Meditating Through the Brass Instrument

Eglė Liutkauskaitė

This study examines the relationship between meditation and brass players' ability to cope with music-related mental challenges, as well as its effect on breathing. The results highlight that meditation could be beneficial for brass musicians, even though there were initial concerns that meditation might interfere with breathing during playing. The findings show that brass musicians might have additional tools for dealing with mental challenges without compromising their airflow and breath support. Future research could further explore brass-playing-specific meditations and tailor them to greater effectiveness. An experiment was conducted with two groups of conservatory brass players (experimental and control) to assess whether music-specific and general guided mindfulness meditations affect their ability to deal with music related mental challenges (MPA, negative self-perception and focus issues) and how they in particular affect participants’ breathing. The findings indicate that both types of meditation affect students’ abilities to deal with mental challenges in a positive way while mostly having either positive or no effect on their breathing and sound. The participants’ progress was assessed by using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Mindfulness for Musicians Questionnaire, weekly forms evaluating MPA, negative self-perception and focus in different settings such as daily practice sessions, main subject lessons and performances as well as interviews. Furthermore, the Self-Experimentation Log suggests that aside from aforementioned benefits, one of the most visible short-term effects is enhanced focus that has been observed during practice sessions right after meditating.

Interview Questions

Code: (B) = question is asked only before the intervention;

(A) = question is asked only after the intervention;

Section 1: Basic information:

1. (B) Have you ever had any experience with meditation prior to this study?

a. If yes, what kind of meditation have you practised, and for how long?

2. How do you currently feel about your general well-being as a musician?

a. Are you experiencing any stress, anxiety, or physical challenges to your musical practise or performance?

3. (B) Do you have any particular concerns or expectations about meditation and how it might influence your musical performance or daily life?

4. (A) Which meditation length were you choosing the most times?

5. (A) What changes have you noticed?

Section 2: Focus and Practice Habits

1. Can you describe your current focus levels during practice sessions?

a. Are you easily distracted, or do you find it easy to concentrate on your playing?

b. Do you experience procrastination during practice? If so, how do you usually get back on track?

c. Are there any specific triggers which encourage you to procrastinate? (for example, something is not going well)

d. (A) Have you noticed any changes regarding focus since the beginning of the intervention?

2. When you are practicing your brass instrument, what do you focus on the most?

3. Do you currently use any techniques to help you focus or improve your performance?

4. For how long are you capable to practice mindfully and with good focus?

5. How frequently are you capable of reaching the flow? How hard is it for you? What usually it takes for you to reach the flow?

a. (A) Have you noticed any differences regarding flow since the beginning of the intervention?

6. How frequently does it happen to you that you cease practicing prematurely?

Section 3: Challenges and Stress Management

1. Are you currently experiencing any challenges or obstacles in your practice or performance routine?

2. How do you generally respond to bad practice sessions or unsuccessful performances?

a. Do they affect your self-confidence or motivation?

b. (A) Have you noticed a difference in this since the beginning of the intervention?

3. Do you experience Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) before or during performances?

a. If yes, how does this anxiety affect your MPQ?

b. If yes, what are the symptoms?

c. If sometimes, what are the triggers?

d. What strategies, if any, do you currently use to manage performance-related anxiety? What symptoms does it usually mitigate?

e. (A) Have you noticed any changes regarding MPA since the beginning of the intervention?

4. Do you experience Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) before or during lessons?

a. If yes, how does this anxiety affect your MPQ?

b. If yes, what are the symptoms?

c. If sometimes, what are the triggers?

d. What strategies, if any, do you currently use to manage performance-related anxiety? What symptoms does it usually mitigate?

e. (A) Have you noticed any changes regarding MPA since the beginning of the intervention?

5. Are you focusing on how the audience is going to perceive you during performance?

6. Does it happen to you that after the performance you feel like it was a blur or happened very quickly and you are not capable of remembering the details? How frequently does it happen to you?

7. How frequently are you enjoying your performances?

Section 4: Self-Perception and Motivation

1. How would you describe your self-perception as a musician?

a. Are you generally confident in your abilities, or do you struggle with self-doubt?

b. (A) Have you noticed any changes regarding this aspect during intervention?

2. What motivates you to keep practicing and performing, even during challenging times?

Section 5: Physical Awareness and Technical Skills

1. Are you experiencing any difficulties with your airflow or breath support while playing your instrument?

a. (A) How did meditation affect your airflow and breath support?

2. Brass playing requires careful control of embouchure, breathing, and body alignment. How aware are you of these aspects during practice and performance?

a. (A) Have you noticed any changes in the aforementioned areas during the intervention?

3. How frequently when in lesson does your teacher ask you to feel if you are doing something right and how frequently do you actually feel it?

4. Do you experience any tensions while practicing? If yes, what kinds?

5. How aware about your posture are you while practicing and playing?

6. (A) Did practicing meditation affect your sound in any way?

Section 6: Instrumental lessons

1. Do you find it easy to stay focused during your lessons? If no, what distracts you the most?

a. (A) Have you noticed any changes regarding this aspect during intervention?

2. How do you usually react to the feedback from your teacher? How frequently do you find it to be leading to excessive self – criticism?

3. What is the thing that you are focusing on the most when you hear the feedback from your teacher during the lesson? Are you trying to feel the change or understand it?

4. How dependent is your self esteem on your teacher’s approval?

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Table of Contents:

Introduction

1.1. Literature Review: What is Meditation?

1.2. Literature Review: Meditation and Music

1.3. Literature Review: Brass Playing and Meditation

2.1. Experiment: Methodology

2.2. Experiment: Results

3. Self-Experimentation Log

4. Discussion and limitations