“It’s your body, it’s part of who you are!”: Influences upon collegiate vocalists’ performance self-efficacy beliefs

Abstract

Fostering accurate musical self-perceptions may be particularly challenging when developing singing technique, where self-assessment is complicated by the close physiological and emotional relationship between the performer and the body-instrument. The aim of the present study was to investigate how vocal students’ beliefs in their performance capabilities were influenced by the four sources of self-efficacy and other personal/contextual factors. Nine vocalists at a private university in the western United States completed the Vocal Performance Self-Efficacy Survey, participated in two follow-up interviews, and provided written reflections about experiences that fostered or hindered their performance belief. Participants reported that they moved from a reliance on external assessments of capability to self-appraisal as they (a) refined technique through practice and performance, (b) observed coping and master models, (c) managed feedback from others, (d) attuned to physiological and emotional sensations, and (e) exercised cognitive self-regulation. Eight of nine interview participants reported that physiological and affective states most affected their performance belief. Findings indicate the importance of nurturing vocal students’ performance beliefs by utilizing the four sources of self-efficacy, fostering qualities of persistence and resilience, teaching agentic causation, fostering productive student/teacher relationships, and creating emotionally safe learning and performance environments.

Teaching methods that foster self-efficacy belief: Perceptions of collegiate musicians from the United States

“…Some participants indicated the need to become familiar with the physical/muscular aspects of musical performance. Research has shown that for vocalists, in particular, the corporal nature of their instruments necessitates a reliance on physiological indicators (Lewis, 2018) for judging performance success.…”

“…One contextual factor that may influence performance self-efficacy beliefs of music students is the student–teacher relationship (Lewis, 2018). Although some studies have shown that music students are nurtured and empowered by their teachers’ beliefs in them in a general sense (Clemmons, 2007) and in regard to self-efficacy belief more specifically (J.…”

“…Although some studies have shown that music students are nurtured and empowered by their teachers’ beliefs in them in a general sense (Clemmons, 2007) and in regard to self-efficacy belief more specifically (J. C. Clark, 2013; Lewis, 2018), other studies outside of the musical domain have shown that ambiguity related to expectations and evaluations contributes to a negative self-efficacy effect (Hardy, 2014; Schmidt & DeShon, 2010). Self-efficacy belief is shaped by social cues in the educational context where the task is being developed (Greene, 2018).…”

Examining the empathic voice teacher

“…Care can also be established through engendering trust with vocal students (Hendricks, 2018). Voice teachers elicit trust through a demonstration of their knowledge and experience (Lewis & Hendricks, 2022), which might include sharing individual experiences and struggles as a singer (Helding, 2017a), or through genuine student-teacher interactions (Parker, 2007). Voice teacher empathy is also important in conveying knowledge of physiology and the acoustics of singing in a way that is sensitive to the singer's future vocal capacity (McCoy, 2014).…”

“…Trust also factors strongly into how students perceive their performance and development, as their relationship with their teacher influences their confidence (Lewis & Hendricks, 2022). In this manner, clear and candid communication is perceived as essential for voice students in their learning (Lewis & Hendricks, 2022).…”