Performance Anxiety as a Musician - Literature review Example

Running Head: Performance Anxiety as a Musician [Name] [Professor Name] [Course] [Date] Abstract: Music performance anxiety (MPA) is defined as a set of disorders that have the potential to affect an individual’s performance in a variety of endeavours such as public speaking, taking tests, dancing, sports, music or acting (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). This paper evaluates a personal music experience from a research perspective. Further, it selects an experience from my childhood illustrating a case when music had a major impact in determining later experience in music. The paper further discusses how the experience might be better understood with reference to the research presented in one of the seminars. A literature review of the topic is further conducted used to compare the childhood experience with the empirical evidence. Lastly, future researches are suggested to extend the understanding of MPA. Conceptualizing music performance anxiety in children and older people Part I Reflections As a musician, it’s quite natural to develop inherent liking for any kind of musical instrument. My intense passion for music developed right from childhood. During my early years, I could often drum my fingers on the table, something that inspired my parents to buy me a hand drum. At the age of 6, I joined a conservatoire from where I started taking private piano lessons. I learned how to read sheet music fast and eventually how to play piano relatively softly. My teacher treated me as a child prodigy basing on the speed I had grasped the lessons. After 3 years, I started taking band classes. My first choice was playing clarinet, which went on until I was 9 before I started playing the bass clarinet. Our school frequently had opportunities to perform in public during school musical concerts or events. Additionally, I did get a chance to present solo performances during the competitions. A large number of my solo performances were often performed onstage. I recall an event at sixth grade which has influenced me to date. After a particular concert, I had much time on my hand and so I decided to play some school drums. Before I knew it, I was playing some jazz band songs that I had heard over and over. The band members were surprised that I could play the drum pretty well without having had any previous practice. That was the start of my journey as a drummer. Since the school drummer had been taken ill, I was to asked to take his part during a competition that was two days ahead. On the competition, I was faced with the most intense anxiety but was determined to perform my best. In the end, when the thunderous claps filled the hall, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment. It took me years to comprehend how I made it through the performance anxiety. To date, I do notice some typical symptoms on the performance day. For instance, I do get extremely excited, my fingers shake and my heartbeat paces when having a final practice alone. Part II Literature Review In attempting to explain how musicians tend to be deluged by feelings of performance anxiety, Smith (n.d.) posits that musicians (specifically drummers), may suffer from overstated anxiety by embracing certain feelings of inferiority. Indeed, this reflects the feelings I almost succumbed to when I got to the stage to play the drum for the first time. Feelings of inferiority kept deluging back and forth as I compared myself to the school drummer whom I perceived as superior. According to Sweeney (2001), the inferiority feelings will often drive a performer into feeling he is prone to making a mistake or erring. The inferiority feelings are a direct consequence of how the musician judges himself (LeBlanc, 1994). For a drummer, it is probable that the drummer may compare himself to a pro often featured on television. This serves to illustrate the situation that an individual faces due to music performance anxiety. Schwarzer (1996) suggests that in order to understand the phenomenon of anxiety, it is critical that the detrimental emotional effect typical of anxious individuals should be understood. Indeed the statement seems to have invoked the empirical studies into state of music performance anxiety among musicians. In setting out the meaning of anxiety, Kenny (2012) defines it as a state of fear, tension of worry experienced as a stimuli or reaction while an individual attempts to get used to an unfamiliar scenario. The meaning is consistent with the anxious feeling I suffered while playing the drum for the first time, as demonstrated in the reflective essay of my musical experience. Qualitative researchers consider the feeling a cognitive yet unidentified state of tension where an individual might experience a strange pessimistic thoughts as well as fear of being humiliated by the public. Anxiety and performance anxiety however do not specify the same thing, as anxiety is more general in scope (Rana & Mahmoud, 2010). When the feeling of anxiety is experienced during performance of an act, it is called performance anxiety (Gorges, Alpers & Pauli, 2007). The performance