Abel - Anticipation of Performance Among Musicians

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Psychology ofMusic,1990,18,171-182 1990 by the Society for Research inPsychology ofMusic and Music Education

Anticipation o Performance Among Musicians:Physiological Arousal Confidence andState-AnxietyJENNIFER L BEL and KEVIN T LARKINDepartment of Psychology, West Virginia University,Box 6040, Morgantown, W 26506

Physiological responses (heart rate and blood pressure) and self-reportmeasures of state-anxiety and confidence were obtained in 22 studentmusicians during a baseline-laboratory session and before a jury. Allparticipants exhibited increased heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolicblood pressure, and self-reported anxiety from the laboratory to the jury.Males exhibited higher systolic blood pressure increases prior to the jurycompared to females, but females exhibited higher self-reported anxietythan males. Additionally, females reported increased confidence prior to thejury and males did not. Individuals with higher heart rate increases beforethe jury reported less confidence and somewhat higher self-reported anxiety.

Performance anxiety among musicians typically refers to a configuration ofsymptoms including: (1) excessive physiological arousal e.g. increased heartrate, dry mouth, sweaty palms), (2) negative cognitions including apprehension and fear of making mistakes, and (3) decrease in performance qualitywhen playing in front of others e.g. trembling bow hand, memory slips)compared to playing alone. Performance anxiety among musicians is quitecommon, with prevalence estimates ranging from 25 to 50 (Fishbein andMiddlestadt, 1988; Steptoe and Fidler, 1987).Investigations regarding the phenomenon of performance anxiety in

musicians have largely employed self-report measures to determine thedegree of distress a musician experiences prior to, during, and following his orher performance e.g. Fishbein and Middlestadt, 1988). Questionnairesassessing performance anxiety have included measures of confidence, generalanxiety, and state-anxiety i.e. discomfort recorded during a specified time)e.g. Appel, 1974; Craske and Craig, 1984; Steptoe and Fidler, 1987). Studieshave indicated that high levels of self-reported performance anxiety arerelated to low levels of confidence (Craske and Craig, 1984). While studies ofthis nature have provided important information regarding performanceanxiety, very little attention has been given to concomitant physiologicalindicators of anxiety or observable performance errors. Given the importanceof conducting a multimodal assessment typically employed in anxiety researchin general (Lang, 1971), and recent findings that suggest cognitive anxiety,physiological arousal, and behavioural symptoms of anxiety e.g. performanceerrors) covary indirectly e.g. Karteroliotis and Gill, 1987; McLeod, HoehnSaric and Stefan, 1986; Waal-Manning, Knight, Spears and Paulin, 1986), ithas become increasingly important to develop assessment strategies that tapseveral response domains. Therefore, in addition to examining self-reported

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72 Jennifer L Abel and Kevin T. Larkinanxiety, it has become important to examine both physiological and behaviouralcomponents of performance anxiety in order to develop more appropriatetre tment plans for performance-anxious musicians.

Only two studies have employed a multimodal assessment of performanceanxiety. Kendrick, Craig, Lawson and Davidson (1982) examined a group of53 piano students identified by their teachers as having extreme performanceanxiety. These musicians displayed significant heart rate increases, high selfreported anxiety and frequent performance errors when asked to performpiece of music for an audience. Increases in confidence following treatment ofperformance anxiety were associated with lower heart rates and less performance errors. However, because this was a treatment study, no comparisonswere made with non-anxious musicians and relationships between the responsedomains were not examined.

In nother study, Craske and Craig (1984) examined 40 piano students whowere (1) judged by their teachers to have attained proficiency for soloperformance and (2) judged to be either relatively anxious or relativelynon-anxious , based on self-reported anxiety. These groups did not differ onperformance quality during practice, but anxious individuals performed morepoorly in front of an audience than non-anxious students. During audienceperformance, heart rate increased significantly among both groups, while selfreported anxiety increased only among high anxious individuals. As withother investigations of anxiety, intercorrelations among dependent variablesdid not reveal significant relationships between self-report, physiological, andbehavioural components of anxiety. Sex differences also emerged in thatfemales exhibited greater self-reported state anxiety, higher skin conductanceresponses, and greater increases in respiration than males.

In response to the paucity of studies examining physiological measures ofanxiety and sex differences in performance anxiety, the purposes of thepresent study were (1) to examine the degree of physiological arousal andself-reported anxiety among musicians prior to an actual musical performance.(2) to determine whether response patterns differ between male and femalemusicians, and (3) to examine the relationship between self-report measuresrelated to performance anxiety and physiological indicators of performanceanxiety.

