Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 33 (2012) 448 –000–000 452 Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2011)
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Performance anxiety and musical level of undergraduate students in exam situations: the role of gender and musical instrument Dorina Iuscaa*, Ion Dafinoiub b
a “George Enescu” University of Arts, 7-9 Horia Street, Iasi 700126, Romania “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, 11 Carol I Boulevard, Iasi 700506, Romania
Abstract The present study aims to investigate the impact of the performers’ gender and chosen musical instrument on the link between performance anxiety and musical level of undergraduate instrumentalists in exam situations. A sample of 130 undergraduate music students was asked to complete The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory CSAI-2 immediately after performing for their final exams. Correlations were calculated between their reported anxiety scores and the grades they obtained for the musical level showed in the exam situations. Results have shown that the level of performance anxiety differs according to gender and musical instrument. These two variables also mediate its relationship with the musical level. © Publishedby byElsevier Elsevier B.V. Selection peer-review under responsibility of PSIWORLD2011 © 2012 2011 Published Ltd. Selection and and/or peer-review under responsibility of PSIWORLD 2011 Keywords: performance anxiety, musical level, gender, musical instrument;
1. Introduction A growing number of researchers have recently concentrated their efforts on studying music performance anxiety, as this complex psychological state has proved its profound repercussions for the professional development of young musicians. These studies significantly related music performance anxiety to gender (Ryan, 2004, 2005; Rae & McCambridge, 2004; Osborne & Kenny, 2008; Yondem, 2007; Wilson & Roland, 2002), neuroticism (Rae & McCambridge, 2004), need for approval and dysfunctional attitudes (Yondem, 2007), trait anxiety (Osborne & Kenny, 2005; Kenny, Davis & Oates,
*
Dorina Iusca. Tel.: +40-0743270476. E-mail address:
[email protected].
1877-0428 © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of PSIWORLD2011 doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.01.161
Dorina Iusca and Ion Dafinoiu / Procedia and Behavioral Sciences 33 (2012) 448 – 452 D. Iusca et al. / Procedia - Social- Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2011) 000–000
2004; Ryan, 2005), factors concerning musical contexts such as solo vs. ensemble, instrumental vs. choral (Ryan & Andrews, 2009), time dimension (pre-, during- and post-performance) factors (Papageorgi, Hallam & Welch, 2007), social anxiety (Gorges, Alpers & Pauli, 2007) and different therapeutic strategies (McGinnis & Milling, 2005; Kim, 2008; Orman, 2003, 2004). Many empirical studies focused on identifying the prevalence of performance anxiety among musicians of different categories (professional, semiprofessional, amateur performers). Still, there has been little concern about analyzing the direct relationship between performance anxiety and the musical level, according to gender and chosen musical instrument. The research question refers to the correlations between anxiety and the musical level: are they similar or different among male / female performers or among instrumental categories? 2. Method A group of 130 undergraduate music students from a Romanian university of arts (56 males and 74 females) were asked to complete The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory CSAI-2 (R.H. Cox, M.P. Martens & W.D. Russell, 2003) immediately after performing for their final exams. The original measurement instrument was designed to capture the state anxiety of athletes in competitive situations. But recently, a series of researches (Yoshie & Shigemasu, 2006; Yoshie et al, 2009) found its effectiveness in measuring music performance state anxiety. The instrument includes 17 items distributed in three subscales intended to illustrate the level of somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and selfconfidence. The Romanian version of CSAI-2 revealed reliability values between 0.79 and 0.83. Somatic anxiety was illustrated through items such as: “I felt tense in my stomach”. Cognitive anxiety included items like: “I