Music performance anxiety in children within the context of practical music examinations

• Main Author: Cleary, Theresa Mary
• Published: Ulster University 2013
• Subjects: 780.7
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.646844

As part of their musical training, young musicians are often entered for practical music examinations. Many are anxious about performing in front of an examiner, sometimes to the extent that they do not perform to the best of their ability, which can result in a lower mark than anticipated. The present research was designed to explore Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) and possible interrelationships among gender, practice, self- esteem, music self-efficacy, perceived criticism (from family), music negative perfectionism, and performance (marks attained). Overall the thesis comprises of three studies. All employed quantitative research methods throughout. Study 1 included 194 participants and was designed to develop a new measure of Musical Performance Anxiety for young musicians. Principal component analyses revealed two components. The first component had 20 items and appeared to measure cognitive/somatic sensations. It was shortened to a 13 item scale (MPAI-C) to ensure that the measure was not too long for the young participants in this study. The new measure showed satisfactory reliability and provided evidence of good convergent and divergent validity with other measures employed in the study. The second component was labelled 'Negative Affect' (NA) and comprised of 9 items. Study 2 was designed to develop a new Music Perfectionism measure. Data from 186 participants were analysed. Principal component analyses identified three components. The first component had 10 items and appeared to measure "negative perfectionism". The second component had 6 items and appeared to measure "teacher pressure". The third component had 6 items and appeared to measure "parental pressure". The negative perfectionism subscale (MPI-C) showed a satisfactory reliability and provided evidence of good convergent and divergent validity. The purpose of study 3 was to test a proposed model of MPA and possible interrelationships between music negative perfectionism, perceived criticism (from family), music self-efficacy, self-esteem, practice, gender and performance. A revised model was established using path analyses with Mplus software. The data from 304 participants indicated that males were more affected by perceived criticism from family and did more practise than females. Practice and music self-efficacy revealed a positive direct association with performance, while MPA showed a negative direct association with performance. A direct positive relationship was found between music negative perfectionism and MPA, while a negative relationship was shown between music negative perfectionism and self-esteem. A positive association was found between self-esteem and music self-efficacy, which in turn had a direct negative association with MP A. The final model provided an insight into the effects of MPA and the associations between other factors in relation to performance in young musicians in practical music exams. The findings from the present study have implications for students, parents, music teacher training, and future policies regarding curriculum development within music education worldwide.