Musical performance anxiety (MPA) is a deleterious phenomenon that affects musicians of all ages and performance abilities. There are a number of musicians who experience great joy and exhilaration when performing, but for other musicians, performing can elicit feelings of dread, terror, or fright. In many cases, MPA can be so severe that symptoms noticeably disrupt performances, or end careers. MPA is stimulated by performing or being in front of an audience, and results from anticipating a negative evaluation. MPA, in its most recent definition, is typically understood as resulting from a combination of three disparate, but interacting phenomena: psychological arousal, behavioral alterations, and fearful thoughts. Currently, …show more content…
CHAPTER 1
A SUMMARY OF BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION TREATMENTS FOR THOSE SUFFERING WITH MUSICAL PERFORMANCE ANXIETY
Behavioral treatments aimed at reducing the amount of anxiety produced from a performance environment have produced observable behavior changes in individuals with MPA—especially in the areas of anxiety reduction, and self-perception. Bandura, as cited by Kendrick et al. states that “behavioral intervention procedures change defensive behaviors by altering perceptions of self-efficacy.” Meichenbaum, also cited by Kendrick et al. states as a caveat to psychological treatment of anxiety disorders that therapies are only “effective to the extent that they alter covert self-instructions.” Behavioral modifications in those with MPA, according to authors, may be an effective method in which to do this. The importance of altering behavioral tendencies in those with MPA is imperative, according to authors, because there are a number of behavioral responses indicative of the disorder. Such behaviors include: worrying about the individual’s own performance, in addition to how well others are doing, ruminating over alternative responses to their current behaviors, becoming preoccupied with feelings of inadequacy, anticipation of
First of all, before I even begin, I want to say thank you to all the people that helped me learn more about myself. Anyway, I am a mostly a musical and spatial learner because I love music and it always calms me down. I can also easily remember the tune of the song after I hear it once or twice. I think that this can help me change the world because my dad has went almost everywhere in Asia and has done so many things for the continent with his band and church that he is in. I also want to achieve great things with him. As a global citizen, I think I can change the world with my music. I’ve already been playing in an orchestra (it’s in the Arvada Center), competed in a few festivals to with prizes, so I think I can also achieve all these great things that are still waiting for me. Being a musical learner has helped me made through all these things. I don’t want to give up.
The sixth and final disorder is known as performance anxiety. This disorder is most similar to stage fright. This is when someone is fearful of their performance in the bedroom. Performance anxiety is most often a result of the above disorders.
Research is shedding light on a number of treatments and therapies. One of the most promising is music therapy.
In an article compiled by Rapee and Veljaca (1998), an experiment was performed to determine whether socially anxious individuals were better at identifying positive or negative social cues. The results of this experiment concluded that those with the disorder were better at identifying negative cues either because they had a better ability to do so or because it was their end goal thus they placed more of their attention in trying to achieve it (Rapee & Veljaca, 1998). Furthermore, it is stated by Heimberg et al. (2014) that individuals with SAD will also allocate much of their attention into adjusting their mental representation of how they are perceived by an audience. Often, this mental representation becomes distorted due to their negative perception of how they are perceived and as such, enhances those social threats. By spreading their attention into trying to determine social threats and how they are being perceived by others, the individuals is potentially damaging their own performance/interaction with
Hedge fund manager, Kyle Bass, became famous after predicating and finically benefitting from the subprime mortgage crisis that hit America around 2008. Kyle Bass is a unique individual because he was able to use self-differentiated techniques during the time of the financial crisis that lead him to flourish, instead of regressing like most of his peers in the finical market. Friedman’s thesis is based on the chronic anxiety that is effecting modern America, and leading to “an emotional regression that is toxic to well-defined leadership” (Friedman, 2007, p 53). Chronic anxiety is self-reinforcing, meaning the greater the chronic anxiety in any community, the more prevalent the symptoms will become, and the chances of the chronic anxiety spreading throughout a community greatly increase. The symptoms of chronic anxiety include: reactivity, herding,
