How do college musicians self-manage musical performance anxiety: Strategies through time periods and types of performance

Abstract

Musical performance anxiety (MPA) occurs throughout musicians’ careers. The existing literature on coping with MPA is underdeveloped in its understanding of how college musicians develop their own coping strategies. This article explores the ways in which MPA is self-managed by college musicians, drawing on qualitative data from the local context of Taiwan. A ‘performance diary’ for managing MPA was prepared and semi-structured interviews were carried out with 53 undergraduate students (from Year 1 to Year 4) from a university’s music department. The findings show that college musicians have developed at least nine self-management strategies, which they implement throughout a specific timeline leading up to a performance, from 4 weeks before right up to the performance (concert, exam and recital) itself. These strategies are products of musicians’ self-regulated learning process of developing their own expertise and building up their self-efficacy. The findings also reveal that providing information about psychological strategies in a performance diary could help musicians to become aware of MPA and develop their metacognition of coping strategies. Highlighting the importance of the specific time periods, types of performance and performance environments, this article has implications for college musicians, teachers and institutions that are looking to develop MPA-management strategies.

Keywords

College musicians coping strategies musical performance anxiety self-management time periods types of performance

Introduction

In recent years, awareness of musicians’ mental health and well-being has been increasing among professionals and college musicians across the world. For instance, the BBC radio programme Music Matters discussed mental health issues from the varied perspectives of psychotherapists, scientists and conservatoire students. Among musicians’ mental health and well-being issues, musical performance anxiety (MPA) has been reported in the contexts of Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania (Fehm & Schmidt, 2006; Huang, 2005; Kokotsaki & Davidson, 2003; Patston, 2014). MPA, often known as ‘stage fright’, has been described as a state of arousal and anxiety occurring before or while a person is performing in front of an audience, engaging in an activity that touches on his or her self-esteem (Kesselring, 2006). It is experienced not only by college-level and professional musicians but also by children and adolescents. Indeed, many professional musicians report of suffering from anxiety at different stages in their careers (Ryan, 1998, 2004, 2005). In music colleges, the number of intervention programmes to manage MPA has increased in recent years. Some institutions combine courses relating to coping with MPA with new technology facilities, such as the performance simulator at the Royal College of Music, London, United Kingdom (Williamon et al., 2014).

Many existing studies on coping with MPA have examined psychological anxiety-coping strategies, including cognitive and behavioural strategies, and their effects on musical performance (Braden et al., 2015; Kendrick et al., 1982; McGinnis & Milling, 2005; Nagel et al., 1989). Some studies have examined MPA coping strategies through variable comparisons, revealing that the coping strategies can be categorised as long term and short term based on musicians’ performance timetables. For example, Roland (1994) and Fehm and Schmidt (2006) reveal that individual musicians used various personal strategies to cope with MPA, and the strategies were used differently during different time periods of performance preparation. Among the existing literature, numerous studies focus on college musicians (Fehm & Schmidt, 2006; Huang, 2005; Kokotsaki & Davidson, 2003; Williamon et al., 2014). Yet what has been less examined is how college musicians develop their own strategies to self-manage MPA and how far these strategies help them in coping with MPA.

As the contributing factors of MPA are varied and individualised, various combinations of MPA coping strategies need to be used, depending on individual circumstances (Papageorgi et al., 2013; Sadler & Miller, 2010; Sârbescu & Dorgo, 2014). Therefore, it is important to explore how individual college musicians develop the ability to self-manage MPA in order to help them find the most suitable coping strategies. Noting this research gap, this study intends to investigate the ways in which MPA is self-managed by college musicians. More specifically, it tries to answer the following questions: What strategies were developed by college musicians to cope with MPA? When was each coping strategy used? For which types of performance were the strategies used? What have been the impacts of the strategies? The next section will introduce what a self-management approach for anxiety is and what it means for the study of coping with MPA.

Adopting a self-management approach in the study of coping with MPA

Based on theoretical resources of self-management for anxiety, some anxiety-coping strategies have been developed and tailored for self-help, which could be a way to support the self-management of MPA (e.g., McNamara, 2001; Patston, 2014; Sadler & Miller, 2010). In clinical studies, self-management has been defined as an individual’s ability to manage, with treatment, the physical and psychological consequences and lifestyle changes inherent in living with a chronic condition (Mulligan & Newman, 2007). ‘Self-management’ can also be a term used in reference to professionals’ development of interventions to help people self-manage their condition more effectively. The underpinning psychological theories of self-management provide a theoretical framework (see Figure 1) to draw attention to the importance of people’s beliefs about themselves, their illness and how these affect self-management (Mulligan & Newman, 2007).

