Musical performance anxiety (MPA) is a complex and well-documented phenomenon. It has been broadly studied from both physiological and psychological perspectives. Regardless, it remains challenging to come up with a concrete definition (Kenny, 2011b, p. 85).
Dianna Kenny summarizes MPA as:
"An experience of marked and persistent anxious apprehension related to musical performance that has arisen through specific anxiety conditioning experiences and which is manifested through combinations of affective, cognitive, somatic, and behavioural symptoms." (Kenny, 2011b, p. 433)
MPA can affect musicians of any age, regardless of their skill level. As Kenny remarks, it "is no respecter of musical genre, age, gender, years of experience, or level of technical mastery of one’s art." (Kenny, 2011b, p. 12).
Unlike other anxiety disorders, MPA lacks a standardised method for measurement or assessment. Kenny (2011a, pp. 85-86) states:
"Many of the available population studies of musicians have used instruments especially designed for a particular study. Few of these instruments have been published or validated, and it is rare for scoring criteria or cut-off scores to have been developed. In such circumstances, we cannot be confident that each questionnaire is identifying the musicians with the same level of performance anxiety nor whether the proportions identified would be the same if another instrument had been used."
Kenny’s concerns lead her to come up with her own self-report questionnaire to measure MPA. It is called the Kenny Musical Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI) and it is now the most widely used method of assessment of MPA.
It measures various psychological characteristics of musicians by asking them to rate, on a scale from 0 to 6, how much they agree with the given statement.
The first five questions of the questionnaire (Kenny, 2016) are as follows:
- K_1 I generally feel in control of my life
- K_2 I find it easy to trust others
- K_3 Sometimes I feel depressed without knowing why
- K_4 I often find it difficult to work up the energy to do things
- K_5 Excessive worrying is a characteristic of my family
The origins of MPA vary from individual to individual. Since MPA manifests itself in many different ways, Steptoe (2001) defines its symptoms into several components, all of which are addressed in Kenny’s questionnaire:
- Emotional: Feelings of anxiety, dread, or panic.
- Cognitive: Loss of concentration, memory failure.
- Behavioural: Failures of technique, trembling.
- Physiological: Sweatiness, salivation, elevated heart rate.
- Hormonal: Excessive release of epinephrine and cortisol.
It is particularly among teenage musicians that these factors seem to hold the most weight, as they navigate puberty, transition into adulthood, and are trying to define themselves both as individuals and artists. Fehm and Schmidt (2005) conducted a study on gifted musicians aged 15 to 19 and found that 32.5% reported that performance anxiety negatively impacted their performance, whereas 9.5% stated that MPA had a detrimental effect on their overall musical career.
Professor Margulis (2018) highlights that while MPA occurs across all music performance genres, it is most frequent in classical musicians. She emphasizes the importance of early prevention, especially in adolescent musicians, advising that students should perform regularly in a safe environment during their teenage years. This will build a foundation of comfort and familiarity with the audience, as well as a positive relationship with their musical self.
One of the possible strategies to help overcome MPA is the use of journaling, where performers document their state of mind, emotions, and thought patterns, aiming to gain a better understanding of their anxiety on stage.
Self-expressive writing has been used in psychotherapy for decades as a tool for self-discovery. Pennebaker (1985) theorizes that continuously ignoring past trauma requires active effort, leading to an accumulation of stress and potential obsessive thinking patterns. Writing about past experiences can mitigate long-term stress, reduce inhibition, and prevent thought rumination.
Expressive writing also supports career development:
"Expressive writing reduces stress symptoms and offers preventive protection by building up personal resources. Expressive writing is therefore indicated as a psychological tool for occupational health management." (Sutter, Lukenda, and Sulzenbruck 2024, 131). This can definitly be particularly beneficial for a musician who’s career is negatively affected by MPA.
Kay A. Wilhelm (2014) further explains its benefits: Usually, expressive writing results in a temporary rise in stress or negative mood, due to the emotional confrontation that it provides. Participants in Expressive Writing also rank their work as far more personal, meaningful, and emotionally charged. At longer-term follow-up, numerous studies have kept finding evidence of health advantages in terms of objectively measured outcomes, self-reported physical health outcomes, and self-reported emotional health outcomes.
This suggests that although reflective writing can be a psychologically taxing activity that could cause short term distress, it will ultimately lead to long term improvements in mental health that could help to alleviate the symptoms of MPA.
Tang and Ryan (2020) conducted a study to examine the effectiveness of a ten-minute journaling practice on developing performance skills in college-level piano students. They concluded that "college-level piano students (both solo players and sight readers) who received an expressive writing intervention demonstrated significant overall performance improvement. In post-expressive writing intervention performances, marked reduction in performance errors occurred in the experimental condition for 15 of the 23 participants. Results showed a 50% reduction in performance anxiety for both performing tasks (performing a solo piece and performing a sight-reading test) compared to the baseline performance. The control group experienced no major changes between the two performances."
These results suggest that integrating expressive writing with regular performance exposure may help musicians develop resilience, reduce performance anxiety, and enhance artistic expression.
Judith Brown (2009) reiterates:
"The use of reflective writing within this curriculum model highlights the importance of reflective practice for all performing artists and provides a vehicle whereby they can articulate the thinking skills that go beyond the mere knowledge-based and practice-based curriculum, and thus articulate the skills that will enable them to become lifelong learners in the performing arts."
One of the greatest advantages of journaling is its versatility. It serves as a tool for mental mapping, self-discovery, and research participation. Cathy Aggett (2010) describes her own experience:
"While performers may not have the energy, time, or inclination to apply the reading of research into practical music-making, if they were inspired to become a part of the research process, they may find, as I had, that their efforts to record, journal, write about, and discuss their performance process is actually a valid approach to research. I have found that undertaking practice-led research is not always taken seriously in some academic circles, and this perhaps is why few singers themselves write of their performance process. Yet journaling has benefits for the singer and the performance community."
MPA remains one of the biggest challenges musicians go through every single day, but strategies like journaling or expressive writing have proven to help not only mitigate symptoms, but also provide opportunity for musicians to transform theirselves, their relationship with music and with the stage.