Music therapy is becoming a widely popular intervention tool used to help students develop more extensive communication skills. In order to narrow the understanding of effectiveness the parameters of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was added in conducting the research. Communication can be defined as intentional or deliberate actions that influence and impact a receptive partner. The research will focus on intentional communication, meaning that the communication piece must either be initiated by the student and/or an intentional response by the student to a stimulus. The studies must include a communication piece in which an intentional message was received. For example, communication might include: prolonged eye contact, gestures, use of alternative assistive technology, or traditional verbal language. Non-examples include: stimulating movements or
Research also shows that untreated children with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform
Dr. Argüello invited a licensed music therapist, Meredith Ramos, to tell us about music therapy and its benefits. According to Mrs. Ramos, the American Music Therapy association defines music therapy as the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a licensed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. The simplified version of music therapy is using music for nonmusical goals. This therapy involves and improves executive function skills like problem solving, decision making, comprehension, organization, and many other more skills. If music therapy is performed in a group, music therapy has the benefits of encouraging group cohesion and interpersonal support. Playing instruments in a
This developing link can be evidenced by the inclusion of music performance as a specific social anxiety sub-category of ‘Social Phobia’ diagnosis in the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). In this sub-category performance anxiety was deemed diagnosable if it ‘causes marked fear or distress’ (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Furthermore, the latest DSM-V has now included a ‘performance only’ specifier, if the fear is restricted to speaking or performing in public (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This replaces the previous, generalised specifier which was also known as the generalized subtype (Heimberg et al,
Performance Anxiety, also referred as a fear of public speaking is one of the most common phobias. People who fears and other interests that require them to take the “stage”, such as actors, athletes, etc. will experience stage freight as an impairment of their own particular activity.
In the past, people have used music therapy to treat patients who have health problems. Music Therapy can affect people’s emotions and bodies. So, “what does Music Therapy consist of?” If you want to learn how it works, you have to learn about the elements of music, such as rhythm and
For situations such as performances, people will over prepare sometimes for weeks ahead because they are so nervous about messing up or how people will look at them. In social situations such as even a simple conversation with someone, people can behave “awkwardly.” People will experience behaviors such as “excessive apologizing, constant asking for reassurance on whether they are ‘doing good’ or not, directing the attention away from them, biting their nails, or even leaving the entire situation. (Social Anxiety Disorder and Social Phobia)” Sometimes social anxiety can cause people to just try and avoid all social situations
How can different types of music affect people’s emotions? Music has many different ways to affect people. In some ways, it is good for the body both physically and mentally. In other ways, people think it is nice to listen to. More detailed, music has personalities, which can express what people feel. There are many observations involving different ways to express human emotions. Emotions are very interesting things, especially when they involve music. Music can have many personalities, affect people’s emotions, and be used as therapy.
Performance anxiety is a difficult thing to handle for many pupils and an important discussion that educators often deliver. The article determines a model of music performance anxiety (MPA) based on working memory and attentional processes. This model is an easy-to-understand (and easy-to-communicate) for students of all ages. It is then used to arrange methods for performance anxiety to lessen, describing how each method work. This article also provides practical exercises to help students understand and manage performance anxiety.
Agitation is defined as “a feeling of aggravation or restlessness brought on by provocation and a feeling of inner tension” ("Agitation: Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatments"). Transitory agitation is a normal emotion, experienced by individuals at least once in their lives. However, a persistence of these behaviors could indicate a more serious problem. Some of these problems include anxiety disorders, dementia, conditions that cause hormone imbalances, and mental illness such as bipolar and schizophrenia (Livingston, et al., 2014). It is a persistent, distressing and common issue associated with a breakdown in care. Psychotropic medications that are frequently prescribed for this behavior may be ineffective, or even harmful to the patient. The evidence to support non-pharmacologic interventions is ambiguous and overall lacking. For these reasons, researchers have been searching for alternative interventions to reduce the demand for chemical and physical restraints.