Figure 1.

Key concepts underlying psychological theories of self-management.

As presented in Figure 1, a key concept underlying psychological theories of self-management is self-regulation, which frequently appears in studies of musical performance (Nielsen, 2001; Varela et al., 2016). In clinical studies, the definition of self-regulation relates to altering individuals’ views about their condition and its treatment, which are seen as the drivers of coping and health-related behaviour (Mulligan & Newman, 2007). In a music educational context, self-regulation is often associated with Zimmerman’s model, which examines the various possible trajectories of individual musical development (Varela et al., 2016). Zimmerman (2000) described self-regulated learning as cyclical since ‘the feedback from the prior performance is used to make adjustments during the current effort’ (p. 14). Self-regulatory skills (i.e., activities related to learning itself) in preparation for a musical performance can be attained through a learner’s own learning process. Applying the concept of self-regulation in coping with MPA, it can be assumed that individuals may discover effective coping strategies through the learning process of developing their own expertise.

Another key concept underlying psychological theories of self-management is self-efficacy, which relates to the self-confidence that individuals have in their ability to perform a given behaviour (see Figure 1). Individuals with resilient self-efficacy have the ability to rebound quickly from difficulties; even when they make serious mistakes on stage, they can still continue to perform as if nothing has happened (Bandura, 1997). Mulligan and Newman (2007) indicate two routes to build up self-efficacy, namely, skill mastery and modelling social persuasion. Skill mastery involves goal setting and learning problem-solving skills, as setting specific goals increases the possibility of success and each success helps to build self-efficacy as well as maintain behaviours. Modelling social persuasion emphasises learning self-management skills from others in a group setting. Applying the concept of self-efficacy in coping with MPA, goal setting, contrived performance situation and peer learning can be adopted to build up college musician’s self-efficacy to facilitate their self-management of MPA (Reid & Duke, 2015).

Furthermore, self-monitoring is one of the crucial skills in the acquisition of expertise in the music-learning process (Hallam & Bautista, 2012). Incorporating psychology into the music curriculum, the use of a ‘performance diary’ (PD) can facilitate students’ thinking about their experiences of performing and in turn reduce their level of MPA (Kenny, 2011; Patston, 2014). As such, the use of a self-help booklet reflects one component of cognitive-behavioural therapy in which systematically observing one’s thoughts and behaviours can lead to therapeutic change (Sadler & Miller, 2010). In addition, the benefit of self-recording is that recording a positive behaviour will encourage people to repeat the same behaviour (McNamara, 2001). The concept of self-monitoring offers a way for performers to organise, examine and self-manage the condition of MPA both mentally and physically.

In this study, the researchers adopt the above theoretical resources of self-management to examine the ways in which MPA is self-managed by college musicians. Based on a review of strategies for coping with MPA in the existing literature, the researchers developed self-management material in the form of a ‘performance diary’ as an optional and assistive tool for research participants in their preparations for performances. The researchers then examined ‘what’ strategies of MPA self-management (either included in the performance dairy or not) had been used and ‘when’ they were used in relation to ‘which’ type of performance in practice. These were explored in six time periods, including early stage of preparation period, during the week of the performance, on the day, backstage, onstage, and after the performance and in three types of performance, including a formal school concert, an exam and a graduate recital.

Data and methods

Participants

The participants of this study are undergraduate students in Bachelor of Music (BMus) programme majoring in music performance in a university music department in Taiwan. This BMus programme has 107 students across four year-levels and is designed to cultivate competent and successful professional musicians, fostering their expertise in solo music performance, collaborative musical arts and music teaching. Being an alumna of this department, the researcher received help from the head of department and was introduced to the undergraduate students in the department’s new term assembly, which is compulsory for all students. The researcher took advantage of this opportunity to inform the students about the study and gave them a consent form. For those who wanted to participate, they filled in the consent form with their signature, contact details and preferable contact dates and then returned it to the researcher at the end of the meeting.¹ In total, 60 students participated in the study yet 7 of them did not continue through to the end, hence the final number of participants is 53 (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Participants’ background.

Year level	Number of participants	Major	Number of participants	Gender	Number of participants
Year 1	19	Strings	20	Female	46
Year 2	11	Woodwinds	11	Male	7
Year 3	13	Brass	4
Year 4	10	Percussion	2
Total	53	Piano	14
		Composition	1
		Vocal study	1

PD

In this study, a PD was developed as an optional and assistive tool to introduce strategies for and assist with MPA self-management (see Appendix 1). It contained two parts: the first introduces the basic concepts of cognitive-behavioural therapy to help musicians’ understand their current performance state through a checklist. The second part offers a brief description of each MPA coping strategy identified by the researcher based on the literature of sport psychology and music psychology.

