Procedia

Social and
Behavioral
Procedia
Procedia - Social
- Social and Behavioral
and Behavioral Sciences
Sciences 00 (2011)
33 (2012) 448 –000–000
452 Sciences
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PSIWORLD 2011

Performance anxiety and musical level of undergraduate

students in exam situations: the role of gender and musical
instrument
Dorina Iuscaa*, Ion Dafinoiub
a
“George Enescu” University of Arts, 7-9 Horia Street, Iasi 700126, Romania
b
“Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, 11 Carol I Boulevard, Iasi 700506, Romania

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the impact of the performers’ gender and chosen musical instrument on the link
between performance anxiety and musical level of undergraduate instrumentalists in exam situations. A sample of
130 undergraduate music students was asked to complete The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory CSAI-2
immediately after performing for their final exams. Correlations were calculated between their reported anxiety
scores and the grades they obtained for the musical level showed in the exam situations. Results have shown that the
level of performance anxiety differs according to gender and musical instrument. These two variables also mediate its
relationship with the musical level.
©
© 2012 Publishedby
2011 Published byElsevier
Elsevier B.V.
Ltd. Selection
Selection and and/or peer-review
peer-review under responsibility
under responsibility of PSIWORLD2011
of PSIWORLD 2011
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Keywords: performance anxiety, musical level, gender, musical instrument;

1. Introduction

A growing number of researchers have recently concentrated their efforts on studying music
performance anxiety, as this complex psychological state has proved its profound repercussions for the
professional development of young musicians. These studies significantly related music performance
anxiety to gender (Ryan, 2004, 2005; Rae & McCambridge, 2004; Osborne & Kenny, 2008; Yondem,
2007; Wilson & Roland, 2002), neuroticism (Rae & McCambridge, 2004), need for approval and
dysfunctional attitudes (Yondem, 2007), trait anxiety (Osborne & Kenny, 2005; Kenny, Davis & Oates,

*
Dorina Iusca. Tel.: +40-0743270476.
E-mail address: dorinaiusca@yahoo.com.

1877-0428 © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of PSIWORLD2011
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.01.161
 Dorina Iusca and Ion
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2004; Ryan, 2005), factors concerning musical contexts such as solo vs. ensemble, instrumental vs. choral
(Ryan & Andrews, 2009), time dimension (pre-, during- and post-performance) factors (Papageorgi,
Hallam & Welch, 2007), social anxiety (Gorges, Alpers & Pauli, 2007) and different therapeutic
strategies (McGinnis & Milling, 2005; Kim, 2008; Orman, 2003, 2004).
Many empirical studies focused on identifying the prevalence of performance anxiety among
musicians of different categories (professional, semiprofessional, amateur performers). Still, there has
been little concern about analyzing the direct relationship between performance anxiety and the musical
level, according to gender and chosen musical instrument.
The research question refers to the correlations between anxiety and the musical level: are they similar
or different among male / female performers or among instrumental categories?

2. Method

A group of 130 undergraduate music students from a Romanian university of arts (56 males and 74
females) were asked to complete The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory CSAI-2 (R.H. Cox, M.P.
Martens & W.D. Russell, 2003) immediately after performing for their final exams. The original
measurement instrument was designed to capture the state anxiety of athletes in competitive situations.
But recently, a series of researches (Yoshie & Shigemasu, 2006; Yoshie et al, 2009) found its
effectiveness in measuring music performance state anxiety. The instrument includes 17 items distributed
in three subscales intended to illustrate the level of somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and self-
confidence. The Romanian version of CSAI-2 revealed reliability values between 0.79 and 0.83. Somatic
anxiety was illustrated through items such as: “I felt tense in my stomach”. Cognitive anxiety included
items like: “I was concerned about choking under pressure”. Self-confidence was measured through items
such as: “I was confident because I mentally pictured myself reaching my goal”.
The musical level was analyzed on three dimensions (the general level of performance, expression and
technique) which are commonly discussed in music literature.
The research sample (age mean = 23, SD = 0.15) included 35 string players (27 violinists, 2 violists, 2
cellists and 4 guitarists), 36 woodwind and brass players (5 flute players, 12 clarinet players, 5 oboe
players, 2 bassoon players, 2 trumpet players, 2 horn players and 8 saxophone players), 10 pianists and 49
vocalists. Correlations were calculated between their reported anxiety scores and the grades they obtained
for the musical level showed in the exam situations.

3. Results and discussion

The musical level (in general, expression and technique) correlated significantly only with cognitive
anxiety (r = -0.30, p = 0.0001; r = -0.23, p = 0.008; r = -0.29, p = 0.001), but not with somatic anxiety or
self-esteem. This finding may be explained by the frequently seen tendency of music students to overlook
or even to deny the cognitions that appear during performing and to converge their efforts on solving
more obvious problems such as somatic signs of anxiety.
Female performers exhibit higher anxiety levels (t (129) = 2.64, p = 0.009) than male performers. The
mean differences between genders are significant for cognitive anxiety (t = 2.45, p = 0.01) and somatic
anxiety (t = 3.07, p = 0.003), but not for self-esteem. This result confirms previous findings (Ryan, 2004;
Rae & McCambridge, 2004; Yondem, 2007) which showed that women tend to report higher
performance anxiety levels than men.
Table 1 presents the implications of gender in the relationship connecting performance anxiety and
musical level (that is defined by means of general level, expression and technique of music performance).
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These results show that the relationship between music performance level and performance anxiety is
very strong in the case of female performers and insignificant in the case of male performers. The
significant correlations involve all three anxiety factors (somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety and self-
esteem) and almost all music performance dimensions (the general level of music performance, the
musical expression and performance technique).

