THE COMPARISON OF PERSONAL TRAITS OF THE PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR MUSICIANS

The existing research findings as to the differences in the personal structures of professional and amateur musicians are related mainly to the motivational aspects of the personality including social motives, selfexpression and self-achievement. The personality traits has less been studied. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the differences between the professional and amateur musicians in global personality traits as well as the impact on their psychological well-being and adaptivity. On a sample of a 122 participants split into two non-equivalent sub-groups of professional and amateur musicians in quasi-experimental fashion differences between the global personality traits and their impact on the individuals` adaptivity and well-being were assessed with Mann-whitney U-test. Dispositional traits were assessed with four psychodiagnostic methods including Five-Factor Inventory (MacCrae&Costa), the Scales of Psychological Well-Being, Multi- Factory Personal Questionnaire Adaptivity and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales. It has been found out that professional musicians differ from amateur in higher levels of neuroticism, anxiety, asthenic features and overall level of psychological well-being. It is worth while mentioning in particular that despite high level of neuroticism and anxiety the professional musicians enjoy an overall high level of psychological well-being which has signified the therapeutic and harmonizing role of musical activity on the human-being

Professional status matters: Differences in flow proneness between professional and amateur contemporary musicians

Achieving peak performance for musicians often requires getting into a state of flow. Experiencing this state depends on various genetic and environmental factors; however, the importance of one’s professional status in relation to flow remains unexplored. Therefore, we investigated the differences in flow proneness between professional and amateur musicians in a large sample (N = 664) of contemporary musicians. We found that professional musicians were significantly more flow prone in music than their amateur counterparts, and artists were significantly more flow prone than record producers. Further, professional musicians were more flow prone in their daily lives, suggesting a potential crossover effect of pursuing a flow-inducing activity to a professional level. Instrument, genre, and type of training did not influence flow proneness, and finally, trait anxiety was not significantly higher in professional musicians. Overall, this study highlights the positive consequences of pursuing music professionally and provides insight into the nuances of music professions that may influence flow proneness

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ВІДЧУТТЯ СТАНУ «ПОТОКУ» ТА ОСОБИСТІСНІ РИСИ МУЗИКАНТІВ-ПРОФЕСІОНАЛІВ І АМАТОРІВ

Background. Music and the state of flow have a special connection, because music causes instinctive motivation, which is the main feature of the sense of flow(Csikszentmihalyi).The objective of the present study is testing the hypothesis of probable differences in the personal traits of professional and amateur musicians, as well as possessing the positive experience of the state of "flow" by the professional musician due to the high level of performing perfection.The method of quasi-experiment for two non-equivalent groups of professional and amateur musicians was chosen in the empirical study that allowed testing the hypothesis of the study by identifying intergroup differences.The sample involved 182 people: a group of professional musicians (92 testees) and a group of amateur musicians (90 testees) (aged from 18 to 60). The studying of the sample was carried out by the Five-Factor Inventory (R. McCrae, P. Costa, 1992), "The Scale of Psychological Well-being" test (K. Riff, 2005), "the Hospital scale of anxiety and depression" questionnaire (A. Zigmond, R. Snaith, 1983) and "Short flow scale" (F. Rheinberg, R. Vollmeyer, 2003).Results. The group of professional musicians has statistically higher levels of such flow component as "fluency". The results of the research have similar means of the flow scales in all the subgroups of professional musicians. Such flow component as "absorption by activity" decreases with age in the group of amateur musicians.Conclusion. The results of the analysis of differences in the personal characteristics of professional musicians and amateur musicians confirm that professionals differ from the amateurs by higher levels of neuroticism, anxiety, but also by a higher level of psychological well-being and high means of flow state.В статье рассмотрены психологические особенности музыкантов-профессионалов и музыкантов-аматоров, а также особенности так называемого состояния «потока» музыкантами. Определяются специфические особенности музыкантов-профессионалов такие как: нейротизм, тревожность, психологическое благополучие, более высокий уровень состояние «потока» и таких его компонентов, как плавность и личностная важность деятельности. Музыканты-аматоры, по сравнению с профессионалами, обладают большей эмоциональной устойчивостью, но им также присущи более умеренные уровни психологического благополучия и состояния «потока».Дослідження присвячено виявленню у музикантів (професіоналів, аматорів) специфічного психічного стану – так званого стану «потоку» та уточненню притаманних музикантам особистісних рис. Встановлено, що у музикантів – професіоналів та аматорів особистісні характеристики статистично значущо відрізняються за ознаками притаманності професіоналам більш високого рівня психологічного благополуччя, нейротизму, тривожності, переживання стану «потоку» і таких його компонентів як «плавність» та «особистісна значущість». Вибір творчої професії пояснюється глибинною потребою у самореалізації творчої людини, притаманні їм тривожність, сум, можливість переживання стану «потоку». Музиканти-аматори ж відчувають стан «потоку» менш інтенсивно. Для аматорів музична діяльність у більшій ступені є засобом розваги, отримання задоволенн