It emerged that 81% participants have read the PD during their performance preparation period (see Chart 1). In the meantime, what can be identified is that the participants were using PD in six different ways (see Table 2). The following case gives an example of how the PD shapes participants’ self-management of MPA:

I read the diary. I didn’t feel nervous a few days before my concert. My nervous feeling happened when I was backstage. At that time, I had no idea what I should do except wait. Then, I remembered that I was participating in a project about anxiety. So, I tried breathing and muscle relaxation as I had practised them before, when I saw these skills in the diary a few weeks ago. Also, they were the only strategies that I remembered when I was backstage and the diary wasn’t with me. It was very helpful. (Y1 Ivy)

Chart 1.

Performance diary reading rate.

Table 2.

Six ways the PD was used in relation to year levels and types of performance.

Types of performance	Concert			Exam			Recital
Year level	Y1	Y2	Y3	Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4
1. Not at all	2	4	2	7	6	8	2
2. Read but didn’t use it	3	1	3	1	1	0	1
3. Introduce new strategies	4	1	1	4	0	1	0
4. Reinforce existing strategies	1	1	1	5	2	2	1
5. Both introduce and reinforce	2	1	1	1	0	1	1
6. Planning and monitoring	1	2	3	1	2	1	5
Total number of participants in concert or exam or recital	13	10	11	19	11	13	10

PD: performance diary.

Data collection

In this study, the researchers follow a qualitative research design and adopt semi-structured interview as data collection method. Guided by the overall research question and key themes in the literature on MPA and self-management of anxiety, the researchers have designed interview questions around the following themes: how the participants perceive MPA in general; what MPA coping strategies they used and in what time periods, types of performance and performance environments; how they acquire these strategies through self-help; and how they perceive the role of PD in coping with MPA. As the interviews were semi-structured, some new questions were added during or after the interviews. As this article presents only part of the findings of the wider project, which examines not only college musician’s self-management of MPA but also social support they receive from teachers, peers and accompanists, its findings are mainly generated from data relevant to the participants’ self-management of MPA.

All the interviews were conducted in Chinese and lasted approximately half an hour. For each interview, an audio recording was made with the permission of the participant. Verbatim transcriptions were then made using a word processor. We did not translate all the transcriptions into English at the data analysis stage, as some original meanings in Chinese could be lost if translated. It was not until the writing up stage that we started to translate particular extracts of Chinese transcripts when we wanted to quote from them. Back translation was carried out to ensure the accuracy of the translations. We acknowledge that there might still be some inconsistences between the Chinese and English versions of raw data. This limitation can hardly be avoided in studies engaged with multiple languages including Chinese and English.

Data analysis

In this study, the researchers took an inductive approach in the thematic analysis of identifying and analysing patterns within the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The methods I have used in the first cycle coding mainly include in vivo coding, values coding, process coding, emotion coding, values coding, narrative coding, attributive coding, descriptive coding and holistic coding (Saldaña, 2013). Guided by my overall research questions, this process produced individual codes regarding the strategies used in different time periods under different types of performances. These codes were then generated and grouped into preliminary categories under two broad themes of cognitive strategies and behavioural strategies. In the second cycle coding, the preliminary codes were ‘segregated, grouped, regrouped and relinked in order to consolidate meaning and explanation’ (Grbich, 2007, p. 21). By focusing on a broader range of themes, the codes were re-categorised by strategies (i.e., ‘mental rehearsal’ and ‘self-talk’), timeline (i.e., ‘few days’ and ‘backstage’) and context (i.e., ‘peer’ and ‘accompanist’), producing a complete version of code list (see Table 3). Based on these works, further analysis was done to interweave empirical data with theoretical resources to generate the findings of this article.

Table 3.

The structure of code list.

Themes	Categories	Codes
Strategies	Mental rehearsal, visual rehearsal, physical activities, absorbing activities, self-talk, increase practice hour, dietary.	Running through the melody in the mind and imagining the scene, swimming, jogging, taking a stroll, listening to pop music, playing computer games, telling myself to practise more, eating a banana.
Timeline	Daily basis/no specific time, early stage, during the week before performance, on the day of performance, backstage, onstage and after performance.	Often, normally, usually, my daily routine, 2 weeks before, few days before, 3 days before, on my exam/concert/recital day, in the morning/afternoon of my exam, 10 min before, backstage, in the waiting room, walking onstage, sitting on the chair onstage, while listening to the introduction from piano, after performance.
Context	Peer, solitary, teacher, parent, accompanist	Classmates, cohorts, senior students, junior students, friends, alone, by myself, teacher, parent, pianist, accompanist

We would recognise the values of both data and theoretical resources as they were woven with each other throughout the research process. The data analysis can be considered as data driven, since the formation of each code was rooted in the respondents’ interpretations and perceptions guided by my research questions. Furthermore, it was the empirical data that directed us to think about the strategies that the existing literature mentions, to support our examination of this literature, find a gap in the research and ultimately build a strong argument. Yet this process can also be considered as theory laden, since the formation of my research questions and interview question was shaped by the literature on coping with MPA.

