Personality traits in musicians with different types of music performance anxiety.

Introduction: This study investigated the relationship between personality traits and MPA in the course of a specific performance. Methods: For this purpose, symptoms of MPA, functional coping with MPA and performance-related self-efficacy of a sample of 393 musicians including 23% professional, 49% non-professional orchestra musicians and 28% singers in amateur choirs were categorized and then used to analyze differences in the personality traits. The questionnaires used were the NEO-FFI and the PQM. Results: The results showed that professional orchestra musicians had significantly higher openness and conscientiousness than non-professional orchestra musicians and amateur choir singers. Musicians who had few symptoms of MPA, positive coping with MPA and high self-efficacy across a specific performance (Type 1) have low neuroticism in their personality traits. Regarding MPA, the personality traits were correlated with all MPA scales after the performance but less with MPA scales before and during the performance. Discussion: Results could indicate that personality traits play a particularly important role in the processing of performance experiences after the performance and suggest focusing on the situation after the performance in particular with professional orchestra musicians.

Student motivation to study music and sport - a comparison between study subjects and study programs on intrinsic and extrinsic motivational aspects.

Instruction: In both subjects, music and sport, the engagement with the subject content - learning an instrument or training in a sports club - usually begins in early childhood. This makes these subjects special and similar. It is therefore of interest to examine the motivation for choosing music and sport as subjects for university study. Methods: In the present investigation, 151 students at the beginning of their university studies were examined. Among these were 110 music university students in the Bachelor of Music (B.Mus.) and music teacher education program, and 41 sport university students in the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and sport teacher education program. The study contained a custom-made questionnaire on sociodemographic data, questions on study choice alternatives and biographical musical or sporting background, as well as two standardized questionnaires on motivation for enrollment (STUWA) and on aspects that are important for the profession. Results: Music and sport students were at a rather high and similar level of intrinsic motivation to study their subjects. However, materialistic goals motivated the teacher education students more than the bachelor's students with an artistic program. The difference between the study programs was also found in the context of extrinsic-social motivation, where the teacher training students answered with higher scores. With regard to socially-induced motivation, it was shown that music students and sport teacher education students were more socially induced to study the respective subject compared to the general student population. With regard to uncertainty when choosing a course, it was found that Bachelor of Music students were more certain that they wanted to study exactly their particular subject. The ages at which music and sport were started in childhood were similar, but the first-year music students were younger than the sport students were. Compared to sports students, music students decided their area of study earlier, and bachelor's students in music in particular had fewer alternative study options than sports students. Discussion: The results provide a differentiated picture of student motivation to study and thus allow a deeper insight into the subject cultures of music and sport. They also open up opportunities for follow-up studies in comparison with other study subjects and programs.

Ancillary and instrumental body movements during inhalation in clarinetists.

Background: Playing a musical instrument requires physical movements that are involved in sound production and movements with more expressive and communicative characteristics. Both movements co-occur during a performance; however, the interaction between the movements is still unclear. Methods: Using motion capture technology, the movement patterns of clarinetists were analyzed at certain points in a performance to investigate how instrumental and ancillary movements interplay. Movements in the arms and knees of clarinetists during a performance were recorded using this technology. The mean angular movements at specific points in the piece, where some players inhaled and others did not, were compared. Results: While the players who inhaled adopted significantly more upright body and neutral arm positions, the players who did not inhale seemed less interrupted in their performance. The results showed that the players performed rather individual ancillary movements, but at specific points, such as during melodic transitions, they performed similarly. At certain points in the melody, while some players needed to inhale, others adjusted their playing according to the inhalation moment to adopt a suitable body position. Discussion: The ancillary movement was consequently interrupted by the physiological necessity to inhale. The findings provide more insights into the interplay of instrumental and ancillary movements during a performance.

Focus of attention in musical learning and music performance: a systematic review and discussion of focus instructions and outcome measures.

