Abstract
Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a major problem for music students. It is largely unknown whether music students who experience high or low anxiety differ in their respiratory responses to performance situations and whether these co-vary with self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms. Affective processes influence dynamic respiratory regulation in ways that are reflected in measures of respiratory variability and sighing. This study had two goals. First, we determined how measures of respiratory variability, sighing, self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms vary as a function of the performance situation (practice vs. public performance), performance phase (pre-performance vs. post-performance), and the general MPA level of music students. Second, we analyzed to what extent self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms co-vary with the respiratory responses. The participants were 65 university music students. We assessed their anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms with Likert scales and recorded their respiration with the LifeShirt system during a practice performance and a public performance. For the 10-min periods before and after each performance, we computed number of sighs, coefficients of variation (CVs, a measure of total variability), autocorrelations at one breath lag (ARs(1), a measure of non-random variability) and means of minute ventilation (V’E), tidal volume (VT), inspiration time (TI), and expiration time (TE). CVs and sighing were greater whereas AR(1) of V’E was lower in the public session than in the practice session. The effect of the performance situation on CVs and sighing was larger for high-MPA than for low-MPA participants. Higher MPA levels were associated with lower CVs. At the within-individual level, anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms were associated with deeper and slower breathing, greater CVs, lower AR(1) of V’E, and more sighing. We conclude that respiratory variability and sighing are sensitive to the performance situation and to musicians’ general MPA level. Moreover, anxiety, tension, breathing symptoms, and respiratory responses co-vary significantly in the context of music performance situations. Respiratory monitoring can add an important dimension to the understanding of music performance situations and MPA and to the diagnostic and intervention outcome assessments of MPA.
Highlights
Performing in concerts, competitions, or auditions can be a demanding activity for musicians, especially for those who suffer from music performance anxiety (MPA; Kenny, 2011)
The session effect was significant for MPA levels higher than 45
We found that during the 10 min before and after performing in front of an audience, the music students exhibited greater coefficient of variation (CV), lower AR(1) of V’E, and more frequent sighing and experienced more anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms than during the 10 min before and after performing alone
Summary
Performing in concerts, competitions, or auditions can be a demanding activity for musicians, especially for those who suffer from music performance anxiety (MPA; Kenny, 2011). Several factors can make the experience of performing feel threatening to musicians These include that a high performance quality is an important goal to the musicians’ self-identity, that the performance requires the display of high-level skills, that the performance is evaluated implicitly or explicitly by others and that there are elements that are uncontrollable and unpredictable (e.g. performance of other musicians; size, composition, and behavior of the audience). In line with this view, self-reported anxiety, distress, nervousness, bodily complaints, and negative perceptions are in most musicians greater before and during public performances compared to practice Public performances are associated in most musicians with neuroimmunoendocrine changes that can be interpreted as signs of enhanced physiological arousal (e.g. Craske and Craig, 1984; Kusserow et al, 2012; Aufegger and Wasley, 2018)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have