Testing the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation in Reducing Music Performance Anxiety as Measured by Cortisol and Self-Report

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a debilitating phenomenon for many musicians. This study investigates if a single meditation can help reduce music performance anxiety (as measured by cortisol reactivity and self-reported state and trait MPA) in musicians prior to a public performance compared to those listening to a control monologue. The meditation group was not significantly different from the control group on cortisol reactivity or state MPA. However, cortisol reactivity and trait MPA moderated the relationship between meditation and state MPA in this sample. The implications of a potential moderating effect of trait MPA and cortisol reactivity are discussed

Testing the effects of mindfulness meditation in reducing music performance anxiety as measured by cortisol and self-report

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a debilitating and career-threatening phenomenon that occurs for many musicians in a public performance setting. As a hormonal measure of stress, cortisol has been shown to increase in musicians who are about to perform in front of an audience. It is important to study ways to keep stress within an optimal range before public performance to help musicians keep their cognitions, behaviors, and autonomic arousal at levels that help rather than hinder their performance. Mindfulness in the form of a brief guided meditation and as yoga has been shown to reduce self-reported anxiety in musicians. This study investigates if a single guided meditation can help reduce music performance anxiety (as measured by cortisol reactivity and self-reported state and trait MPA) in musicians prior to a public performance compared to those listening to a control monologue. The meditation group was not significantly different from the control group on cortisol reactivity or state MPA. However, cortisol reactivity and trait MPA moderated the relationship between meditation and state MPA in this sample. The implications of a potential moderating effect of trait MPA and cortisol reactivity are discussed

Sensitivity to Natural Pairing of Musical Pitch and Timbre

Two of the primary perceptual properties of music are its pitch and timbre (sound quality). While musical instruments vary widely in their pitches and timbres, there is a tendency to hear higher pitches with “brighter” timbres and lower pitches with” darker” timbres. Here, listeners labeled musical pitches as high or low when played by one of four instruments. In the canonical blocks, instruments with “brighter” timbres (trumpet, oboe) played the higher pitch, and instruments with “darker” timbres (trombone, tuba) played a lower pitch. In the reversed block, these pairings were switched. Performance was excellent in the canonical blocks, but accuracy was worse in the reversed block. Accuracy performance was significantly correlated with a measure of musical training. This pattern of results parallels that seen in speech, suggesting a general perceptual sensitivity to natural pairings between sound characteristics