Prolonged performance-related neuroendocrine activation and perseverative cognition in low- and high-anxious university music students

Stress in the collective: Psychophysiological reactivity to an orchestra concert as a collective naturalistic, real-life stressor of psychosocial nature

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES

The investigation of collective stress experiences, including collective stressors and the psychophysiological reactivity of a collective to these stressors, has been widely neglected so far. Here, we examined public non-professional orchestra concerts as collective naturalistic, real-life stressors of psychosocial nature and the resulting psychophysiological reactivity in a collective of non-professional orchestra musicians.

METHODS

The members of two non-professional music orchestras (N = 54) were accompanied during a public concert (stress condition) and a rehearsal (control condition). We repeatedly assessed heart rate, salivary cortisol, and excitement levels before, during, and after the concert/rehearsal in addition to the anticipatory cognitive stress appraisal.

RESULTS

We observed greater physiological reactivity to the concert compared to the rehearsal (p's ≤.017), with higher increases in heart rate levels in anticipation of and in reaction to the concert and in cortisol levels in reaction to the concert compared to the rehearsal. Moreover, orchestra members reported greater psychological reactivity to the concert than to the rehearsal (p's ≤.024) in terms of higher cognitive stress appraisal in anticipation and increased excitement levels before and during the concert compared to the rehearsal.

DISCUSSION

Our findings indicate that orchestra concerts by non-professional musicians constitute collective naturalistic, real-life stressors of psychosocial nature, resulting in significant psychophysiological stress responses with reactivity kinetics differing between the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary axis, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and the psychological response. Potential implications and modulating factors need to be elucidated in future studies.

It's not a virus! Reconceptualizing and de-pathologizing music performance anxiety

Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) is one of the most widespread and debilitating challenges facing musicians, affecting significant numbers of performers in terms of both their personal and professional functioning. Although numerous interventions exist to target MPA, its prevalence remains unchanged since the first large-scale studies of the 1980s, indicating that available interventions are having limited impact. This review synthesizes and critiques existing literature in order to investigate possible reasons for the limited efficacy of current approaches to managing MPA. Key concepts discussed include conceptual and methodological challenges surrounding defining MPA, theoretical perspectives on MPA's etiology and manifestation, and the coping strategies and interventions used to manage MPA. MPA has predominantly been investigated pathologically and defined as a negative construct manifesting in unwanted symptoms. Based on this conceptualization, interventions largely seek to manage MPA through ameliorating symptoms. This review discusses possible reasons why this approach has broadly not proved successful, including the issue of relaxation being both unrealistic and counterproductive for peak performance, issues associated with intentionally changing one's state creating resistance thus exacerbating anxiety, and focusing on the presence of, rather than response to, symptoms. Despite 50 years of research, MPA remains an unsolved enigma and continues to adversely impact musicians both on and off the stage. Reconceptualizing MPA as a normal and adaptive response to the pressures of performance may offer a new perspective on it, in terms of its definition, assessment and management, with practical as well as theoretical implications.

Does workplace telepressure get under the skin? Protocol for an ambulatory assessment study on wellbeing and health-related physiological, experiential, and behavioral concomitants of workplace telepressure

BACKGROUND

The daily working life of many employees requires the use of modern information and communication technology (ICT) devices such as computers, tablets, and smartphones. The double-edged nature of digital work environments has been increasingly highlighted. Benefits such as increased flexibility come at a personal cost. One of the potential downsides is workplace telepressure, i.e., the experience of urge and preoccupation to quickly reply to work-related messages and demands using ICT. There is initial - mainly survey-based-evidence that workplace telepressure may have negative effects on a variety of wellbeing and health outcomes.

AIMS AND HYPOTHESES

Adopting the Effort-Recovery Model and the concept of allostatic load as theoretical frameworks, the present study aims to investigate the hypothesis that workplace telepressure is significantly associated with increased "wear and tear", in the form of more psychosomatic complaints, worse sleep quality (self-reported and actigraphy-based), worse mood, and biological alterations (lower cardiac vagal tone, lower anabolic balance defined as the ratio of salivary dehydroepiandrosterone to salivary cortisol, and higher salivary alpha-amylase). Additionally, the study aims to investigate the hypothesis that connection to work defined as work-related workload and work-related perseverative cognition plays a significant role in the mediation of these relationships.