anxiety that a musician may experience is interchangeably referred as music performance anxiety (MPA), stage freight or musical performer’s stress syndrome. A broader definition of music performance anxiety is however given by American Psychiatric Association (1994), where MPS is defined as a set of disorders that have the potential to affect an individual’s performance in a variety of endeavours such as public speaking, taking tests, dancing, sports, music or acting. Performance anxiety often has physiological symptoms such as sweating, increased heart beat or shaking, as well as behavioural symptoms such as making avoidable technical mistakes, inability to control fingers and in some cases psychological symptoms such as inability to control feelings of self-doubt (Kenny, 2012). These are indeed similar to the symptoms I displayed while playing the drum onstage. Kenny (2012) points out that perceived competence or lack of preparation is a primary cause of performance anxiety. On the other hand, Schwarzer (1996) explains that the level of anxiety may change based on the level of difficulty of the task. Kenny (2004) argues that situations will often become stressors if they are perceived as unmanageable or threatening. According to his argument, it can be inferred that the cognitive appraisal of the situation is crucial in determining whether an event is capable of causing performance anxiety, except in situations where everybody would be led to feel stressful (LeBlanc, 1994). In demonstrating the most vulnerable age group to performance anxiety, Kenny (2004) explains that young children are less vulnerable to performance anxiety compared to the older people since they love attention, an audience, to perform in addition to the fact that they are often unaware of the possible flaws in their performance (Kenny & Osborne, 2006). While playing the drum onstage for the first time, I begin to understand that the reason I was able to set aside the emotive responses resulting from anxiety was because of I loved attention, an audience and I was eager to perform utterly unaware of my flaws. In older people however, the vulnerability is prevalent and is due to a set of factors such as inherent temperaments, increased cognitive capacities as well as the self-reflective tendency that accumulates with age. In addition, the kind of parenting may also be a factor as well as perceptions of the world (Kenny, 2012). Barlow’s (2000) model of anxiety however has a more heuristic value in explaining performance anxiety, specifically music performance anxiety. Barlow’s model represents an integrated combination of a threefold vulnerability approach that explains the development of moods disorder or anxiety. The three include; heritable (generalised biological), the early experiences in developing control over significant events and lastly, certain environmental stimuli. Barlow (2000) postulates that genetic predisposition and reflecting on early childhood experiences may trigger generalised anxiety. The third set of vulnerabilities however is sufficient to trigger specific or focal disorders such as specific phobias or tendency to panic (Barlow, 2000). In the case of child performers who are vulnerable to performance anxiety, Kenny (2004) suggests that those who hail from home environments where expectations for excellence are high but the support to attain them is low are likely to suffer from the anxieties. Some experts have gone further to point out that exposure to evaluations at an early age is also sufficient to trigger the psychological, physiological and behavioural responses that characterise music performance anxiety. Perhaps this also explains the circumstances surrounding my capacity to get through the performance anxiety at a young age. I came from a supportive family that however had little expectation of my achievements in music. Empirical studies have studied music performance anxiety primarily as either a variant of social phobia or as a discrete phenomenon (Gorges, Alpers & Pauli, 2007). The studies have identified three major ways in which performance anxiety can mess up a musician’s performance. This includes disrupting attention thus interfering with the normal information process. For instance, individuals who are performance anxious often focus on their own anxiety than to the task. Secondly, production of competing, incompetent or off-task behaviour and lastly, causing behavioural selection effects that reduce an individual’s effort. In my experience as a child, I was able to focus my energies on the tasks than the anxiety. I believe this is what helped me to get through the performance anxiety. A growing body of researches has demonstrated that in fact, the correlation between anxiety and performance is substantially negative since performances under anxiety have the potential to end up into lacklustre performances (Barlow, 2000). Indeed, the relationship between performance and anxiety is indeed complex. While some individuals may experience performance anxiety as weakening, others may welcome anxiety as a means of improving performance (Schwarzer, 1996). The facilitative and debilitative anxiety may however occur