was concerned about choking under pressure”. Self-confidence was measured through items such as: “I was confident because I mentally pictured myself reaching my goal”. The musical level was analyzed on three dimensions (the general level of performance, expression and technique) which are commonly discussed in music literature. The research sample (age mean = 23, SD = 0.15) included 35 string players (27 violinists, 2 violists, 2 cellists and 4 guitarists), 36 woodwind and brass players (5 flute players, 12 clarinet players, 5 oboe players, 2 bassoon players, 2 trumpet players, 2 horn players and 8 saxophone players), 10 pianists and 49 vocalists. Correlations were calculated between their reported anxiety scores and the grades they obtained for the musical level showed in the exam situations. 3. Results and discussion The musical level (in general, expression and technique) correlated significantly only with cognitive anxiety (r = -0.30, p = 0.0001; r = -0.23, p = 0.008; r = -0.29, p = 0.001), but not with somatic anxiety or self-esteem. This finding may be explained by the frequently seen tendency of music students to overlook or even to deny the cognitions that appear during performing and to converge their efforts on solving more obvious problems such as somatic signs of anxiety. Female performers exhibit higher anxiety levels (t (129) = 2.64, p = 0.009) than male performers. The mean differences between genders are significant for cognitive anxiety (t = 2.45, p = 0.01) and somatic anxiety (t = 3.07, p = 0.003), but not for self-esteem. This result confirms previous findings (Ryan, 2004; Rae & McCambridge, 2004; Yondem, 2007) which showed that women tend to report higher performance anxiety levels than men. Table 1 presents the implications of gender in the relationship connecting performance anxiety and musical level (that is defined by means of general level, expression and technique of music performance).
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These results show that the relationship between music performance level and performance anxiety is very strong in the case of female performers and insignificant in the case of male performers. The significant correlations involve all three anxiety factors (somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and selfesteem) and almost all music performance dimensions (the general level of music performance, the musical expression and performance technique). Table 1. Correlations between performance anxiety and musical level by gender Instrumental group
Anxiety
N
Correlation between anxiety and musical level General / Expression / Technique
General / Expression / Technique
MALES
General level of anxiety
56
-0.24 / -0.22 / -0.24
0.07 / 0.09 / 0.06
Somatic anxiety
56
-0.10 / -0.08 / -0.19
0.44 / 0.51 / 0.15
Cognitive anxiety
56
-0.22 / -0.21 / -0.21
0.10 / 0.10 / 0.10
Self-confidence
56
-0.18 / -0.15 / -0.12
0.17 / 0.25 / 0.36
General level of anxiety
74
-0.34 / -0.33 / -0.25
0.003 / 0.003 / 0.02
Somatic anxiety
74
-0.23 / -0.26 / -0.22
0.04 / 0.02 / 0.05
Cognitive anxiety
74
-0.38 / -0.33 / -0.26
0.001 / 0.004 / 0.02
Self-confidence
74
-0.27 / -0.27 / -0.19
0.01 / 0.01 / 0.09
FEMALES
Significance
These findings revealed that, in the case of women (but not men), performance anxiety plays an important part in reaching higher musical levels and in building an artistic career. This information draws the attention of teachers, parents and school psychologists upon the additional risk that young girls are exposed to, when choosing to develop themselves as music performers. Table 2 illustrates the inference of musical instrument on the link between anxiety and music level. It shows that the relationship between anxiety and musical level is clearly affected by the choice of instrument. Only strings players and vocal performers exhibit significant correlations between those two variables. An additional statistical analysis revealed that these two performance categories reported significant higher anxiety scores than pianists or woodwind / brass players. The results suggest that performance anxiety is an important mediator for the musical level of string players and vocal performers. The situation may be due to the higher responsibility that these musicians have on stage. Also, in the case of vocal performers, technique didn’t correlate with performance anxiety maybe because of their lack of experience in the musical area (vocal technique is one subtle dimension that undergraduates don’t yet fully understand). Table 2. Correlations between performance anxiety and musical level by instrumental group Significance