Previous investigations of performance anxiety have typically employed acontrived performance by creating a small audience of fellow students ormusical experts to elicit anxiety. While these studies are useful in that theyallow assessment to occur during the actual performance, they are somewhatless threatening because consequences that may occur in real life, such asreceiving a grade, completing course requirements, or being observed bylarge audiences, are absent. In the present study, a natural task that wasrequired for all participants, a graded performance jury. was utilised toexamine performance anxiety.

Unfortunately, the nature of juries prohibited assessment of cardiovascularvariables during the task for a number of reasons. First, assessment procedurese.g. inflation of the blood pressure cuff) may have influenced the participant'sperformance by distracting them from the task at hand, namely to performadequately during their jury. Second, a great deal of movement is often


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Sex Differences in Performance Anxiety 173required in musical performance making measurement of cardiovascularparameters difficult and prone to error. Additionally, R in musicians hasbeen shown to be affected by the tempo of the music such that it tends tomatch the beat (Landreth and Landreth, 1974; Radocy and Boyle, 1979), andthere is some evidence that cardiovascular parameters correlate with affectivechanges that occur in response to music (Radocy and Boyle, 1979). Consequently, the present study measured anticipatory anxiety i.e. increases inheart rate, blood pressure, and self-report state anxiety) immediately prior tothe jury.

ethodSubjects and DesignTwenty-two undergraduate music students served as participants in thestudy: eight males and 14 females. Subjects ranged in age from 18 to 23 andtheir average age was 195 years. All of the participants were attending WestVirginia University School of Music and were enrolled in private lessons forwhich they were required to complete a jury performance. Students wererecruited through information given to them prior to a musical convocationand rehearsals of the University Choir and the University Orchestra. Involvement was voluntary and participants were offered either treatment forperformance anxiety or five dollars in exchange for their participation; 14requested treatment (five males and nine females). Subjects taking betablocking or anxiolytic medication at the time of the study, either for medicinalpurposes or to reduce anxiety prior to their performance, were excluded, aswere individuals taking cold medicine, cardiovascular, and asthma (sympathomimetic) medications. Smokers were eliminated from the study.Participants were asked to refrain from drinking caffeine three hours prior toassessments and to refrain from vigorous exercise for an hour before bothsessions.

All subjects participated in two sessions, a baseline-laboratory session anda session in the Creative Arts Center just prior to the jury performance. Thebaseline-laboratory session provided information on resting physiologicallevels and subjective anxiety at a time in the semester when jury performanceswere not being conducted. The jury session was conducted between one andsix weeks (Mean = 35) after the baseline-laboratory session.The Jury Performance

The jury consisted of performing music prepared and chosen by theparticipants and their private teachers for the occasion. Students wereassigned a time slot in advance, which ranged from 1 to 30 minutesdepending upon the instrument they played. Each student performed in frontof two-seven professors or assistant professors who teach the instrument or asimilar instrument at the university. The jurors impressions determinedwhether each student moved up in the level system; they could be moved uphalf a level or more than one level and could also be moved down. Allparticipants must reach a particular level in order to graduate, thereforequality of performance was extremely important to participants. Assessmentoccurred prior to the jury performance; participants were assured that they


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174 Jennifer L Abel and Kevin T. Larkinwould be excused no later than ten minutes prior to their scheduled jury timeso that fear of being late to the jury was not likely to confound measurements.Cardiovascular AssessmentHeart rate HR) was measured by a photoplethysmogram (LafayetteModel # 77067) attached to the subject's middle finger or thumb of the nondominant hand. The signal from the photoplethysmogram was relayed to aLafayette Heart Rate Monitor (Model # 77067) set to continuously display

HR (in bpm). Twelve HRs per minute were recorded by a research assistant.In order to standardise measurement of HR, this assistant wore a headsetwhich signalled pre-recorded tones at ten second intervals; upon hearing thetone, the assistant recorded two consecutive HRs. The Lafayette Heart RateMonitor was chosen because it could be easily transported to the jury. Bloodpressure was measured each minute using an IBS automated sphygmomanometer (Model # SD 700AP) which employs an occluding cuff in conjunctionwith a pressure-sensor, positioned over the brachial artery of the subject'sdominant arm. Measures of systolic and diastolic blood pressure weredisplayed digitally and recorded at one minute intervals.