Ethical issues

As this study was completed in a UK university and the fieldwork site was in Taiwan, we followed the ethical guidelines of both the British Educational Research Association: Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research 2011 and the Academic Ethics Guidelines for Researchers by the Ministry of Science and Technology 2014 in Taiwan. All participants were fully informed about the study with a consent form before participating and were able to withdraw from the study at any time. Their department was fully informed about the study. To protect their identities, the participants’ names were changed to pseudonyms in this article.

College musicians’ self-management of MPA: nine strategies in practice

Empirical data analysis reveals that the respondent college musicians have developed at least nine strategies to self-manage MPA. Some of these strategies were developed through their self-regulated learning and making adjustments to the strategies listed in the PD, while others were developed originally under their individual conditions. In other words, they are products of musicians’ self-regulated learning process of developing their own expertise. The strategies also build up the musicians’ self-efficacy to facilitate their self-management of MPA. Before I elaborate on how each strategy is used in practice, here I outline each strategy in brief:

Self-talk strategy is based on the use of cues that aim to facilitate learning and enhance performance through the activation of appropriate responses (Abel & Larkin, 1990; Roland, 1994). There are two types of self-talk: motivational self-talk (MST) refers to talking to oneself during a task with motivational internal dialogue while performing, such as telling yourself ‘I am the best!’ instructional self-talk (IST) refers to talking to oneself during a task with step-by-step reminders at each phase while performing, such as telling yourself to take a deep breath before playing the first note (Chroni et al., 2007; Zinsser et al., 2001).

Accepting mistakes strategy aims at minimising mistakes by preparing a personal rescue plan before a performance, focusing on what you are currently playing when the mistake occurs during the performance and learning from the mistake after the performance by seeing it as a type of feedback instead of a failure (Buswell, 2006). As a positive cognitive strategy (Roland, 1994), accepting mistakes can lead to increased comfort, physical freedom and the eventual control of a performance.

Mental rehearsal is a strategy for managing musical practice and anxiety without physical movement and, for some participants, when they cannot practice with their own instruments. Visual rehearsal involves the rehearsal of the whole performance and physical movement (Browne et al., 2010). They are to prepare and programme the brain to send messages to muscles so that a physical movement can be executed as proficiently and smoothly as possible.

Contrived performance situation strategy aims to stimulate anxious feelings by creating a physical rehearsal with small audiences of students and musical experts. It prepares musicians for the actual performance and helps them to reduce MPA in the real performance situation, thereby enhancing their performance skills (Abel & Larkin, 1990; Aufegger et al., 2017).

Breathing and muscle relaxation strategy should be learned and practised in the correct way in advance of a performance (Buswell, 2006; Hays, 2002). There are various breathing and relaxation skills, such as the Alexander Technique (AT), progressive muscular relaxation, cue-controlled relaxation and guided relaxation. For example, Lawrence (2015) examined the effectiveness of AT sessions on all kinds of musicians’ performance, anxiety, respiratory function and posture by adopting systematic reviews and identified that AT sessions can facilitate musicians’ ability to cope with MPA.

As for physical activities strategy, researchers found that regular and moderate exercise can control or reduce MPA, since it distracts anxious focus away from the performance and boosts self-confidence and self-esteem (Rocha et al., 2014; Taylor & Wasley, 2004). In addition, regular exercise (i.e., yoga, tai chi and other aerobic activities) might increase positive mood and reduce depression (Biddle et al., 2000; Mutrie, 2000).

Absorbing activities can be used as a cognitive distraction technique to shift people’s awareness from their anxiety to neutral things (Uys & Middleton, 2010). Absorbing activities, such as chatting with friends, shopping, reading books and listening to music, can help musicians to manage MPA (Fehm & Schmidt, 2006).

As for the diet strategy, researchers have reported eating in response to both positive and negative emotions, or so-called ‘emotional eating’ (Van Strien et al., 2013). According to Caroline (2015), foods that boost energy levels, such as bananas, can lift our mood, as the so-called ‘happiness hormone’ serotonin comes into play.