Domain specific traits predict achievement in music and multipotentiality

Previous research shows that individuals choose careers based on the relative strengths of various traits. More debated however, is how specific combinations of traits predict individual differences in professional achievements. General intelligence is often proposed to be the best predictor of eminence, but some studies suggest that more specific traits can be relatively important when performance depends on specific skills and expertise. Here we identified a comprehensive set of variables relevant for music achievement (intelligence, auditory ability, absolute pitch, Big-five personality traits, psychosis proneness, music flow proneness, childhood environment and music practice), and tested how they predicted level of musicianship (non-musicians vs. amateur musicians vs. professional musicians) and number of achievements among professional musicians. We used web survey data from a total of 2150 individuals, and generalized additive models that can also reveal non-linear relationships. The results largely confirmed our three main hypotheses: (i) non-musicians, amateur musicians, and professional musicians are best differentiated by domain specific abilities, personality traits, and childhood factors; (ii) largely the same significant predictors are also associated with the number of creative achievements within professional musicians; (iii) individuals who reach a professional level in two domains (here science and music) possess the union of the relevant traits of both domains. In addition, many of the associations between predictors and achievement were non-linear. This study confirms that in music, and potentially in other occupational fields where performance relies on specific competences, domain relevant characteristics may be better predictors of engagement and creative achievement than broad traits

From Serious Leisure to Serious Work, or, When Folk Music Struck a Chord: Careers, Habermasian Rationality and Agency

This paper uses the English folk music scene to consider the career arc that can develop when leisure turns to work for folk musicians. In considering this move from amateur to professional, it draws together ideas of casual leisure, serious leisure and work, highlighting the agency exercised in their career, the centrality of a familial and musical habitus, and the structured network of the scene based around various actor roles. Whilst some seek out and others stumble across professional careers, each shifts from communicative to instrumental rationality creating tensions in a tightly knit Professional, Amateur, Public (P-A-P) network. In this paper, we see how folk musicians are involved in various leisure or professional actor roles but it is in the latter that individuals are seen to benefit from the hedonic elements of casual leisure and the learning of serious leisure whilst being paid as a professional

The role of leisure activities in the wellbeing of musicians

This thesis addresses two research questions: 1a) How much leisure time do music students at conservatoires and universities, and amateur and professional musicians, have? 1b) How do they choose to spend it? and 2) To what extent do music students at conservatoires and universities, and professional musicians, find music making in their leisure time beneficial for their health and wellbeing? A review of literature pertaining to three areas was carried out. Research in the field of leisure studies demonstrates that leisure time is important and engaging in leisure activities can facilitate health and wellbeing. Research on everyday uses of music shows that music making can also have a wide range of benefits for people’s health and wellbeing when part of an intervention, or when it is engaged in as a leisure pursuit, at an amateur level. Nevertheless, research on musicians demonstrates that music making at a professional level can pose many challenges to music students and professional musicians’ physical health and psychological wellbeing. No research has yet combined these three areas to investigate music students’ and professional musicians’ experiences of leisure and wellbeing. Pilot interviews were designed and carried out with a convenience sample of seven conservatoire students and professional musicians to investigate if the topic of musicians’ leisure time was worth pursuing, to obtain some preliminary findings to inform the design of a survey. This was designed and distributed to a total of 637 university and conservatoire students, and amateur and professional musicians, to measure their wellbeing, satisfaction with life and work orientation, and to investigate how much leisure time they had, how they spent it and the extent to which their leisure activities contributed to their wellbeing. Finally, follow-up interviews were conducted with a sub-set of 16 survey respondents to investigate the second research question further. The results indicate that musicians have leisure time or make time for leisure activities because they consider leisure important for their wellbeing. Musicians engage in both musical and non-musical leisure activities and find them beneficial to a large extent. Musical leisure activities are either different from, or contribute to, their studies or their work. They also remind them of their love for music making when they are disillusioned by their work. Musicians engage in non-musical leisure activities to escape from music. In their role as musicians they undertake a range of musical activities and consider some of them as leisure even though they might be paid for doing them. It can be difficult for musicians to distinguish between work and leisure because of the enjoyment they obtained from making music when it was merely a hobby, and the passion they feel towards it. In the conclusion to the thesis it is recommended that musicians should spend more time on leisure activities and use their leisure time to engage in activities that improve their general wellbeing. The thesis ends by outlining the implications of this research and making suggestions for future research

