What Does it Take to Flow? Investigating Links Between Grit, Growth Mindset, and Flow in Musicians

• Main Authors: Jasmine Tan, Kelly Yap, Joydeep Bhattacharya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2021-02-01
• Series: Music & Science
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2059204321989529

While it may seem effortless for great musicians to deliver beautiful works of art, little is known about the hard work behind these performances. Musicians require grit to sustain effort over many years of training but flow can sweeten this experience. Growth mindset, referring to the belief that ability is malleable, is often related to grit and has been theorized to be conducive to flow. Self-identified musicians, between 18 and 57 years of age ( N = 162), participated in an online survey investigating the potential links between grit, growth mindset, and dispositional flow. Correlational analyses revealed that grit was a significant predictor of flow but no correlations between growth mindset and grit or flow were found. Furthermore, a hierarchical regression analysis taking into account participants’ musical training, personality traits, and performance anxiety found that grit did not predict dispositional flow over and above what can be predicted by practice hours and music performance anxiety. Altogether, these findings offer a closer look at the effects of the non-cognitive factors of growth mindset and grit on the experience of flow in music performance.