The topic of attentional focus (focus of attention, FOA) in musical learning and performance has recently received increasing interest, as the growing number of empirical studies inspired by the established FOA paradigm in sports by Wulf and colleagues in 1998. The current systematical review aims at collecting, abstracting, and categorizing relevant data to show which kinds of FOA instructions were applied in experimental designs and what kinds of dependent variables were used to measure the effects of FOA instruction on musical performance. The three main inclusion criteria in the selection process were experimental design, detailed descriptions of FOA instructions, and outcome measures (OMs). A systematic search was conducted with a complex search term in four scientific databases in March 2023. For presenting and synthesizing results, we used data collection and an inductive-deductive data categorization. Fifteen studies with a total sample size of 401 participants were included out of 387 records initially identified. We collected 53 different FOA instruction citations from the 15 studies and classified them into 9 FOA subcategories, of which the most applied were bodily focus (21%), sound focus (15%), and visual focus (14%). Selected studies used 63 OMs that were abstracted to 10 different OM categories with expert ratings (27%) and acoustical analysis (22%) as the most applied dependent variables. Data categorization and abstraction of additional study information show multiple combinations of FOA instructions, OMs, participants' instruments and expertise, and musical tasks. Finally, studies show no consistent results of superiority of either external or internal or otherwise different FOA considering positive effects on musical performance. Limitations of the review lie in the small study sample, possible criticism of applied eligibility criteria, and subjectivity of data categorization. We propose a research agenda with a more exploratory approach that comprehensively and qualitatively examines the dimensions of musical goals to create a database that could provide a foundation for developing a music-specific FOA model.

Dispositional and performance-specific music performance anxiety in young amateur musicians.

Introduction: Research on Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) among amateur musicians is of great interest due to inconsistent results in literature. In addition, amateur music represents an important part of musical culture in Germany. Accordingly, the performance experiences of young wind players represent a relevant issue for research and musical practice. Methods: In the present study, 67 young amateur musicians of a brass choir were examined. Using two different questionnaires, both the dispositional MPA (K-MPAI) and the performance-specific MPA during a joint concert (Performance-specific Questionnaire for Musicians, PQM) were assessed. The PQM measures the symptoms of MPA, functional coping with MPA and self-efficacy before, during and after a specific performance. The PQM was completed by the musicians via an app directly after the concert. Results: Results showed that about 90% of the young amateur musicians had a low dispositional MPA, but about 10% showed high values. For the concrete performance, however, musicians with high dispositional MPA also experienced a very moderate to low MPA in the concert. On average, the musicians were quite nervous before the performance. After the performance, they showed low levels of MPA. Three types of MPA found in previous studies could be confirmed among the amateur musicians, with three quarters being assigned to the positive type, showing low levels of symptoms associated with consistently high levels of self-efficacy and positive functional coping. Discussion: The results provide a differentiated picture of different expressions of MPA in young amateur musicians. They also raise further questions about the correlation between dispositional and performance-specific assessment of MPA in musicians in general.

Emotional Responses to Music: Shifts in Frontal Brain Asymmetry Mark Periods of Musical Change.

Recent studies have demonstrated increased activity in brain regions associated with emotion and reward when listening to pleasurable music. Unexpected change in musical features intensity and tempo - and thereby enhanced tension and anticipation - is proposed to be one of the primary mechanisms by which music induces a strong emotional response in listeners. Whether such musical features coincide with central measures of emotional response has not, however, been extensively examined. In this study, subjective and physiological measures of experienced emotion were obtained continuously from 18 participants (12 females, 6 males; 18-38 years) who listened to four stimuli-pleasant music, unpleasant music (dissonant manipulations of their own music), neutral music, and no music, in a counter-balanced order. Each stimulus was presented twice: electroencephalograph (EEG) data were collected during the first, while participants continuously subjectively rated the stimuli during the second presentation. Frontal asymmetry (FA) indices from frontal and temporal sites were calculated, and peak periods of bias toward the left (indicating a shift toward positive affect) were identified across the sample. The music pieces were also examined to define the temporal onset of key musical features. Subjective reports of emotional experience averaged across the condition confirmed participants rated their music selection as very positive, the scrambled music as negative, and the neutral music and silence as neither positive nor negative. Significant effects in FA were observed in the frontal electrode pair FC3-FC4, and the greatest increase in left bias from baseline was observed in response to pleasurable music. These results are consistent with findings from previous research. Peak FA responses at this site were also found to co-occur with key musical events relating to change, for instance, the introduction of a new motif, or an instrument change, or a change in low level acoustic factors such as pitch, dynamics or texture. These findings provide empirical support for the proposal that change in basic musical features is a fundamental trigger of emotional responses in listeners.