Music Performance Anxiety: Insights from Psychological Science

Abstract

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a multidimensional construct that negatively impacts musicians to different extents but presumably across all musical contexts. Here, we review recent literature concerning theoretical conceptualizations of MPA, and discuss extant interventions relating to cognitive-behavioral therapy and multimodal interventions which, we argue, are at best approaches that remedy MPA only peripherally, and not inherently. Drawing on cognitive psychological research: When students are well-prepared for a high-stakes academic exam, test anxiety did not predict exam performance (Theobald et al., Psychological Science, 2022). This finding provided the foundation for the current hypothesis: Performance-anxious musicians should not perform worse in high-stakes stressful situations than their preparation (practice) would otherwise allow; where musicians are well-prepared, performance anxiety per se should not interfere with stage performance accuracy and quality. Thus, performance-anxiety interventions ought to promote effective practice—optimal, deep learning—at an early stage during performance preparation, rather than aim to reduce test anxiety only shortly before or during stage performance. How, then, might we enable musicians to achieve such effective learning? A counterintuitive learning and practicing strategy as informed by psychological principles and personal reflections is recommended and discussed.

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a multidimensional construct that negatively impacts musicians to different extents but presumably across all musical contexts. Here, we review recent literature concerning theoretical conceptualizations of MPA, and discuss extant interventions relating to cognitive-behavioral therapy and multimodal interventions which, we argue, are at best approaches that remedy MPA only peripherally, and not inherently. Drawing on cognitive psychological research: When students are well-prepared for a high-stakes academic exam, test anxiety did not predict exam performance (Theobald et al., Psychological Science, 2022). This finding provided the foundation for the current hypothesis: Performance-anxious musicians should not perform worse in high-stakes stressful situations than their preparation (practice) would otherwise allow; where musicians are well-prepared, performance anxiety per se should not interfere with stage performance accuracy and quality. Thus, performance-anxiety interventions ought to promote effective practice—optimal, deep learning—at an early stage during performance preparation, rather than aim to reduce test anxiety only shortly before or during stage performance. How, then, might we enable musicians to achieve such effective learning? A counterintuitive learning and practicing strategy as informed by psychological principles and personal reflections is recommended and discussed.