Personality traits in musicians with different types of music performance anxiety

IntroductionThis study investigated the relationship between personality traits and MPA in the course of a specific performance.MethodsFor this purpose, symptoms of MPA, functional coping with MPA and performance-related self-efficacy of a sample of 393 musicians including 23% professional, 49% non-professional orchestra musicians and 28% singers in amateur choirs were categorized and then used to analyze differences in the personality traits. The questionnaires used were the NEO-FFI and the PQM.ResultsThe results showed that professional orchestra musicians had significantly higher openness and conscientiousness than non-professional orchestra musicians and amateur choir singers. Musicians who had few symptoms of MPA, positive coping with MPA and high self-efficacy across a specific performance (Type 1) have low neuroticism in their personality traits. Regarding MPA, the personality traits were correlated with all MPA scales after the performance but less with MPA scales before and during the performance.DiscussionResults could indicate that personality traits play a particularly important role in the processing of performance experiences after the performance and suggest focusing on the situation after the performance in particular with professional orchestra musicians

The Life of a Provincial Musician in Late Nineteenth-Century New Zealand: A Case Study of Joseph Higham in Hawera

There has been little research into musical endeavour in small rural New Zealand townships during the late nineteenth century. This article explores the life of Joseph Higham, one of the first professional musicians to settle long term in Hawera. It surveys his wide-ranging musical activities in and around Hawera, including his relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. The work, influence and outcomes of provincial musicians are compared to musicians working in the larger cities; while the reduced scale of amateur activities resulting from a smaller and more widespread population is notable, the general quality and professionalism of teaching is similar

Soft lips on cold metal: female brass soloists of the 19th and early 20th centuries

During the later 1800s and early 1900s there were increasing numbers of women musicians taking part in the musical life of the western world. Whether as instrumental soloists; members of family groups; amateur or professional bands and orchestras; string, brass and mixed ensembles; and vaudeville performers; these female musicians earned their place in history – one which has largely been overlooked in favour of their male counterparts. This paper documents nearly 300 of these solo brass performers, giving an insight into their lives and performances

Fractionating auditory priors : A neural dissociation between active and passive experience of musical sounds

Learning, attention and action play a crucial role in determining how stimulus predictions are formed, stored, and updated. Years-long experience with the specific repertoires of sounds of one or more musical styles is what characterizes professional musicians. Here we contrasted active experience with sounds, namely long-lasting motor practice, theoretical study and engaged listening to the acoustic features characterizing a musical style of choice in professional musicians with mainly passive experience of sounds in laypersons. We hypothesized that long-term active experience of sounds would influence the neural predictions of the stylistic features in professional musicians in a distinct way from the mainly passive experience of sounds in laypersons. Participants with different musical backgrounds were recruited: professional jazz and classical musicians, amateur musicians and non-musicians. They were presented with a musical multi-feature paradigm eliciting mismatch negativity (MMN), a prediction error signal to changes in six sound features for only 12 minutes of electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings. We observed a generally larger MMN amplitudes-indicative of stronger automatic neural signals to violated priors-in jazz musicians (but not in classical musicians) as compared to non-musicians and amateurs. The specific MMN enhancements were found for spectral features (timbre, pitch, slide) and sound intensity. In participants who were not musicians, the higher preference for jazz music was associated with reduced MMN to pitch slide (a feature common in jazz music style). Our results suggest that long-lasting, active experience of a musical style is associated with accurate neural priors for the sound features of the preferred style, in contrast to passive listening.Peer reviewe