Flow in Music and Arts

Positive Psychology has turned its attention to the study of emotions in a scientific and rigorous way. Particularly, to how emotions influence people’s health, performance, or their overall life satisfaction. Within this trend, Flow theory has established a theoretical framework that helps to promote the Flow experience. Flow state, or optimal experience, is a mental state of high concentration and enjoyment that, due to its characteristics, has been considered desirable for the development of the performing activity of performing musicians. Musicians are a population prone to health problems, both psychological and physical, owing to different stressors of their training and professional activity. One of the most common problems is Musical Performance Anxiety. In this investigation, an electronic intervention program was carried out for the development of psychological self-regulation skills whose main objective was to trigger the Flow response in performing musicians and the coping mechanism for Musical Performance Anxiety. A quasi-experimental design was used with a control group in which pre- and post-measures of Flow State, Musical Performance Anxiety and, also, Social Skills were taken. Sixty-two performing musicians from different music colleges in Spain participated in the program. Results indicated that the intervention significantly improved Flow State (t = –2.41, p = 0.02, d = 0.36), and Sense of Control (t = –2.48, p = 0.02, d = 0.47), and decreased Music Performance Anxiety (t = 2.64, p = 0.01, d = 0.24), and self-consciousness (t = –3.66, p = 0.00, d = 0.70) of the participants in the EG but not CG. The changes in the EG after the program showed the inverse relationship between Flow and Anxiety. Two important theoretical factors of both variables (especially in situations of performance and public exposure), such as worry and the feeling of lack of control, could be involved. The results are under discussion and future lines of research are proposed.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Flow State Self-Regulation Skills and Coping With Musical Performance Anxiety: Design and Evaluation of an Electronically Implemented Psychological Program

Moral-Bofill

Llave²,

Pérez-Llantada³

et al. 2022

“…In gaining insights into this phenomenon, a growing body of empirical research has shed light on the behaviours, interactions, and coordination strategies of ensemble musicians ( Gugnowska et al, 2022 ; Khalil et al, 2022 ; Kohler et al, 2022 ; Delius and Müller, 2023 ). One mechanism which could aid collaborative musical contexts is the experience of shared flow, though this has been seldom explored ( Cochrane, 2017 ; Harmat et al, 2021 ; Tay et al, 2021 ). Shared flow refers to flow as a result of interpersonal action in a group situation ( Pels et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological synchrony and shared flow state in Javanese gamelan: positively associated while improvising, but not for traditional performance

Gibbs,

Czepiel,

Egermann

2023

The experience of shared flow refers to the optimal balance between challenge and ability for a given task, resulting from interpersonal action in a group situation. The performance of Javanese gamelan is an ideal setting to investigate shared flow, due to the requirement that all performers on varying instrumental parts work harmoniously, allowing for shared flow and its native equivalent, ngeli. To minimise the disruption of flow, while still measuring it continuously, one way to assess a person’s state is by measuring physiological responses of the sympathetic (i.e., fight-or-flight) system, namely heart rate and skin conductance. Flow has been related to physiological signatures, and shared actions in music-making have been related to synchronised physiology. However, to our knowledge, no study yet has directly investigated the links between shared physiology and shared flow. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the associations between flow states, physiological synchrony, and Javanese gamelan playing. Subsequently, we tested for differences between advanced and beginner groups playing traditional gamelan pieces and improvising. Firstly, a factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution of Awareness and Absorption for self-reported shared flow. Next, using inter-subject correlation to assess synchrony and circular shuffling to infer significance, we found a greater proportion of significance in traditional playing compared to improvised playing for the experienced group, and the opposite for the beginner group. Lastly, linear mixed models revealed largely positive associations between synchronised physiology and shared flow during improvised playing, and negative associations during traditional playing, regardless of experience levels. This study demonstrates methodological possibilities for the quantitative study of shared flow in music-making contexts, and potential differences in shared flow experience in improvised and traditional, or prescribed, playing.

“…But there has also been research in other fields, such as work (Csikszentmihalyi and Lefevre, 1989;Bryce and Haworth, 2002;Eisenberger et al, 2005;Peifer and Wolters, 2021), education (Carli et al, 1988;Bakker, 2005;Rathunde and Csikszentmihalyi, 2005), creativity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996;Csikszentmihalyi and Rich, 1998), leisure (Lefevre, 1988;Schallberger and Pfister, 2001), the arts (cf. Harmat et al, 2021), human-computer interaction (Triberti et al, 2021), high abilities (Moral-Bofill et al, 2020a), or physical/cognitive rehabilitation in patients with neurological diseases (cf. Ottiger et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of flow state in performing musicians: an analysis with the logistic regression method

Moral-Bofill,

López de la Llave,

Pérez-Llantada

2023

IntroductionFlow state has been deemed a desirable state for performing musicians given its negative correlations with musical performance anxiety, its relationship to optimal performance, and its possible effect on creativity. In the field of music, there are a few studies that have assessed intervention programmes to promote flow state in performing musicians with varying results in terms of their success. The flow condition-experience model proposes three components that would be the conditions for flow state to occur and six components that describe the experience of being in a flow state. In addition, within the vast academic literature on this experience, other factors that could influence its occurrence have been proposed. The main objective of this research was to detect which are the most suitable predictors from a set of independent variables collected to distinguish performing musicians with a high flow level.MethodsA binary logistic regression analysis was carried out with data from 163 musicians aged between 18 and 65. Independent variables were introduced in the analysis: skill-challenge balance, clear goals and clear feedback (condition-experience model); and also, gender, age, dedication, (musical) style, musical instrument and (performing) situation.ResultsThe results showed that the three conditions of the condition-experience model and the situation variable had positive associations with flow state. The model explained 78% of the variance of the dependent variable and obtained a 90.8% correct classification rate.DiscussionThese variables seem to contribute most to a high flow level, and the importance of keeping in mind the intrinsic reasons why performers dedicate themselves to music is emphasised. The results and their implications for the training of performing musicians are discussed. Future lines of research are proposed, as well as collecting data on personality-related variables to introduce them into the regression model.