Ioulia Papageorgi

Perceived Performance Anxiety in Advanced Musicians Specializing in Different Musical Genres.

Most research on musical performance anxiety has focused on musicians coming from a classical background, and performance anxiety experiences of musicians outside the western classical genre remain under-researched. The aim of this study was to investigate perceived performance anxiety experiences in undergraduate and professional musicians and to explore whether musical genre specialization (Western classical, jazz, popular, Scottish traditional) affected musicians’ performance anxiety experiences. The study addressed questions exploring the perceived intensity of performance anxiety, the perceived contributing factors, changes in perceived anxiety levels as performances approached (one hour before, immediately before and during performance) and the perceived impact of performance on the quality of performance. Participants were 244 musicians, 170 undergraduates and 74 portfolio career musicians. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey. Findings suggested that performance anxiety was of concern for a significant majority of undergraduate and professional musicians. Musicians from all participating musical genres shared similar perceptions and concerns. Anxiety appeared to have negative connotations, although it was also reported as beneficial. Solo performance generated more anxiety compared to group performance. Overall, the impact of anxiety on performance was related to its perceived severity during performance, and was mediated by musicians’ performance experience and their general susceptibility to anxiety. The musical genre in which participants specialized affected their perceived anxiety levels. Western classical musicians were generally found to report higher levels of performance anxiety. This study has provided indications that musicians specializing in different musical genres may experience performance anxiety in quantitatively and qualitatively different ways. Further research would benefit from investigating factors contributing to these variations.

Sex, Gender and Singing Development: Making a Positive Difference to Boys’ Singing Through a National Programme in England

The chapter reports evidence to suggest that children’s singing is characterised by both sex and gender differences. Sex differences are evidenced in the relative size of the vocal anatomy and physiology, with boys tending to have slightly larger vocal instruments compared to girls throughout childhood. Gender differences are evidenced in the ways that such sex differences are reflected in the socio-cultural shaping of children’s developing vocal behaviours over time. Girls tend to be relatively more accomplished in their singing than boys at an earlier age in Western cultures, but there are also diverse cultural examples (such as in the UK, Afghanistan and South Africa) where there are strong traditions of accomplished boys’ singing. For both sexes, highly skilled singing is more likely to be evidenced where selected children participate in an extensive programme of singing development, such as offered by the Cathedral choirs in the UK since the first millennium. Within the chapter, gender similarities and differences are illustrated by data from three longitudinal studies, one in Italy and two in England, including an ongoing evaluation of the English National Singing Programme Sing Up. In the latter study, data analyses based on the sung products of approximately 10,000 individual children indicate that those with successful experience of the programme – both girls and boys – tend to be significantly more developed in their singing competency than those outside the programme. However, gender differences persist in both groups in favour of girls, although these are mediated by age and experience. When questioned about their attitudes to singing, clear gender differences also emerged, with girls tending to be more positive than boys, although again with age as a mediating factor, with younger children of both sexes generally more positive than older children. Nevertheless, the potential benefit of appropriate educational experience in addressing these general trends is evidenced by examples of individual schools where boys are at least as successful as their female peers, and demonstrate equally positive attitudes to singing.