Instrumental group
Anxiety
N
Correlation between anxiety and musical level General / Expression / Technique
General / Expression / Technique
STRINGS
General level of anxiety
35
-0.42 /-0.27 / -0.44
0.01 /0.11 / 0.008
Somatic anxiety
35
-0.35 / -0.21 / -0.38
0.03 / 0.20 / 0.02
Cognitive anxiety
35
-0.46 / -0.35 / -0.44
0.005 / 0.03 / 0.008
Self-confidence
35
-0,29 / -0.18 / -0.28
0.08 / 0.28 / 0.09
Dorina Iusca and Ion Dafinoiu / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 33 (2012) 448 – 452 D. Iusca et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2011) 000–000 WOODWIND / BRASS
PIANO
VOCAL
General level of anxiety
36
-0.006 / -0.03 / -0.006
0.97 / 0.83 / 0.97
Somatic anxiety
36
-0.14 / -0.16 / 0.08
0.39 / 0.34 / 0.61
Cognitive anxiety
36
-0.07 / -0.03 -0.007
0.65 / 0.85 / 0.96
Self-confidence
36
-0.002 / -0.005 / 0.03
0.99 / 0.97 / 0.84
General level of anxiety
10
-0.65 / -0.67 / -0.66
0.06 / 0.06 / 0.06
Somatic anxiety
10
-0.41 / -0.41 / -0.51
0.22 / 0.23 / 0.12
Cognitive anxiety
10
-0.49 / -0.53 / -0.43
0.14 / 0.11 / 0.20
Self-confidence
10
-0.34 / -0.32 / -0.36
0.32 / 0.36 / 0.30
General level of anxiety
49
-0.36 / -0.41 / -0.18
0.01 / 0.003 / 0.21
Somatic anxiety
49
-0.28 / -0.35 / -0.18
0.04 / 0.01 / 0.19
Cognitive anxiety
49
-0.29 / -0.34 / -0.17
0.03 / 0.01 / 0.23
Self-confidence
49
-0.40 / -0.39 / -0.13
0.004 / 0.005 / 0.36
Future directions for research may consider the investigation of factors that obstruct the relationship between anxiety dimensions and the musical level in the case of pianists and woodwind / brass players. 4. Conclusions Female performers showed higher anxiety scores than male performers. Also, the link between anxiety and the musical level is higher in their case. There were differences among instrument categories regarding anxiety. Moreover, the correlations between anxiety and the musical level were significant only in the case of string players and vocal performers. These findings should be linked to therapy strategies designed to reduce music performance anxiety. In addition, music teachers may use differentiated teaching, considering that the connection between anxiety and the musical level is not similar among genders or instrumental groups. References Cox, R.H., Martens, M.P., Russell, W.D. (2003). Measuring Anxiety in Athletics: The Revised Competitive State Anxiety Inventory – 2. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 25, 519-533; Gorges, S., Alpers, G.W., Pauli, P. (2007). Musical Performance Anxiety as a Form of Social Anxiety?. International Symposium on Performance Science, 67-72. Kenny, D.T., Davis, P., Oates, J. (2004). Music Performance Anxiety and Ocupational Stress amongst Opera Chorus Artists and Their Relationship with State and Trait Anxiety and Perfectionism. Anxiety Disorders, 18, 757-777. Kim, Y. (2008). The Effect of Improvisation-Assisted Desensitisation and Music-Assisted Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Imagery on Reducing Pianists’ Music Performance Anxiety. Journal of Music Therapy, 45(2), 165-191. McGinnis, A.M., Milling, L.S. (2005). Psychological Treatment of Musical Performance Anxiety: Current Status and Future Directions. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Traning, 42, 357-373. Orman, E.K. (2003). Effect of Virtual Reality Graded Exposure on Heart Rate and Self-Reported Anxiety Levels of Performing Saxophonists. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(4), 302-315. Orman, E.K. (2004). Effect of Virtual Reality Graded Exposure on Anxiety Levels of Performing Musicians: A Case Study. Journal of Music Therapy, 41(1), 70-78. Osborne, M.S., Kenny, D.T. (2008). The Role of Sensitizing Experiences in Music Performance Anxiety in Adolescent Musicians. Psychology of Music, 36(4), 447-462. Papageorgi, I., Hallam, S., & Welch, G. (2007). A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Musical Performance Anxiety. Research Studies in Music Education, 28, 83-107. Rae, G., McCambridge, K. (2004). Correlates of Performance Anxiety in Practical Music Exams. Psychology of Music, 32(4), 432439.
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