Cognitive restructuring strategy has been found helpful in reducing the level of MPA for adolescent musicians (Osborne & Kenny, 2008). This strategy helps people to think in a more positive and rational way, and the process involves reassessing and managing the fearful situation more positively (Newman, 2015).

Self-management strategies through time periods and types of performance

This section discusses the nine self-management strategies in detail by focusing on ‘when’ a strategy was used in relation to which type of performance.² It elaborates on how college musicians use these strategies at six points in time during their preparation for a performance: at an early stage of performance preparation, during the week before the performance, on the day of the performance, backstage, onstage and after the performance (see Chart 2). It also discusses how these strategies were used in relation to different types of performance: formal school concert, final exam and recital (see Chart 3).

Chart 2.

Frequency of use of strategies in six time periods.

Chart 3.

Frequency of use of strategies in three types of performance.

Self-talk

The strategy of self-talk was mostly used in early stage, backstage, onstage or on a daily basis. In the early stage of all types of performance, participants adopted only MST by building their confidence and motivation in order to control anxiety and increase effort, such as ‘I am the best’; ‘don’t be nervous, the exam will end eventually’; and ‘everything will go smoothly’. For example,

Before I go onstage, I take a deep breath. Then, I watch myself in the mirror and say, ‘you are the best’. Although I still feel nervous, it can reduce my anxious feelings, for the most part, I believe. (Y2 Jessica)

As for IST, it appeared when the participant was backstage or onstage. The function of this strategy is to bring the musician’s focus to the present and maintain attentional focus on the present performance. For example,

I was very shocked when I played the first wrong note during the exam. Then I realised that I should re-direct my attention and focus on my current playing. I told myself ‘a single mistake is nothing, I am still the best’. The rest of the performance was good and it went fine. (Y2 Jessica)

In addition, a strategic shift from IST to MST can be identified when the participants move from backstage to onstage. For example,

Backstage I talked to myself about what I should do later onstage. When I got onstage, I kept saying positive words to encourage myself in my mind. (Y3 Melody)

Overall, it seems that participants may seek to build self-confidence and motivation by focusing on themselves as a long-term strategy, whereas when they get closer to a performance, they may attempt to focus on the performance itself using IST as a short-term strategy.

Furthermore, adopting self-talk during concert preparation was found to be very different from the self-talk practised during exam preparation. Participants adopted more MST than IST in exam preparation, whereas they adopted more IST than MST in concert preparation, since an exam situation can be more competitive than a concert.

Accepting mistakes

The strategy of accepting mistakes was used in early stage, onstage, after performance situations or on a daily basis. It appeared more often in exam preparation (adopted by 26 participants) than other performance types (10 participants adopted in concert preparation) because an exam contains more elements that participants believe contribute to making mistakes, for instance, anxiety about marking and judgements. For example,

I created rescue plans in case I made mistakes on stage. My rescue plans were for things including forgetting notes, playing the wrong note, not playing in time with the accompanist, and experiencing shortness of breath, which causes a short musical phrase. (Y3 Melody)

Furthermore, in the ‘after the performance’ stage, there are two ways in which most participants accept their mistakes: one is ‘comparing the previous performance experience’ and the other is ‘ignoring mistakes and moving forward’. For example,

My performance was better than the last time. I only made some small mistakes. (Y1 Ivy)

I made some mistakes during the exam. A performance without mistakes, it is not a real exam, is it? (Y3 Fabia)

This finding matches with Buswell’s (2006) suggestion that musicians should take mistakes as feedback and move forward after a performance. However, the former way seems to be riskier than the latter, because if participants think their current performance quality is worse than previous performances, they may have low satisfaction, negative thoughts and self-doubts about their performance ability. Therefore, it is important for the musicians to be aware of the risks of comparisons.

Mental and visual rehearsal

The strategy of mental and visual rehearsal was used in early stage or on a daily basis. The following is an example of how participants adopt this strategy in the early stage of performance preparation:

When I over-practise or feel tired, I go home and lie down on the sofa. At that time, I automatically start to imagine myself performing on stage and playing from memory. I have no idea how it started. But, anyway, this can help me become familiar with my repertoire and get used to the feeling of performing on stage. (Y3 Alice)

Participants also practised or thought about finger movements when they could not access their instrument.

When I can’t get to the piano, I read the score, listen to the CD, and move my fingers, which is to imagine there is a piano on the stage and I am playing it. (Y2 Gunda)

In addition, mental and visual rehearsal occurs when participants plan to listen to a CD of the repertoire for which they are preparing. For example, Calvin adopted mental solo practice when he and his chamber music partners could not rehearse together.