METHODS

To test our hypotheses, we will conduct an ambulatory assessment study with a convenience sample of 120 healthy workers regularly using ICTs for job communication. For one week, participants will be asked to complete electronic diaries assessing their level of workplace telepressure, psychosomatic complaints, sleep quality, mood, work-related workload, and work-related perseverative cognition. They will also continuously wear the Bittium Faros 180L ECG monitor, the wrist-worn actigraph MotionWatch 8, and perform saliva sampling five times per day.

DISCUSSION

This study will be the most comprehensive ambulatory investigation of workplace telepressure and its psychophysiological concomitants to date and constitutes an important step towards understanding how high levels of workplace telepressure may lead in the long term to secondary alterations (e.g., hypertension, chronic inflammation) and disease (e.g., heart disease). The findings of this study are also anticipated to contribute to guiding the development and implementation of interventions, programs, and policies relevant to employees' digital wellbeing.

Repeated stage exposure reduces music performance anxiety

Background

High heart rate (HR) and restlessness are two important features of music performance anxiety (MPA). In a case report of a cellist suffering from this condition, we showed that HR and restlessness decreased after repeated live performances of the same musical excerpt, thereby positively modulating objective performance criteria and subjective components. Here, we largely replicate these results in a group of 18 string players reporting MPA.

Methods

Objective measurement devices included a miniaturized electrocardiogram monitor and three 3-axis accelerometer loggers. Subjective measures included the Multidimensional Mental Health Questionnaire (MDBF) and a customized visual analogue scale (VAS) questionnaire for MPA. Non-artistic performance errors were assessed by music experts using a composite score for technical playing errors (i.e., intonation errors, omission of notes, and bowing noise). Data were collected from each study participant during three brief public solo performances of the same musical excerpt, with each performance occurring before a new audience on the same day.

Results

From the 1st to the 3rd performance, HR, VAS, and playing error scores decreased significantly. MDBF (RU scale) showed a significant increase in calmness from the 1st to the 3rd performance on stage. HR and RU, VAS, and RU, as well as bow acceleration and overall duration of playing correlated significantly across participants and performances.

Discussion and conclusion

We conclude that repeated stage exposure significantly reduces HR as well as restlessness and playing errors linked to MPA. Public performances are still successful when HR is significantly higher than during rest periods. These results underscore the importance of stage training to become accustomed to realistic public self-exposure. Musicians - especially students - should consider this component of stage training as an integral part of their practice routine. Therefore, stage training can reduce MPA, promote better live performances and prevent stress-related mental disorders and physical injuries. These result from excessive self-exercise strategies common in musicians experiencing MPA. HR monitoring should be an integral part of evaluating the effectiveness of interventions for better MPA management and efficient performance training.

How audience and general music performance anxiety affect classical music students’ flow experience: A close look at its dimensions

Flow describes a state of intense experiential involvement in an activity that is defined in terms of nine dimensions. Despite increased interest in understanding the flow experience of musicians in recent years, knowledge of how characteristics of the musician and of the music performance context affect the flow experience at the dimension level is lacking. In this study, we aimed to investigate how musicians’ general music performance anxiety (MPA) level (i.e., the general tendency to experience anxiety during solo music performances) and the presence of an audience influence the nine flow dimensions. The participants were 121 university music students who performed solo a music piece once by themselves (private performance) and once in front of an audience (public performance). Their general MPA level was measured with an adapted version of the STAI and ranged from 27 (very low MPA) to 76 (very high MPA). The level of the nine flow dimensions was assessed with the Flow State Scale-2 after each performance. The levels of “concentration on task at hand,” “sense of control,” and “autotelic experience” decreased significantly with increasing general MPA level. The levels of “unambiguous feedback” and “loss of self-consciousness” decreased significantly with increasing general MPA level during the public performance only. The level of “sense of control” was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance across participants. The level of “unambiguous feedback” was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance for participants with a general MPA level higher than 47. The level of “loss of self-consciousness” was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance for participants with a general MPA level higher than 32. In contrast, the general MPA level and the audience did not significantly affect the levels of “challenge-skill balance,” “clear goals,” and “action-awareness merging.” These results show that the effects of general MPA level and audience vary greatly across flow state dimensions. We conclude that musicians’ flow state should be analyzed at the dimension level rather than as a global score. We discuss how our findings could inform the development and implementation of interventions.

