Undergraduate Music Students’ Self-Reports of Conducting Anxiety in Introductory Conducting Courses

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether undergraduate music students’ conducting anxiety associated with their self-reported levels of depression, self-compassion, self-efficacy for conducting, concern with others’ perceptions, and conducting beliefs and behaviors. Participants who were enrolled in an introductory conducting course (N = 128) completed a questionnaire that included adopted and modified items from preexisting measures, researcher-designed items, and open-ended questions to provide insights related to their conducting anxiety. Participants’ level of concern with others’ perceptions significantly predicted their conducting anxiety scores, and open-response results supported this finding. The perceived difficulty level of the pieces/excerpts assigned by their conducting instructor also predicted participants’ conducting anxiety. Results of a Pearson correlation analysis indicated that participants’ conducting anxiety scores correlated with their depression scores positively but inversely with their self-compassion and self-efficacy for conducting scores. Conducting instructors should find ways to make their course environment welcoming, transparent, and growth-based so that students can focus on improving their conducting skills.