Introduction & Purpose

I am graduating with my Master's in Music Education from the University of Memphis soon (hallelujah!), and for my Master's project, I decided to research the effect of performance anxiety on beginning band student performance. Since part of the curriculum in beginning band is to have chair tests in class, and I have noticed over the years that students respond differently to anxiety when it comes to playing in front of the class, I wanted to see if I could find a correlation between self-perceived performance anxiety and achievement on beginning band tests and to see whether there might be a change in anxiety and its effect on performance over the course of the school year.

Participants & Design

Thirty-four beginners volunteered to participate in the study. One student opted out of the study during the process for a total of thirty-three finishing the study. There were two instruments used to collect data. The first was the Kenney Music Performance Anxiety Inventory, which is a Likert-scale, that I altered to be more fitting for a beginning band student. It presents statements that the student agrees or disagrees with to ascertain the level of anxiety the student has. A few examples of such statements are below.

• "No matter how much I prepare, I still worry that I will make mistakes."
• "I often have trouble going to sleep the night before a chair test."
• "I worry that my peers will judge me based on my performance."
• "I often feel I have nothing to look forward to."
• "My parents encourage me to try new things."
• "Sometimes I feel anxious for no particular reason."

The second instrument used to collect data was a beginning band chair test rubric that was given to me by a band director in my first year of teaching (and was probably given to him by a band director before him and so on...). It measures criteria such as posture/foot tapping, tone/pitch, rhythm/tempo, note accuracy, and articulation/stickings on a scale of excellent, good, average, marginal, and unsatisfactory. To determine whether anxiety level or performance level improved over time, I collected data at two points in the school year: week 10 and week 25. During both weeks, the students took the Kenney Inventory and their weekly chair test.

Results

The results of my data showed that there was no significant correlation between perceived level of anxiety and level of performance on chair tests. It also showed that there was no significant change in anxiety and its effect on students by the twenty-fifth week. From student to student, level of anxiety seemed to have a different effect on chair test results. For example, while the student with the highest level of anxiety also had the lowest test scores, the student with the second highest level of anxiety had the highest test scores. The same type of result occurred at the lower end of the anxiety level. Several students with low anxiety had high test scores and several of them had low test scores.

Discussion

Initially, I was frustrated with the results. I wanted there to be a strong correlation that pointed one way or the other. I was hoping to end my study and be able to give a definitive statement one way or the other about anxiety: that it hinders or helps performance on chair tests. It seems to make sense that if a student has low anxiety, they might have a better chance to perform well. However, I began thinking about anxiety's effect on my own performance. I tend to thrive when I am under intense levels of pressure and anxiety. For me, the anxiety is like a performance enhancer. I get hyper-focused and find that my brain works faster, more efficiently. For some, the anxiety is crippling. Their heart rate intensifies, they go into panic mode, and they shut down.

One of my goals in the beginning band classroom is to teach students how to become independent players and human beings. Every year, students ask me for tips on overcoming performance anxiety. I usually just say something to the effect of "just keep putting yourself in that performance situation: the anxiety never really goes away, but you get better at dealing with it the more you do it." I thought for so long that by having chair tests each week, students would be able to overcome their anxiety. This study has taught me that I need to reframe my paradigm of performance anxiety. I still think it is important to train students to become acclimated with performing in front of others, but now I have a better understanding of the effect of performance anxiety on beginners.