The Effect Of Guided Imagery And Preferred Music Listening Versus Guided Imagery And Silence On Musical Performance Anxiety PDF Download

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to prove that listening to music prior to a major musical performance could help reduce Musical Performance Anxiety. As a result of this study, musicians at any level, but especially collegiate, would have another coping strategy to help mitigate personal levels of nervousness and apprehension. The following research questions helped guide the process of this study: (1) Does listening to music prior to a jury performance reduce musical performance anxiety? (2) Do those individuals in the music condition perform better than expected on jury performances? (3) Does listening to music prior to an end of the quarter performance examination affect adjudicator's perceptions of performer anxiety levels? Other objectives and secondary research questions are as follows: (4) How do collegiate musicians rank in terms of levels of state and trait anxiety compared to the average person as reported by Charles Spielberger in the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory? (5) What did those participants in the music condition of this study choose to listen to prior to their performance? Students were given the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAID-B) to assess and compare general anxiety levels versus those documented immediately prior to end-of-the-quarter musical performances known as juries. Participants were divided into two groups: (1) Music condition where students listened to music prior to their juries and (2) Control condition where the students prepared for their jury like they normally would. It was found that students that listened to music prior to juries had a lower state anxiety than those that did not listen to music. Given that the hypothesis margin of error was p is less than or equal to 0.05 a statistical significant relationship was indeed found. It can be deduced that listening to music prior to a major musical performance such as a jury can reduce levels of musical performance anxiety.