My programme is a string quartet. So, I read the score, which was not only my part, and imagined all of us on stage. I also hummed the music of the other parts in my mind. Through this practice, I could predict which parts of the music we would not be playing together or where it would be easy to make mistakes during the actual rehearsal. Then, I could practice that passage alone in advance. (Y2 Calvin)

When backstage, participants expressed that a ‘quick’ mental rehearsal was used. For example,

When I was backstage, I had a quick rehearsal in my mind, rehearsing the beginning of the music and then jumping to the last passage. I also told myself don’t be nervous and it will be ok, as I had imagined. (Y2 Aya)

According to the participants, mental and visual rehearsal helped them both in musical and mental preparation, and also worked in conjunction with MST in order to build up or enhance self-confidence.

Contrived performance situation

This strategy was adopted by all participants on the day of performance and nearly one-third of them used it in the early stage of performance preparation. For the participants undertaking chamber music performances, they reported adopting the strategy of contrived performance situation as regularly and as early as possible, owing to the need to accommodate different schedules and timetables:

My partners and I went to the performance venue and created a real performance situation together many times. We rehearsed walking on stage, bowing to the audience, starting to play, and walking down stage. We also checked the sound effects and decided the position of each instrument. (Y2 Igor)

Compared with chamber music performance, participants undertaking solo performances could adopt contrived performance situations during the week before the performance. Furthermore, they did so a few times before their performance.

I had a rehearsal with my accompanist at a performance venue a few days before the concert. She is just like my principal study tutor. She gave me a lot of positive feedback and useful suggestions, which made me feel confident about the upcoming performance. It is very important for me to contrive a performance situation in advance with my accompanist. (Y3 Kiki)

However, there was an exception, a composer who adopted a contrived performance situation at an early stage. The reason is that a composer needs to deal with two different tasks (i.e., solo presentation and ensemble conducting).

It is important to note that the process of adopting this strategy depends on certain circumstances, such as the difficulty of the repertoire and different types of performance and may not wholly be in the control of the student. For instance, in preparing for exams, the perceived difficulty of the task as well as the competitive environment pushed the students to adopt this strategy earlier than in concert preparation, with a focus on experiencing the presence of judges in the performance environment.

Breathing and muscle relaxation

The strategy of breathing and muscle relaxation was adopted by almost all participants on a daily basis. It is used particularly backstage and in exam preparation situations, in which they felt serious MPA or could not play their instrument for various reasons. For example,

When I feel nervous backstage, I think about the first musical phrase. Then, I take a deep breath and tell myself ‘calm down’. (Exam: Y1 Cathy)

I did muscle relaxation in the waiting room. But I don’t like to sit down to do it as the performance diary mentioned. This is because when I am nervous, I like to walk around. (Y3 Kiki)

Here, Kiki mentioned the PD as where she learned the strategy of muscle relaxation, yet she has also adjusted the strategy according to her preferences. What can be identified here is the self-regulated learning process towards the self-management of MPA with individual’s ‘own expertise’.

However, for most participants, they had not practised the strategies before and did not necessarily learn them in the correct way. As Hays (2002) points out, even if many performers know about such techniques, they may not have learned how to use them, or they may not truly have understood their usefulness or applicability. These strategies need to be practised in advance and learned in the correct way.

Physical activities

This strategy was used in early stage, during the week and on the day of performance. The physical activities recorded in this study include jogging, basketball, badminton, table tennis, qigong, swimming and taking a stroll, with Jogging being the most popular exercise. Participants reported that when they felt under pressure after a long day of practicing during their performance preparation period, they undertook a physical activity to ‘distract anxious focus away’ temporarily and to relax. For example,

I go shopping and jogging as a way to relax. Through these activities, I can stop thinking about exams and feel relaxed. (Exam: Y3 Gary)

I feel very relaxed when I take exercise. I forget all the stressful stuff at that moment! (Y3 Dora)

What my participants reported resonates with the findings of Taylor (2003) and Taylor and Wasley (2004). In addition, physical activities can be used to assist the participants with ‘organising life’ before a performance to control their MPA. For example,

I do regular exercises, which can help me organise my practice and regulate my daily life. (Y1 Gina)

This finding resonates with that of Rocha et al. (2014).

