Design and Evaluation of a Collective Preventive Program for Musical Performance Anxiety (ConfiDance).

Musical performance anxiety (MPA) is considered a subtype of social phobia and affects musicians who must face musical exposure in public, potentially severely affecting their emotional stability and significantly impairing the quality of their performance. This research has utilized previous scientific knowledge on the issue and a qualitative approach to musicians' needs through focus groups in order to design a collective preventive program for MPA that could be implemented within the training curriculum of professional musicians. To evaluate the adequacy of the preventive program 'ConfiDance', a pilot test was conducted with a sample of 17 professional musicians in training, all post-graduate students in classical music performance. For the pilot test, a quasi-experimental model with a repeated measures methodology (pre-post and one-year follow-up after application) was carried out. The results indicate a significant decrease in MPA after the program implementation, with a notable improvement in effect one year post-application, demonstrating an even greater positive impact over time. These data should be interpreted cautiously due to sample limitations but represent an opportunity for the future implementation of a program that can prevent and treat MPA in music education centers.

Autonomous or controlled interpreters? Model of Werktreue internalization for classical musicians.

Self-regulated learning-a cyclical process in which a learner sets a goal, monitors, and self-reflects on one's learning to set the next goal-is vital in instrumental learning. However, many conservatory students fail to initiate self-regulated learning; they take lessons passively, practice ineffectively, and fail to give satisfactory performance. These learning experiences could harm students' well-being, and physical and mental health problems are widespread among students. Nevertheless, factors contributing to self-regulated learning remain unknown. We hypothesized that musicians' autonomy in musical interpretation, which we refer to as interpretive autonomy, plays a pivotal role in self-regulated learning. Without developing interpretation, musicians fail to set personal goals, monitor, and self-evaluate their performances in terms of musicality. Although previous studies imply that interpretation plays a significant role in self-regulated learning, this has not been clearly demonstrated. Studies on interpretive autonomy are scarce due to a complicated discourse surrounding performers' freedom in interpretation. The ideology of Werktreue underpins the classical music field, and classical music performances are evaluated based on how faithfully a performer interpreted the composer's intention. Yet musicians hold various beliefs regarding the meaning of faithful interpretation, thus the degree of interpretive autonomy cannot be assessed unless its clear definition is provided. In addition, the mechanisms that promote or hinder interpretive autonomy in learning remain unexplained. To address these issues, we proposed a model of Werktreue internalization by applying self-determination theory. The model defines interpretive autonomy based on internalization types, identifies its effects on musicians' learning behavior and well-being, and reveals the mechanisms that promote or hinder interpretive autonomy in learning experiences. This model allows researchers and educators to assess the degree of interpretive autonomy, attribute impaired learning behavior and well-being to a lack of interpretive autonomy, and promote interpretive autonomy by supporting students' psychological needs in interpretation.

Objective Measures of Two Musical Interpretations of an Excerpt From Berlioz's "La mort d'Ophélie".

OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS: This study aimed to determine objective production differences relative to two emotional interpretations in performing an excerpt from a classical art song. The null hypothesis was proposed. METHODS: The first author recorded an excerpt from an art song. The excerpt was sung with two contrasting musical interpretations: an "empathetic legato" approach, and a "sarcastic" approach characterized by emphatic attacks. Microphone, airflow, and electroglottography signals were digitized. The vowels were analyzed in terms of intensity, long term average spectra, fundamental frequency (fo), airflow vibrato rate and extent, vowel onset slope, intensity comparison of harmonic frequencies, and glottal measures based on electroglottograph waveforms. Four consonant tokens were analyzed relative to airflow, voice onset time, and production duration. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: The emphatic performance had faster vowel onset, increased glottal adduction, increased intensity of harmonics in 2-3 kHz, increased intensity in the fourth and fifth formants, inferred subglottal pressure increase, increased airflow for /f/, and greater aspiration airflow for /p, t/. Vibrato extents for intensity, fo, and airflow were wider in the emphatic approach. Findings revealed larger EGGW25 and peak-to-peak amplitude values of the electroglottography waveform, suggesting greater vocal fold contact area and longer glottal closure for the emphatic approach. Long-term average spectrum analyses of the entire production displayed minor variation across all formant frequencies, suggesting an insignificant change in vocal tract shaping between the two approaches. This single-case objective study emphasizes the reality of physiological, aerodynamic, and acoustic production differences in the interpretive and pedagogical aspects of art song performance.