The Relationship between Flow and Music Performance Level of Undergraduates in Exam Situations: The Effect of Musical Instrument

Abstract

In music education, the study of flow has been employed in a variety of research contexts that demonstrated its effect on students’ musical compositions, rehearsals or music performance. Additionally, a crossover of flow from music teachers to their students has also been identified. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between the flow state during music performance exams and the artistic level of music performance. Although previous studies found that students frequently experience flow during music performance, an exact correlation between flow and music performance level hasn’t yet been determined. A group of 130 undergraduate music students specialized in classical vocal performance (49 subjects), strings (35), woodwind and brass (36) and piano (10) participated in the study. The students completed The Flow State Scale FSS-2 (Jackson & Marsh, 1996) immediately after taking their annual music performance exams. We have found a significant positive correlation between the flow state and the general level of music performance (r=0.29, p=0.01). There was no effect of gender on this relationship. The correlation was particularly high in the case of strings (r=0.45, p=0.01) and piano (r=0.47, p=0.01) players. There was no significant association between flow and music performance level in the case of singers, nor woodwind and brass players. The ANOVA test revealed that strings players experienced significant higher levels of flow during the exam in comparison with singers. Educational implications may suggest introducing flow enhancement strategies to students in order to develop music performance level.