Absorbing activities

The strategy of absorbing activities, such as chatting with friends, reading, watching TV or a movie, playing video games, listening to pop songs, taking a bath or reading books, was used throughout different time periods and types of performance. Among these absorbing activities, ‘chatting with friends’ is mentioned most frequently. While Fehm and Schmidt (2006) report that most participants use chatting as a long-term strategy instead of a routine part of coping with MPA, my data show that participants can use it on both a long-term (i.e., early stage) and short-term (i.e., backstage) basis. For example,

When I feel stressed, I go to the pub and have a drink with friends. The main purpose to go to a bar is to chat with friends in a relaxing place, not just to have alcoholic drinks. (Y1 Abigail)

A few minutes before the concert started, I saw my best friend in the aisle. I was very nervous, so I just kept talking to her. It made me feel happy and calm at that moment. (Y2 Findy)

The purposes of chatting are twofold: using it as a cognitive distraction technique and as a way of sharing nervous feelings with others. For example,

I like to reduce my nerves through chatting with friends. I often share my thoughts and feelings with classmates, who are also going to perform soon. (Recital: Y4 Bea)

Interestingly, my data show that pop music is used by classical musicians as a way to relax. As explained by a Year 3 student, Lily, the melody of pop music and its lyrics let her temporarily forget about the classical music performed in exam pieces.

Diet

Dietary strategies, such as small dietary changes or eating a specific food, had been used by a small number of participants to help alleviate their symptoms of MPA, either mentally or physically. For example,

When I feel nervous in the waiting room, I eat cookies and take a deep breath. Through moving my mouth, I feel temporarily relaxed. It doesn’t necessarily have to be cookies. (Y4 Flora)

When I feel stressed a few days before my concert performance, I drink some hot water. It is sort of a habit, or warms my body, probably. I have had this habit since high school. (Y1 Linda)

What can be identified from the data are two positive effects of adopting the dietary strategy: distracting from anxiety (i.e., moving one’s mouth in order to take the mind off worrying about the approaching performance) and improving mood through eating specific foods (i.e., hot water, bananas or chocolate). However, it is important to note that individuals can overeat in response to stress or emotional arousal (Ostrovsky et al., 2013). For example,

I do not know how to deal with anxiety. I believe eating more food can make you feel better. I always feel very nice when I eat until I feel very full. (Y2 Jessica)

Overeating may cause health issues, such as being overweight or even obese. It could be a potential negative by-product of self-managing MPA.

Cognitive restructuring

Cognitive restructuring strategy was adopted by participants at no specific time period when preparing for different types of performance. For example,

I adjust my emotional state a few days prior to performance. My stress and pressure decrease after these adjustments and they disappear automatically when the performance has finished. (Y3 Fabia)

This strategy can also be found in relation to the exam preparation period, when a participant dealt with the presence of judges in the performance environment. The following example shows how negative thoughts can be changed into positive thoughts under this strategy:

I was afraid of the judges staring, as I thought they did this because of my bad performance or my mistakes. But now I have changed my thought, which is to take the exam as my concert and the judges as my audience. I don’t have to think about their judgements. I only have to think that I came here to show my ability to them, and they did not come here to find my mistakes. (Y3 Quintina)

Quintina’s initial imagining of the judges’ reactions shows her flawed thinking and unrealistic thoughts, which could have a detrimental effect on her performance. When she realised that what she was afraid of (i.e., judges staring her) was unhelpful, she then attempted to turn the negative thoughts into positive ones, such as thinking that the judges are audience members who are not there to find mistakes.

Discussion

Empirical data analysis identifies nine self-management MPA strategies and reveals ‘when’ a strategy was used in relation to which type of performance. As presented in Chart 2, in the early stage, the top two strategies are mental and visual rehearsal and self-talk. As the participants have sufficient time for performance preparation, they focus on musical preparedness more than distractions from anxiety in this stage. During the week of performance, the top two strategies are absorbing activities and physical activities. As the performance time gets closer, participants seek out help from these strategies to increase self-efficacy and distract their anxious thoughts and feelings away temporarily. On the day of performance, the most popular strategy is contrived performance situation, which is adopted to manage both MPA and musical preparedness. Backstage, the strategies of breathing and muscle relaxation, self-talk and absorbing activities are used. Since the performance is about to start and the participants cannot play their instrument backstage, they use these strategies to cope with shortness of breath and muscle tremors, to increase self-confidence, and to distract from anxiety. When onstage, the participants use accepting mistakes as well as self-talk and absorbing activities. The reason is that they need to focus on the music they are playing onstage, and these strategies can bring their attention back to the present moment of the performance when they have made a mistake. After the performance, the participants adopt accepting mistakes to compare with previous performance experiences and ignoring mistakes in order to move forward. Furthermore, as some strategies are relatively easier to adopt (i.e., at any time and in any place) and can help facilitate physical, musical and mental preparation, they are used on a daily basis/at no specific time.

