Performance anxiety among students of piano and voice. Does it change during duration of studies?

Abstract

Prospective professional musicians focusing on solo activities face an increased risk of anxiety regarding performance. If considering the academic training of musicians as a phase of professionalization, a decrease in experienced performance-related anxiety would be desirable in advanced prospective musicians focusing on solo careers. Such an assumption was assessed in an online survey of 216 students enrolled in German conservatoires in the subjects of piano and voice. Since previous assessments have reported that instrumentalists suffer more from performance anxiety than singers and women are more affected than men, the assessment additionally focused on possible relations between changes of the degree of performance anxiety to the subject studied and/or sex of the prospective professional musician. No evidence was found for a general decrease in performance anxiety in advanced students. However, evidence indicates that this phenomenon applies to (male) vocalists, whilst on the other hand (male) pianists demonstrated an increase in performance anxiety as the duration of their course progressed. Possible interpretations of the findings are discussed.

 

Keywords: performance anxiety, solo musicians, professionalization