into account participants’ musical training, personality traits, and performance anxiety found that grit did not predict dispositional flow over and above what can be predicted by practice hours and music performance anxiety. Altogether, these findings offer a closer look at the effects of the non-cognitive factors of growth mindset and grit on the experience of flow in music performance.


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