Classical Music Students’ Pre-performance Anxiety, Catastrophizing, and Bodily Complaints Vary by Age, Gender, and Instrument and Predict Self-Rated Performance Quality

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a multifaceted phenomenon occurring on a continuum of severity. In this survey study, we investigated to what extent the affective (anxiety), cognitive (catastrophizing), and somatic (bodily complaints) components of MPA prior to solo performances vary as a function of age, gender, instrument group, musical experience, and practice as well as how these MPA components relate to self-rated change in performance quality from practice to public performance. The sample comprised 75 male and 111 female classical music university students, aged 15–45 years. Age was positively associated with anxious feelings and bodily complaints. Compared to male students, female students reported significantly more anxious feelings and catastrophizing. Singers reported less anxious feelings and catastrophizing than instrumentalists. Breathing-, mouth- and throat-related complaints were highest among singers and wind players; hand- and arm-related complaints were highest among string players and pianists. The indices of musical experience and practice had marginal effects. An average of four bodily complaints bothered the participants strongly to very strongly. Worsening in performance quality from practice to public performance was reported by almost half of the participants and was best predicted by anxious feelings and breathing-related complaints. We conclude that age, gender and instrument play a significant role in understanding the phenomenology of MPA. Musicians should be examined according to these characteristics rather than as one homogenous population. In particular, it might be valuable to develop assessment tools for MPA that incorporate items related to the bodily complaints that are most relevant to the different instrument groups. Breathing-related complaints could add an important dimension to the investigation of MPA and music performance. Finally, the high percentage of students reporting worsening of their performance quality from practice to public performance highlights the need of professional support to help music students be able to perform at their best and thrive as artists.

Hormone and enzyme reactivity before, during, and after a music performance: Cortisol, testosterone, and alpha-amylase

Performance anxiety is common in a wide range of settings. This study was designed to explore the hormonal correlates of a music performance recital – a setting commonly associated with extreme and often unsettling anxiety linked to the anticipation of performing. Thirty-nine college undergraduate participants (24 women and 15 men) were recruited from students enrolled in an undergraduate music performance course. Each gave a saliva sample on a neutral non-performance day and gave additional samples immediately before and 10 and 30-min after each of two solo music recitals. Samples were subsequently assayed for cortisol, alpha-amylase, and testosterone. For women, pre-performance salivary cortisol levels were significantly elevated relative to neutral-day baseline (presumably in anticipation of performing) and continued to rise in association with the performance phase of the recital. Pre-performance alpha-amylase was significantly higher than neutral-day baseline. Testosterone increased in connection with the performance phase of the recital, but not during the anticipation phase. For all three products, patterns for men were generally similar to those for women, though not as statistically robust, perhaps owing to the smaller sample size. Increases in cortisol and alpha-amylase, from neutral-day to immediately pre-performance on recital day, suggest an effect related to the psychological anticipation of the recital. Cortisol and testosterone (but not alpha-amylase) increased in association with the performance phase of the recital. Phase-related changes in these products appears to reflect a coordinated response to the stress of a music recital and perhaps, more generally, to social-evaluative threat.

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Salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, and testosterone increase in association with a music recital.

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Cortisol and alpha-amylase increase in anticipation of the performance phase.

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Cortisol and testosterone increase during the performance phase.

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Cortisol/Testosterone coupling increases testosterone reactivity in this setting.