In order to examine change in cardiovascular measures and self-reportedanxiety from a baseline period, all subjects also participated in a laboratorysession. In the laboratory, HR was also recorded by placing a second Grassphotoplethysmogram (Model # 7 DAF) on the finger next to the Lafayettephotoplethysmogram; the pulse wave was relayed to a Grass 7Pl preamplifier and recorded on a Grass Model 7 Polygraph. The purpose of thisadditional recording was to validate the use of the Lafayette Heart RateMonitor* .Self-Report MeasuresAn abbreviated version of the state portion of the State-Trait AnxietyInventory (STAI) (Spielberger, Gorusch and Lushene, 1970) was chosen toassess subjective level of anxiety. The reliability and validity of the full scalehas been well researched and has yielded satisfactory psychometric data(Spielberger et ai 1970). O'Neil, Spielberger and Hansen (1972) modified theform by selecting four items from the state portion of the STAI which werefound to have the highest item-remainder correlation coefficients and validated

Because photoplethysmograms are sensitive to extraneous light and movement, HR readingsfrom the Lafayette Heart Rate Monitor were subject to increased measurement error. Bothlight and movement artefacts resulted in displayed HRs higher than the actual HRs. To reducethe influence of this artefact in a standardised manner, two procedures were followed: 1 theresearch assistant observed unsteady pulses from a pulse light indicator on the Lafayette HeartRate Monitor and did not record these readings, and 2) the four highest of 12 readings for eachminute of all measurement periods were eliminated. To demonstrate the reliability of thismethod of estimating HR, Pearson-Product Moment Correlation Coefficients were calculatedbetween mean HRs obtained from each minute on the Lafayette Heart Rate Monitor and HRsobtained from the chart polygraph record. Correlations between the two methods ranged from89 to 97 during the six minute baseline. Paired t-tests comparing the two methods ofmeasurement were also calculated for each minute of the baseline and no significantdifferences were found between methods, indicating that the Lafayette Heart Rate measures ofHR were comparable to polygraph chart record measurements of HR.


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Sex Differences in Performance Anxiety 75its use with the full scale (Spielberger et ai, 1970). The abbreviated versionwas selected for the present study because the information was collectedrepeatedly and the longer version may have caused boredom or fatigue inlater administrations, possibly affecting participants responses.

The Personal Report of Confidence as a Performer (PRCP) (Appel, 1974)is a 30-item, true-false questionnaire developed to sample somatic, cognitiveand behavioral aspects of anxiety during piano performance, and othermusical performances. In the present study it was used to assess whetheranxiety or confidence as a performer would correlate with cardiovascularreactivity. The test has been shown to be both a reliable and valid measure ofperformance anxiety. In a group of 30 anxious pianists, the Spearman-Brownreliability coefficient was 94. Kendrick and colleagues (1982) demonstratedconcurrent validity of the PRCP with correlati


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176 Jennifer L Abel and Kevin T. Larkinsix minute rest period identical to previous rest periods . Following the finalrest period subjects were instructed to complete an abbreviated STAI; thefinal rest period was utilised as the baseline in the present investigation.The Jury

Juries took place at the Center for Creative Arts at West YirginiaUniversity. Subjects were asked to arrive at a designated room in the center30 minutes prior to their performance. After attaching recording apparati,each subject was instructed to sit quietly during a six-minute adaptationperiod. During the adaptation period the PRCP, a second SRC, and a secondscreening form were administered. Subjects were then given tape-recordedinstructions to ill out a second Abbreviated-STAI. This was followed byinstructions for the participants to pay as little attention to the monitoring andattempt to think about whatever they typically think about before juries.At this time five minutes of HR data were collected and four blood pressureswere taken at one minute intervals, beginning 30 seconds into the session.When five minutes had expired the instructions tape resumed giving awarning that they would leave to perform for their jury in approximately twominutes . This statement was used to approximate the statement of the jurorwho would announce that it is time for the participant to perform. Eachsubject was asked to complete a third Abbreviated-STAI and upon completionwas reminded that they would leave for their jury in about a minute and onehalf. Following this statement, cardiovascular measures were obtained for 90seconds and blood pressure recorded initially and one minute latter. Subjectswere given two additional Abbreviated-STAIs (three and four) and asked toreturn them following their performance. They were asked to respond to theSTAIs now, at this moment, once the performance was over.

