This article presents the process of adjusting into Spanish Kenny's Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (Kenny, Davis, & Oates, 2004). This questionnaire is based on Barlow's theory of performance anxiety and evaluates levels of anxiety whilst on stage. After doing two translations into Spanish, a peer review, and pilot study, the questionnaire was answered by 490 musicians training in six Spanish music conservatories. Results showed that the adapted version of the instrument, with some minor modifications, has good psychometric properties, also validated through a confirmatory factor analysis procedure. Thereof, and in accordance with to Barlow's theoretical framework, we saw emerge three related factors that made reference to specific cognitions of performance anxiety, such as helplessness as a factor of psychological vulnerability and early family influences. Performance anxiety is related to a psychological vulnerability profile and early relationship context. Finally, it is important to count with reliable instruments that allow contrasting theories in different cultural background, comparing the effects of problems or treatment outcomes.

Personal perceptions of self-efficacy are particularly relevant in the field of music performance, which is oriented toward the outward expressions of one's own ability through public performances. Within this context, a number of personal variables, including social support and performance anxiety, have been shown to be associated with musical success and are therefore relevant for research that seeks to understand the four sources of self-efficacy (mastery experiences, vicarious observation, verbal persuasion, physiological states) that are integral components of Bandura's (2002) Social Learning Theory. Previous research, as well as observed differences among musicians associated with educational level (preuniversity) and gender (male/female), underpins the context of this study, which presents evidence regarding the factors that are capable of mediating perceptions of self-efficacy for musical performance. Specifically, the main objectives of this study were to more clearly understand relations between social support, public performance, musical performance anxiety, and selfefficacy using structural equation modeling and to compare these results according to gender. A battery of questionnaires was submitted to 359 preuniversity Spanish music students. Results highlight the relevance of family support for self-efficacy in public performance: directly and mediated through musical performance anxiety. The role of teachers and peers appeared to be relevant only for boys and was mediated through performance anxiety. Public performances lead to a greater degree of musical self-efficacy, but only in girls. Further research shall be required in order to improve pedagogical methods and help teachers increasingly individualize their teaching.

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a phenomenon often encountered among professionals and students who make public appearances. This article presents the results of a study carried out on a sample of music students in superior music conservatories in Spain ( N = 434). Our goal was to analyze MPA on the basis of Barlow’s (2000) anxiety theory, supplementing it with further personality constructs such as dispositional optimism, general auto-efficacy, and sensitivity to reward and punishment. Our structural equation modeling (SEM) results reveal that several of those constructs exert their effect via the helplessness factor – the central construct in Barlow’s theory – and that they likewise exert a further series of direct effects on MPA. All in all, the variables taken into consideration account for 45.6% of variance in MPA in males and of 52.1% thereof in females. This study thus upholds Barlow’s theory of anxiety, while broadening it with further explanatory mechanisms.

Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) is one of the major emotional problems affecting music professionals and music students; it can only be addressed on a professional basis if a more profound knowledge of determining factors is acquired. This study examines one of these factors, scarcely investigated until now: the age at which an individual began music training. The relation of age of onset with MPA is examined here in two separate samples of music students/pupils in Spain: one of 437 advanced music students (mean age = 22.64 years) and another one consisting of 209 pupils enrolled in music schools (mean age = 12.09 years). The first sample was tested with the Spanish version of the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Index (KMPAI), and the second sample was tested with the Performance Anxiety Questionnaire (PAQ) elaborated by Cox and Kenardy (1993). These two independent samples, tested with different evaluation tools, yield results that indicate a significant relation between the age of musical training onset and the individual’s currently perceived level of MPA. Those students/pupils who started at the age of 7 or younger report lower levels of MPA. The article concludes with a discussion of these results’ potential implications on a theoretical and practical level.

Emotional intelligence (EI) and mindfulness are two constructs that have been separately studied, and the relation between them still remains unclear. Research in this area has not attempted to go further into how enhancing EI and mindfulness together can achieve better improvements in this ability to attend mindfully. To bridge this knowledge gap, our research goal was to study the relationship between EI and the mindfulness competence in our study sample and to assess the impact of implementing EI and a mindfulness competence developmental program (SEA) about participants’ mindfulness competence. The sample consisted of 156 students aged 11–14 years old from a Spanish public high school. One hundred and eight participants were randomly assigned to the experimental condition, and the remaining 48 were to the control condition. The instruments used to evaluate EI were the CDE-SEC, EQi-Youth Version and the General Empathy Scale. Mindfulness on the School Scope Scale was used to assess mindfulness competences. Social adaptation was evaluated by using the social abilities and adjustment questionnaire BAS3. All the instruments where answered by the participants and have been adapted to a sample of youths with such age specifications. The results showed that EI and mindfulness were related to many of the variables measured by the instruments. Showing a good mindfulness competence was particularly related to having a good general level of the EI trait, and to many of the assessed social and emotional variables. The data indicated a significant relation between the mindfulness competence and having better general empathy skills or being better socially adjusted to the school context. The data also indicated a significant effect on participants’ interior and kinesthetic mindfulness competence after implementing the SEA Program. These findings corroborate the relationship between EI and mindfulness, and the possibility of enhancing mindfulness by applying a direct intervention program in the classroom.