"A Bed of Nails": Professional Musicians' Accounts of the Experience of Performance Anxiety From a Phenomenological Perspective

Most investigations of musical performance anxiety have employed quantitative methodologies. Whereas such methodologies can provide useful insights into the measurable aspects of the experience in a larger group of participants, the complexity, subtlety and individuality of the emotional experience and the importance of the individual’s interpretation of it are often overlooked. This study employed a phenomenological approach to investigate the lived, subjective experience of performance anxiety, as described in professional musicians’ narratives. Semi-structured interviews with four professional musicians (two males, two females) specializing in Western classical and jazz music genres were conducted and analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The analysis revealed the presence of four overarching themes: (1) Intensity of performance anxiety experience, (2) perceived effects, (3) development of coping strategies, and (4) achieving release from anxiety. Findings suggest that the lived experience of performance anxiety is multifaceted, characterized by a physical and a psychological dimension. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is a useful research tool that can facilitate our understanding of the subjective experience of performance anxiety (how it is felt and understood at an individual level) and can thus be useful in the development of tailor-made intervention programs for musicians.

Positive and Negative Post Performance-Related Thoughts Predict Daily Cortisol Output in University Music Students

Psychophysiological research on music performance has focused on musicians' short-term affective, cognitive, and physiological responses. Much less attention has been devoted to the investigation of musicians' psychophysiological activity beyond the performance situation. Musicians report having both positive and negative performance-related thoughts (e.g., "My concert was good" and "I made a lot of mistakes") for days following performances. The potential physiological implications of this post-performance cognitive processing are largely unknown. Salivary cortisol (sC) and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) are markers of the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathoadrenal medullary (SAM) system, respectively. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether self-reported positive and negative post performance-related thoughts predict the daily sC output and the daily sAA activity at the between- and within-person levels during a 2-day period following a solo music performance. Seventy-two university music students collected saliva samples six times per day and reported their positive and negative performance-related thoughts for 2 days after a solo performance. We tested between-person and within-person components of positive and negative post performance-related thoughts as predictors of the diurnal area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg) for sC and sAA while adjusting for relevant person-level and day-level variables. Negative post performance-related thoughts were positively associated with sC AUCg both at the between- and within-person levels, whereas positive post performance-related thoughts were negatively associated with sC AUCg at the between-person level. Post performance-related thoughts did not significantly predict sAA AUCg. These findings provide evidence for a relationship between affectively valenced cognitive processing of a recent music performance and the activity of the HPA axis. Although the directionality of this relationship remains to be established more conclusively, the study makes a significant contribution to the literature on the prolonged psychophysiological effects of music performance situations and more broadly of social-evaluative stressors. Integrating the topic of post-performance cognitive processing and its optimal management into performance training programs would likely have positive effects on music students.

Respiratory Variability, Sighing, Anxiety, and Breathing Symptoms in Low- and High-Anxious Music Students Before and After Performing

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a major problem for music students. It is largely unknown whether music students who experience high or low anxiety differ in their respiratory responses to performance situations and whether these co-vary with self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms. Affective processes influence dynamic respiratory regulation in ways that are reflected in measures of respiratory variability and sighing. This study had two goals. First, we determined how measures of respiratory variability, sighing, self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms vary as a function of the performance situation (practice vs. public performance), performance phase (pre-performance vs. post-performance), and the general MPA level of music students. Second, we analyzed to what extent self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms co-vary with the respiratory responses. The participants were 65 university music students. We assessed their anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms with Likert scales and recorded their respiration with the LifeShirt system during a practice performance and a public performance. For the 10-min periods before and after each performance, we computed number of sighs, coefficients of variation (CVs, a measure of total variability), autocorrelations at one breath lag (ARs(1), a measure of non-random variability) and means of minute ventilation (V’_E), tidal volume (V_T), inspiration time (T_I), and expiration time (T_E). CVs and sighing were greater whereas AR(1) of V’_E was lower in the public session than in the practice session. The effect of the performance situation on CVs and sighing was larger for high-MPA than for low-MPA participants. Higher MPA levels were associated with lower CVs. At the within-individual level, anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms were associated with deeper and slower breathing, greater CVs, lower AR(1) of V’_E, and more sighing. We conclude that respiratory variability and sighing are sensitive to the performance situation and to musicians’ general MPA level. Moreover, anxiety, tension, breathing symptoms, and respiratory responses co-vary significantly in the context of music performance situations. Respiratory monitoring can add an important dimension to the understanding of music performance situations and MPA and to the diagnostic and intervention outcome assessments of MPA.