ResultsPhysiological Arousal

Yalues for each cardiovascular parameter (HR, SBP and DBP) wereaveraged to yield mean values for each period (baseline in the laboratory, andthe pre-warning period and post-warning period in the jury setting). One-wayrepeated measures analyses of variance (ANOYAs) were conducted on HR,SBP and DBP to examine whether significant differences were observedamong baseline and the two anticipatory periods. Across all cardiovascularmeasures, values observed during both anticipatory periods were significantlyhigher than the baseline [HR: F (2, 42) = 18 72, P < 001; SBP: F 2,38) = 3419, p


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Sex Differences in Performance Anxiety 177T BLE I

Means SDs) of phvsiological parameters and subjective anxiety across periods.Period

Group Baseline Pre-Warning Post-WarningHeart Rate bpm)Females 811 6,4) 865 9,7) 913 9-4)Males 77-9 89) 845 76) 904 70)Combined 798 75) 857 88) 910 85)Systolic-Blood Pressure mmHg)

Females 1074 78) 1176 60) 1197 58)Males 1194 68) 1340 70) 1418 74)Combined 1122 9,4) 1241 103) 1286 12,8)Diastolic-Blood Pressure mmHg)Females 72-6 7,7) 769 6,1) 789 6,1)Males 693 97) 743 83) 768 131)Combined 713 85) 759 70) 780 93)Abbreviated-STAI ScoresFemales 56 15) 109 33) 104 39)Males 55 16) 78 20) 78 21 )Combined 55 15) 94 31) 92 3,4)

effect for Sex [F 1, 18) = 2962, P


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Jennifer L. Abel and Kevin T. Larkin

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FIG 1Sex differences in systolic blood pressure increases before and after thewarning statement. Open squares indicate males' systolic blood pressure;blackened circles indicate females' systolic blood pressure.

conducted on the Abbreviated-STAI scores obtained prior to and followingthe warning statement using the baseline as a covariate. Because somestudents failed to return their during jury and following jury ratings,these data were excluded from further analyses. The mixed factorsANCOVA on the STAI revealed a significant main effect for Sex [ (1,19) = 523, p = 056], while the main effect for Period F


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Sex Differences in Performance Anxiety

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FIG 2URY

Sex differences in confidence change from the laboratory to prior to thejury. Open squares indicate males confidence scores; blackened circlesindicate females confidence scores.

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Coefficients were conducted between residualised change scores calculatedon physiological arousal during post-warning and self-report measuresi.e. PRCP, STA3 and SRC; see Table II). The post-warning period wasutilised because it elicited higher physiological reactions than the pre-warningperiod. The PRCP was correlated with HR and negatively correlated with theSRC administered in the laboratory, indicating that individuals who reportedlow confidence experienced higher HR reactions during the post-warningperiod.Discussion

Congruent with expectations, student musicians anticipating their juriesexhibited significant physiological arousal and self-reported anxiety incomparison to levels observed during the baseline-laboratory period,suggesting that most of the musicians experienced some performance-relatedanticipatory anxiety. The pattern of anxiety however, differed regarding thesex of the subject with males exhibiting greater SBP responses and femalesreporting greater subjective anxiety.

Regarding the observed sex differences in physiological arousal, the findingthat males experienced higher levels of SBP immediately prior to the jurythan females was consistent with previous research indicating that males


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18 Jennifer L. Abel and Kevin T. Larkin_ . _ ._- - -_ ._ -_ . -

TABLE IICorrelations between physiological parameters measured at post-warning and

self-report measures._ ._

Self Report Measure

PRCPSRC (I)SRC (2)STAI (Post)

p < 05p


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Sex Differences n Performance Anxiety 8approximately two-thirds of our sample requested treatment for performanceanxiety, the sample may be considered small, somewhat select, and thus, maydiffer from the remainder of the music student population.

Increases in physiological arousal HR and SBP) following the warningstatement were not accompanied by increases in self-reported anxietyi.e. HR and SBP increased substantially and STAI scores remained aboutthe same). However, HR reactions and self-reported anxiety were shown tocovary directly, while no relationships emerged regarding blood pressure andself-reported anxiety. While findings of response de synchrony are notuncommon e.g. Karteroliotis and Gill, 1987; McLeod, Hoehn-Saric andStefan, 1986; Waal-Manning, Knight, Spears and Paulin, 1986) these areimportant observations because they suggest a possibility that individualsexperiencing significant physiological arousal may not be aware of it or maybe attributing it to a phenomenon other than anxiety e.g. excitement).Regardless, these findings point to the importance of a multimodal assessmentof performance anxiety and further research investigating the relationshipsamong cognitive, physiological and behavioural components of performanceanxiety.

Musicians reporting lower confidence during the laboratory sessionexhibited higher HR reactions in anticipation of the jury and reported moreanxiety. t was somewhat surprising that self-reported confidence obtainedprior to the jury was unrelated to HR response. However, these discrepantfindings may simply reflect whether subjects responded to the question as itpertained to their general level of confidence e.g. PRep). Therefore traitconfidence may be related to HR reactions during anticipation of a jury whilestate confidence may not. While it is unclear why confidence was related toHR and not blood pressure, it may be hypothesised that blood pressureincreases are relatively insidious compared to HR increases which peoplecommonly notice. Thus, individuals who experience exaggerated HR increasesmay be more likely to interpret it as a sign of anxiety and experience lessconfidence than individuals experiencing only small changes in HR. Furthermore, significant anxiety and/or HR arousal may interfere with performancequality affecting confidence prior to subsequent performances. Although thedirection of relationships that exist between HR and confidence cannot beextrapolated from the present results, our findings support continued investigation into these relationships.