As presented in Chart 3, in concert preparation, the top two strategies are related to managing performance environment, such as getting familiar with the stage (through mental and visual rehearsal) and getting used to the presence of an audience (through contrived performance situation). In preparing for exams, the strategies used are similar to preparing for the concert, except for accepting mistakes, since the participants believe evaluation is a key aspect of the exam, which involves allocating marks and correcting mistakes. In preparation for recitals, the strategies used are similar to those for concerts, since the performance environment of a recital includes the presence of an audience, which is similar to that of concert.

Data analysis also reveals that providing information about psychological strategies through a PD can help participants become aware of MPA and develop their metacognition of MPA coping strategies based on the coping strategies they already learned from other resources. However, it should be noted that not all teachers are aware of their important role in helping students self-manage MPA. Even if they are, some of them prefer to share their own ‘personal tips’, which might not have scientific bases. If that is the case, the PD can fill this gap and help students develop MPA coping strategies that suit their own needs and circumstances. In addition, it would be helpful to develop a booklet for music teachers to assist students in dealing with MPA and to embed the strategies in a positive and supportive climate with support from both teachers and parents (Daubney & Daubney, 2017; Ryan, 2004).

Finally, along with identifying the nine strategies, some questions have been raised about the usefulness of and improvements that could be made to these strategies. First, regarding the use of accepting mistakes, further research could explore how to use musical skills (i.e., identifying the most difficult passage and practising it) and various psychological strategies (i.e., self-talk) before and during a performance to prevent and minimise potential mistakes. Second, regarding the use of absorbing activities, further research could examine the effects of different music genres (such as pop music) on classical musicians’ ability to cope with MPA. Third, further research could examine the effects of dietary strategies on musicians’ physical health conditions, since a strong correlation between social and performance anxiety and eating disorders (such as binge eating) or emotional eating has been confirmed by many studies (Van Strien et al., 2013).

Conclusion

This article develops a self-management approach to explore college musicians’ MPA coping strategies. It identifies nine strategies that college musicians developed through self-regulated learning to manage MPA in different time periods, types of performance and performance environments (i.e., presence of audience or judges). The strategies include self-talk, accepting mistakes, mental and visual rehearsal, contrived performance situation, breathing and muscle relaxation, physical activities, absorbing activities, diet, and cognitive restructuring. These strategies are discussed through a specific timeline leading up to a performance, from 4 weeks before right up to the actual performance itself, in relation to three types of performance (concert, exam and recital). Empirical data analysis also reveals that providing information about psychological strategies through a PD could help musicians become aware of MPA and develop their metacognition of coping strategies.

This article highlights the applications of self-management of MPA for college musicians, teachers and institutions:

College musicians

Setting a long-term practice plan: establishing a plan in the early stage of the performance preparation period that lasts until the performance is finished by incorporating both musical skills and psychological strategies.

Seeking peer support: helping with MPA self-management (i.e., sharing life experiences and empathy through ‘chatting’ and supporting each other through practice sessions by adopting contrived performance situations).

Teachers

Providing information about MPA: information about broader aspects of music study and performance, such as issues regarding MPA, rehearsal techniques, diet, exercise and practice plans.

Organising small group class: creating contrived performance situations to facilitate the students’ self-management of MPA.

Institutions

Offering MPA-management contents in all aspects of music courses: MPA-related seminars, workshops or courses to increase students’ awareness of this issue.

Offering resources for students and teachers: providing suitable MPA coping resources, such as Performance Anxiety: A Practical Guide for Music Teachers (Daubney & Daubney, 2017) or a PD, as used in this research.

Admittedly, this study has not investigated MPA-management issues from the teachers’ or the institution’s perspectives, which could provide a wider picture of MPA self-management. In addition, the data were collected from only three types of performance, which can limit its finding on how MPA coping strategies are used in other types of performance, such as auditions. Finally, the participants are all undergraduate students, so the study lacks the perspectives and insights of postgraduate students. Nevertheless, the limitations in this current study provide a starting point for future research.

Footnotes

Appendix 1 Acknowledgements

We would like to express our appreciation to Dr Jennie Henley, Professor Graham Welch, Professor Andrea Creech, Dr John Habron and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments on the drafts of this paper. We would also like to give our special thanks to the participants who have contributed to this research.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science [grant number GD20YTQ01].

ORCID iD

Bei Song

Notes

Author biographies

Wei-Lin Huang (PhD, Royal College of Music) is Lecturer in Music Education in the School of Education at South China Normal University. She is an Adjunct Research Fellow in Institute for Advanced Study of Educational Development in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, SCNU. Her current research focuses on music performance anxiety and pre-service generalist teacher music education. Email: wei-lin.huang@m.scnu.edu.cn

Bei Song is Professor of Harbin Conservatory of Music. Her current research focuses on psychology of music and music education.

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