Table 1. Correlations between performance anxiety and musical level by gender

Instrumental Anxiety N Correlation between anxiety and Significance

group
MALES General level of anxiety
Somatic anxiety
Cognitive anxiety
Self-confidence
FEMALES General level of anxiety
Somatic anxiety
Cognitive anxiety
Self-confidence
musical level
General / Expression / Technique General / Expression / Technique
56 -0.24 / -0.22 / -0.24 0.07 / 0.09 / 0.06
56 -0.10 / -0.08 / -0.19 0.44 / 0.51 / 0.15
56 -0.22 / -0.21 / -0.21 0.10 / 0.10 / 0.10
56 -0.18 / -0.15 / -0.12 0.17 / 0.25 / 0.36
74 -0.34 / -0.33 / -0.25 0.003 / 0.003 / 0.02
74 -0.23 / -0.26 / -0.22 0.04 / 0.02 / 0.05
74 -0.38 / -0.33 / -0.26 0.001 / 0.004 / 0.02
74 -0.27 / -0.27 / -0.19 0.01 / 0.01 / 0.09

These findings revealed that, in the case of women (but not men), performance anxiety plays an
important part in reaching higher musical levels and in building an artistic career. This information draws
the attention of teachers, parents and school psychologists upon the additional risk that young girls are
exposed to, when choosing to develop themselves as music performers.
Table 2 illustrates the inference of musical instrument on the link between anxiety and music level. It
shows that the relationship between anxiety and musical level is clearly affected by the choice of
instrument. Only strings players and vocal performers exhibit significant correlations between those two
variables.
An additional statistical analysis revealed that these two performance categories reported significant
higher anxiety scores than pianists or woodwind / brass players. The results suggest that performance
anxiety is an important mediator for the musical level of string players and vocal performers. The
situation may be due to the higher responsibility that these musicians have on stage.
Also, in the case of vocal performers, technique didn’t correlate with performance anxiety maybe
because of their lack of experience in the musical area (vocal technique is one subtle dimension that
undergraduates don’t yet fully understand).

Table 2. Correlations between performance anxiety and musical level by instrumental group

Instrumental Anxiety N Correlation between anxiety and Significance

group musical level
General / Expression / Technique General / Expression / Technique
STRINGS General level of anxiety 35 -0.42 /-0.27 / -0.44 0.01 /0.11 / 0.008
Somatic anxiety 35 -0.35 / -0.21 / -0.38 0.03 / 0.20 / 0.02
Cognitive anxiety 35 -0.46 / -0.35 / -0.44 0.005 / 0.03 / 0.008
Self-confidence 35 -0,29 / -0.18 / -0.28 0.08 / 0.28 / 0.09
 Dorina Iusca and Ion Dafinoiu / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 33 (2012) 448 – 452 451
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WOODWIND / General level of anxiety
BRASS
Somatic anxiety
Cognitive anxiety
Self-confidence
PIANO General level of anxiety
Somatic anxiety
Cognitive anxiety
Self-confidence
VOCAL General level of anxiety
Somatic anxiety
Cognitive anxiety
Self-confidence
36 -0.006 / -0.03 / -0.006 0.97 / 0.83 / 0.97
36 -0.14 / -0.16 / 0.08 0.39 / 0.34 / 0.61
36 -0.07 / -0.03 -0.007 0.65 / 0.85 / 0.96
36 -0.002 / -0.005 / 0.03 0.99 / 0.97 / 0.84
10 -0.65 / -0.67 / -0.66 0.06 / 0.06 / 0.06
10 -0.41 / -0.41 / -0.51 0.22 / 0.23 / 0.12
10 -0.49 / -0.53 / -0.43 0.14 / 0.11 / 0.20
10 -0.34 / -0.32 / -0.36 0.32 / 0.36 / 0.30
49 -0.36 / -0.41 / -0.18 0.01 / 0.003 / 0.21
49 -0.28 / -0.35 / -0.18 0.04 / 0.01 / 0.19
49 -0.29 / -0.34 / -0.17 0.03 / 0.01 / 0.23
49 -0.40 / -0.39 / -0.13 0.004 / 0.005 / 0.36

Future directions for research may consider the investigation of factors that obstruct the relationship
between anxiety dimensions and the musical level in the case of pianists and woodwind / brass players.

4. Conclusions

Female performers showed higher anxiety scores than male performers. Also, the link between anxiety
and the musical level is higher in their case. There were differences among instrument categories
regarding anxiety. Moreover, the correlations between anxiety and the musical level were significant only
in the case of string players and vocal performers.
These findings should be linked to therapy strategies designed to reduce music performance anxiety. In
addition, music teachers may use differentiated teaching, considering that the connection between anxiety
and the musical level is not similar among genders or instrumental groups.

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