Findings from the present investigation have implications relating to thedevelopment and implementation of treatments for performance anxiousmusicians. For example, musicians who reacted with exaggereated HR andblood pressure i.e. males), may benefit from relaxation exercises e.g. biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation) to lower their physiological responses.Those who responded with large increases in self-reported anxietyi.e. females) or low confidence may benefit more from cognitive interventions.

Given that increases in physiological arousal and self-reported anxietyobserved in the present study occurred prior to the performance, interventionsfor performance anxious musicians should target pre-performance or anticipatory anxiety e.g. the end of the preceding performer s selection) inaddition to anxiety experienced during the performance. Hopefully, the


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182 Jennifer L Abel and Kevin T Larkinpresent investigation will generate continued interest in developing andimplementing treatment strategies for musicians suffering from performanceanxiety.

Authors NotesWe gratefully acknowledge the contributions made by Robert Fisher,Virginia Goetsch, Christine Martin, Mark Glassmoyer and Kathryn Branigan.Requests for reprints should be addressed to Jennifer Abel, Departmentof Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.26505-6040, USA.

ReferencesAbel. J. L (1989). Stability o cardiovascular reactivity between laboratory and naturalistic sellingsamong musicians. Unpublished master s thesis. West Virginia University. Morgantown.Appel. S S. (1974). Modifying solo performance anxiety in adult pianists. Dissertation AbstractsInternational. 35, 3503A. (University Microfilms No. 74-26. 580).Craske. M. and Craig. K (1984). Musical performance anxiety: The three-systems model andself-efficacy theory. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 22, 267-280.Fishbein. M. and Middlestadt. S (1988). Medical problems among ICSOM musicians: Overview

of a national survey. Medical Problems o Performing Artists, 3, 1-8.Holroyd. K. A. and Gorkin. L (1983). Young adults at risk for hypertension: Effects of familyhistory and anger management in determining responses to interpersonal conflict. Journal o

Psychosomatic Research, 27(2). 131-138.Karteroliotis. C. and Gill. D. L (1987). Temporal changes in psychological and physiologicalcomponents of state anxiety. Journal o Sport Psychology, 9(3). 261-274.Kendrick. M. J Craig. K. D .. Lawson. D. M. and Davidson. P. O. (1982). Cognitive andbehavioural therapy for musical-performance anxiety. Journal o Consuiring and ClinicalPsychology, 50(3), 353-362.

Lang, P. (1971). The application of psychophysiological methods to the study of psychotherapyand behaviour modification. In A. Gergin and S Garfield (Eds.) Handbook o psvchotherapland behaviour change. Wiley: New York.

Landreth, J. and Landreth, H. (1974). Effect of music on physiological response. Journal oResearch in Music Education, 22, 4-11.McLeod, D. R., Hoehn-Saric. R. and Stefan. R. L (1986). Somatic symptoms of anxiety:

Comparison of self-report and physiological measures. Biological Psychiatry, 21(3). 301-310.O Neil, H. F., Jr., Spielberger, C. D. and Hansen, D. N. (1969). Anxiety and task difficulty incomputer-assisted learning. Journal o Educational Psychology, 60(5. Pt. 1), 343-350.Radocy, R. E. and Boyle, J. D. (1979). Psychological foundations o musical behaviour.Springfield III: Charles C. Thomas.Spielberger, C. D., Gorusch, R. L and Lushene, R E. (1970). The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(test manual). Palo Alto, California: Consulting Psychologist.Steptoe, A and Fidler, H. (1987). Stage fright in orchestral musicians: A study of cognitive andbehavioural strategies in performance anxiety. British Journal o Psychology, 78,241-249.Stoney, C. M., Davis, M. C. and Matthews, K. A (1987). Sex differences in physiologicalresponses to stress and in coronary heart disease: A causal link? Psychophysiology, 24,

127-131.Waal-Manning, H. J., Knight, R. G., Spears, G. F. and Paulin, J. M. (1986). The relationshipbetween blood pressure and personality in a large unselected adult sample. Journal oPsychosomatic Research, 30(3), 361-368.

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Abel - Anticipation of Performance Among Musicians