Through close evaluation of three empirical studies, demonstrate what music psychology can

reveal about Music Performance Anxiey.

Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) has been a prevailing trait in musicians of all ages and levels when
they take to the stage. There are varying reasons for why MPA appears in performers and is not
solely due to underpinned trait anxiety within the nature of the performer. It manifests itself in
different bodily aspects and is not easily defined or treated but can have distressing effects on the
performer. This essay will seek to uncover what music psychology can reveal about this musical
behaviour.
In Thomas and Nettelbeck’s (2013) study of Performance anxiety in adolescent musicians,
they investigated whether anxious dispositions underpin correlations between a higher MPA,
neuroticism, introversion and poorer coping strategies. Their study involved a survey for 90
secondary school students studying Music, to test whether trait anxiety correlates highly with MPA
and whether it can be predicted by gender differences. Previously, Ryan (2005) has argued that
gender differences regarding MPA do not appear amongst younger samples until 9-10 years of age
(cited in Thomas and Nettelbeck, 2013, p. 625) but after this stage, females tend to report higher
cases of MPA. Thomas and Nettelbeck’s study supported this result as that female scores for the
Music Performance Anxiety Inventory for Adolescents (MPAI-A) differed from the males by three-
fifths of the standard deviation. The cause for this is thought to be due to a generic female trait to
display greater fear of being on display, causing a higher score for MPA. This study had successful
findings within their results, finding that MPA is negatively correlated with extraversion, due to
natural confidence being fundamental in a successful performance. Further to this neuroticism and
trait anxiety were positively correlated,…. However, the students were require to answer scaled
questions so were aware of the test that they were undergoing, so in this sense there was low
ecological validity. On the other hand, there are difficulties in assessing MPA, due to the complex
and varied nature of which the symptoms occur (Lehmann, Slaboda and Woody, 2007). Important
factors such a understanding whether the age at which the adolescent started the instrument
affected the score of MPA was not measured, but has been investigated by Osborne and Kenny
(2008) finding that early exposure to competitive environments may be linked to higher MPA.