Stage fright

About: Stage fright is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 232 publications have been published within this topic receiving 4645 citations. The topic is also known as: performance anxiety.

Foreign and second language anxiety

Abstract: The possibility that anxiety interferes with language learning has long interested scholars, language teachers, and language learners themselves. It is intuitive that anxiety would inhibit the learning and/or production of a second language (L2). The important term in the last sentence is ‘anxiety’. The concept of anxiety is itself multi-faceted, and psychologists have differentiated a number of types of anxiety including trait anxiety, state anxiety, achievement anxiety, and facilitative-debilitative anxiety. With such a wide variety of anxiety-types, it is not surprising that early studies on the relationship between ‘anxiety’ and achievement provided mixed and confusing results, and Scovel (1978 – this timeline) rightly noted that anxiety is ‘not a simple, unitary construct that can be comfortably quantified into ‘high’ or ‘low’ amounts’ (p. 137). Scovel did not, however, anticipate the identification in the mid-1980s of a unique form of anxiety that some people experience in response to learning and/or using an L2. Typically referred to as language anxiety or foreign language anxiety (FLA), this anxiety is categorized as a situation-specific anxiety, similar in type to other familiar manifestations of anxiety such as stage fright or test anxiety.

The Science and Psychology of Music Performance Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning

Abstract: In The Science and Psychology of Music Performance, Richard Parncutt and Gary McPherson assemble current relevant research findings and make them accessible to musicians and music educators. This book explains new approaches to teaching music, learning music, and making music at all levels of education and skills. Each chapter is a collaboration between a music researcher (usually a music psychologist) and a player or music educator. The combination of expertise generates excellent practical advice. Readers will learn, for example, that they are in part (57%) if they experience rapid heartbeat before the show; Chapters devoted to anxiety performance will help them decide whether beta-blocker drugs, hypnotherapy, or Alexander. Relaxation Techniques can alleviate their stage fright. Another chapter outlines a step-by-step method for introducing children to musical notation, firmly based on research in cognitive development. Overall, 21 chapters cover the personal, environmental, and acoustic influences that shape music learning and performance

Stage fright in orchestral musicians: a study of cognitive and behavioural strategies in performance anxiety

Abstract: A questionnaire study was carried out with three groups of musicians: experienced professional orchestral players (n = 65), music students (n = 41), and members of an amateur orchestra (n = 40). Musical performance anxiety was assessed together with neuroticism, everyday fears, self-statements and behavioural coping strategies. Performance anxiety was lowest in the professional group and highest among students. In all three groups, performance anxiety was related to neuroticism and everyday fears, notably fear of crowds and social situations. A negative association between age, performing experience and stage fright was observed in professional musicians but not other groups. Six clusters of self-statements were identified. Catastrophizing was positively linked with performance anxiety in all groups, while realistic appraisal of the performance situation was used most commonly by those with moderate levels of stage fright. Implications for the conceptualization and management of stage fright are discussed.

Music performance anxiety in skilled pianists: effects of social-evaluative performance situation on subjective, autonomic, and electromyographic reactions

Abstract: Music performance anxiety (MPA), or stage fright in music performance, is a serious problem for many musicians, because performance impairment accompanied by MPA can threaten their career. The present study sought to clarify on how a social-evaluative performance situation affects subjective, autonomic, and motor stress responses in pianists. Measurements of subjective state anxiety, heart rate (HR), sweat rate (SR), and electromyographic (EMG) activity of upper extremity muscles were obtained while 18 skilled pianists performed a solo piano piece(s) of their choice under stressful (competition) and non-stressful (rehearsal) conditions. Participants reported greater anxiety in the competition condition, which confirmed the effectiveness of stress manipulation. The HR and SR considerably increased from the rehearsal to competition condition reflecting the activation of sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. Furthermore, participants showed higher levels of the EMG magnitude of proximal muscles (biceps brachii and upper trapezius) and the co-contraction of antagonistic muscles in the forearm (extensor digitorum communis and flexor digitorum superficialis) in the competition condition. Although these responses can be interpreted as integral components of an adaptive biological system that creates a state of motor readiness in an unstable or unpredictable environment, they can adversely influence pianists by disrupting their fine motor control on stage and by increasing the risk of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders.