Hard Work and Hopefulness: A Mixed Methods Study of Music Students' Status and Beliefs in Relation to Health, Wellbeing, and Success as They Enter Specialized Higher Education.

Dawn C. Rose,Elena Alessandri,Carlo Sigrist

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.740775

Dawn C. Rose, Elena Alessandri + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.740775

Copy DOI

Abstract

Using mixed methods, we explored new music students’ concepts of wellbeing and success and their current state of wellbeing at a university music department in Switzerland. Music performance is a competitive and achievement-oriented career. Research suggests musicians face vocation-specific challenges to physical health and mental wellbeing but has yet to investigate music students’ beliefs about wellbeing and success. With a self-report questionnaire (n = 99, Bachelor/Master students) we investigated new music students’ quality of life (WHO-5; WHOQoL-BREF) and self-efficacy (ASKU). Through qualitative workshops (17 groups, n = 5–8) we explored students’ understanding of the term “wellbeing,” and how this relates to “success.” Over half new music students (55%) believed the institution has 40–60% responsibility for their wellbeing. A simple linear regression showed that self-efficacy could predict better wellbeing, explaining 12% of the variance. Self-efficacy predicts wellbeing for new music students (β1 = 8.81, p = 0.001). The 17 flipcharts generated 121 inputs clustered into themes. Four themes solely described “wellbeing” (Health, Safety, Vitality, and Attitude) and four separately depict “success” (Achieving Objectives, Recognition, Career, and Financial Goods). Some themes intersected as elements of both constructs (Intersection: Relationships & Environment, Development, Happiness, Meaningfulness, Balance and Authenticity). Four further themes illustrated the relationship between the two (Reciprocity, Conditionality, Stability and Perspectivity). Music students believe responsibility for wellbeing is shared between themselves and their institution. As they scored low on both self-efficacy and wellbeing, these findings are an urgent call for action for school management and stakeholders of the music student population.

Highlights

There appears to be a paradox in the music and health narrative; on the one hand the mental and physiological challenges involved in trying to become or sustain a career as a musician can be detrimental to one’s physical health and psychological wellbeing
Students in higher education (HE) have been shown to have lower wellbeing than normative data in general, and some differences have been shown between students in HE whose focus is performance based in comparison to “other” types of study (Alessandri et al, 2020)
As this study focused on new intake students only, we compared the large intake of Bachelor and the small number of Master students using Welch’s t-test

Summary

Introduction

There appears to be a paradox in the music and health narrative; on the one hand the mental and physiological challenges involved in trying to become or sustain a career as a musician can be detrimental to one’s physical health and psychological wellbeing (i.e., musculoskeletal problems, hearing damage, stress, and performance anxiety, see e.g., Hard Work and HopefulnessVaag et al, 2014; Kenny and Ackermann, 2015). As shown in a longitudinal study, providing modules that offer psychoeducation tailored to music students’ issues does not necessarily improve health and wellbeing behaviors (Spahn et al, 2017). As studies suggest it is the transition between student and professional life that is critical, personal and professional skills need to be adapted to self-support health and wellbeing, and notions of “success” may need to be re-framed as part of the reality of developing a portfolio career (Ascenso et al, 2016; López-Íñiguez and Bennett, 2020). The role of music institutions is to assess and guide playing abilities, and to provide appropriate skills for the vocation (Wijsman and Ackermann, 2018). In terms of the development of the role of higher education (HE) music institutions, it is important to plan for and provide a framework of specialized support, especially considering the potential impact of the Covid pandemic on musicians’ livelihoods (Elmer et al, 2020; Stanhope and Weinstein, 2020)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion