Some teachers may question whether addressing Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA) in private lessons is an appropriate course of action. Certainly deferring to the expertise of a professional can be a beneficial and even necessary option for some students, however implementing basic coping strategies as a part of a teacher’s curriculum is an accepted, even encouraged, approach by many professionals across disciplines. Just as teaching good posture and technique to avoid or address minor physical injuries is an important and appropriate pedagogical topic for private music instructors, incorporating coping skills for stressful musical situations is mentally beneficial for students from the first lesson. Because the spectrum of cognitive and physical anxiety symptoms is broad, there are a variety of techniques intended to address anxiety in students and children; the strategies suggested in this paper reflect skills that are endorsed by professionals from many disciplines as effective and appropriate approaches for parents and educators to utilize with children who display symptoms of anxiety. Examples of these strategies endorsed by professionals for public use are included in books, websites, conferences, and journal articles.
The Minnesota State University Counseling Center devotes a section of their online resources to tips on overcoming test anxiety, listing, among others, progressive relaxation, deep breathing, and imagery as self-directed exercises students can implement to cope with test-induced anxiety. (see footnote 1) Child psychologist Tamar Chansky encourages parents to become familiar with the principles of how anxiety forms and dissipates and to introduce coping skills into daily life to address anxiety with their children. (see footnote 2) In music- and pedagogy-related fields, the topic of MPA has been featured at recent national music teacher conferences and in music pedagogy journals. (see footnote 3)
Even more specific to private music teachers, findings by Tim Patston and Margaret Osborne in their study and subsequent article “The Developmental Features of Music Performance Anxiety and Perfectionism in School Age Music Students,” suggest that private music teachers have a significant impact on both the development and alleviation of MPA in their students. The environment a teacher creates in lessons (positive or negative), the type of feedback they give their students from the very first lesson, and the types of coping strategies taught in lessons can enhance or diminish symptoms of anxiety in young students: “Preliminary research in this area (Patston & Waters, in press) indicates that teachers do have a significant role to play in facilitating anxiety and perfectionism in their students. Increasing the ratio of positive to negative comments in a lesson, affirming rather than criticising progress made, providing realistic goal setting, and providing students with moments of pleasure rather than punishment in a lesson should lead to less anxious and less perfectionistic students. Such an approach is preferable to the bias toward strong negative feedback in traditional music lessons (Patston, 2014).” (see footnote 4) Musician and psychologist Dianna Kenny categorizes coping strategies as “performance- based approaches” and in her book The Psychology of Music Performance Anxiety, she firmly places the incorporation of these techniques in the hands of music pedagogues, describing these performance- based approaches as meta-skills that can be applied by teachers to the learning of complex performance tasks. (see footnote 5)
These professionals, along with many others, support the idea that the teacher-student relationship is uniquely suited for the discussion and practice of prevention and coping strategies for children with MPA. As someone who regularly meets with students one-on-one often over a long period of time, the private music teacher has the opportunity to form individual relationships that foster trust and communication with students. Developmentally, this relationship is especially important for students in the primary stage, as will be discussed later in the series.
Many child psychologists suggest that one of the best places for teachers to start when a student expresses feelings of fear, failure, or anxiety is simply to listen. Students’ admissions of this sort can be accompanied by feelings of failure and shame since the student may think she is the only person who experiences these feelings. It can be reassuring to the student to realize that they are not alone. Teachers can share that famous musicians such as Arthur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Barbara Streisand, and John Lennon all suffered from performance anxiety but were still able to maintain successful careers. (see footnote 6) Sharing this information as well as personal experiences with their students allows teachers to help normalize these feelings in their students and shows students that these fears can be overcome. (see footnote 7)
Another helpful point of discussion for the teacher and student is the articulation of some of the symptoms that students might experience when or if they encounter MPA. Knowing typical symptoms of anxiety establishes a common language for the student and teacher and can be especially useful for teachers who may not have personally dealt with MPA or perhaps experienced it in different ways than their students. (see footnote 8) If these concepts have not been discussed prior to a student's first performance, the presence of some of these symptoms can surprise and distract a student, potentially affecting their performance.
Students and teachers both must consider that in order to be effective, the techniques used to address MPA must be regularly integrated into lessons and daily practice and that practicing mental and physical coping techniques over time, just like regular musical practice, will help the student become better at these skills. Incorporating them into their daily routine will help students diminish the interference of mental and physical distractions in performance. (see footnote 9) A performance, successful or not, is the result of many small decisions, both conscious and subconscious, made during practice; therefore, the key for students is to realize that they can learn to make good decisions and develop habits that will positively impact their performance. (see footnote 10)
One final note: the discussion of any type of anxiety by someone who is not a professional psychologist, psychiatrist, or therapist must be done with care. As mentioned, many dedicated professionals in these fields have developed invaluable resources for parents, teachers, coaches, and musicians who desire help in addressing anxiety and many of these resources, as cited, have shaped this paper. It is my intent as a performer and piano teacher to address common tools developed by professionals, adapting them for use in private lessons with young children. However, teachers, including myself, should only use these resources as aids and should never attempt to diagnose a student or to use the resources as a substitute for treating more extreme forms of anxiety. If anxiety symptoms persist or worsen, the student should consider seeking help from a professional therapist or psychiatrist.
Please refer to Part 1 for an introduction to the series of articles, Part 2 for more information on the definition of MPA, and Part 3 for a discussion of symptoms students may experience.
—Written by Jessica Koebbe, DMA, published August 2020.
1 “Test Anxiety,” Minnesota State University Counseling Center, https://www.mnsu.edu/counseling/students/tanxiety.html, accessed April 25, 2017.
2 Tamar Chansky, Freeing Your Child From Anxiety: Powerful, Practical Solutions to Overcome Your Child's Fears, Worries, and Phobias (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004), 3-4.
3 Sport Psychologist Don Greene was the keynote speaker at the 2009 Music Teachers National Association conference and articles such as “Mastering the Inner Game: Three “Mind Coaches” on Managing Performance Anxiety” by pianist Ali Snow continue to appear in leading piano pedagogy journals. Vanessa Cornett’s session notes from her lecture entitled “What Can Musicians Learn from Sport Psychologists?” at the 2017 MTNA conference are available through the MTNA website: https://members.mtna.org/Conference2017/Handouts/MusiciansLearnfromSportPsychologists.pdf
4 Tim Patston and Margaret S. Osborne, “The Developmental Features of Music Performance Anxiety and Perfectionism in School Age Music Students,” Performance Enhancement and Health, Vol 4, (2016), 47.
5 Dianna Kenny, The Psychology of Music Performance Anxiety, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 224.
6 Andreas C. Lehmann, John A. Sloboda, and Robert H. Woody, editors, Psychology for Musicians: Understanding and Acquiring the Skills (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 146.
7 Tamar Chansky, Freeing Your Child From Anxiety: Powerful, Practical Solutions to Overcome Your Child's Fears, Worries, and Phobias (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004), 150.
8 Adrian North and David Hargreaves, The Social and Applied Psychology of Music (New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 2008), 66.
9 Dorothy V. Harris and Bette L. Harris, The Athlete's Guide to Sports Psychology: Mental Skills for Physical People (New York: Leisure Press, 1984), 44.
10 Brian Lewis, “Artistry on a Timeline: Setting the Stage for Organized Practice and Successful Performance,” American Music Teacher 54, no. 2 (October 2004): 35-36.