simultaneously in an individual (Egilmez, Aytekin & Dirican, 2013). In some people, a single experience of failure may enhance a task or aggravate performance anxiety (Kenny, 2004). However, collective effects of serial failures or successes may cause negative correlation between performance and anxiety. Based on this premise, it can be argued that the lower the anxiety, the higher the performance. However, the correlation may be subject to influences such as the performer’s level of aspiration as well as the correlation between the aspiration and the ability, in which case, it can be argued that low aspirations with high ability will result to poor performance as failures is more likely to cause feelings of distress since the individual’s ego is threatened by negative feelings (TLRP, 2008). Part III Future Researches This essay has reviewed some empirical studies on music performance anxiety. To create a heuristic guide for further research, a distinction has been made between anxiety, performance anxiety and music anxiety. Although the content on performance anxiety is almost similar in all the literature reviewed, these variables may guide stage specific researches. Indeed, linking anxiety and performance is useful in suggesting experimental intervention studies as well as to out off cross –sectional studies that cannot shed more light into performance anxiety in musicians. Further researches should also be done to establish the relative relationship between the performance of musicians and the cognitive factors for testing anxiety. Further, a survey of the literature shows that advances in the measurement and theorizing of music performance anxiety in children has furthered the understanding of the experiences that young musicians go through. However, there still lacks a clear understanding of how the MPA develops, the conditions that precipitate the anxiety as well as the type of performers who are vulnerable. There is therefore the need for longitudinal studies to find answers to the areas. Additionally, there is need for treatment outcome researches to establish the ways in which child musicians with high musical aspirations are impaired by music performance anxieties. In conclusion, children are less vulnerable to performance anxiety compared to the older people since they love attention, an audience, to perform in addition to the fact that they are often unaware of the possible flaws in their performance (Kenny & Osborne, 2006). The literature review enables an understanding of this scenario and how I was able to come through the very first experience with music performance anxiety. The essay further attempts to define music performance anxiety, while at the same time recognizing that the accurate definition of the phenomenon as the most essential step towards effective analysis and understanding of the phenomenon. Even though the term performance anxiety is yet to be classified within the American Psychiatric Association or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, there is no consensus on the definition of the term music performance anxiety. The term music performance anxiety can however be used interchangeably with stage fright in an effort to draw the essence of the condition. In all, it is perceived that music performance requires high level of diverse skills, such as attention, coordination and ability to overcome emotional stimuli resulting from anxiety. However, excessive concerns over the possibility of making mistakes, high expectations and high levels of criticisms are major factors for personal anxiety (Kenny & Osborne, 2006). References American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Associa-tion. Barlow, H. (2000). Unravelling the mysteries of anxiety and its disorders from the perspective of emotion theory. American Psychologist, pp. 1247-1263 Egilmez, H., Aytekin, N. & Dirican, M. (2013). “Coping with the Performance Anxiety Among Music Education Students: A Method Trial.” Asian Journal Of Social Sciences & Humanities, 2(1) Gorges, S. Alpers, G. & Pauli, P. (2007). Musical performance anxiety as a form of social anxiety?. AEC. Web. Retrieved 26 June 2013 Kenny, D. (2004). Music Performance Anxiety: Is It The Music, The Performance Or The Anxiety? Sidney: University of Sidney Kenny, D. & Osborne, M. (2006). "Music performance anxiety: New insights from young musicians." Advances in Cognitive Psychology. 2(3),p. 103-112 Kenny, D. (2012). The Psychology of Music Performance Anxiety. Oxford: Oxford University Press LeBlanc, A. (1994). “A Theory of Music Performance Anxiety.” The Quartely, 5(4),pp.20-68 Rana, R. & Mahmoud, N. (2010). "The Relationship between Test Anxiety and Academic Achievement." Bulletin of Education and Research, 32(2), p. 63- 74 Schwarzer, R. (1996). Thought Control of Action: Interfering Self-Doubts. Berline: Freie Universität Berlin Smith, G. (n.d.) Drums & Drumming: Overcoming Performance Anxiety Part II. Web. Retrieved 26 June 2013 Sweeney, P. (2001). The Pro Drummer's Handbook. Carlifonia: Alfred Music Publishing TLRP. (2008). Investigating Musical Performance Performance anxiety across musical genres. Web. Retrieved 26 June 2013 Read More