Music performance anxiety and it’s correction among students of the children’s music school

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to study music performance anxiety and characteristics of the functions of the executive system of the brain among students of the children's music school. In our research, we use questionnaire for collecting general information, Lusher’s test for the diagnosis of anxiety and Stroop test for the determination of rigidity/plasticity of thinking. The aim of the research is to study the anxiety of musicians of primary school age and the features of the functions of the executive system of the brain, more precisely, the prefrontal cortex, before and after classes with the help of the “Music Performance Anxiety Correction Notebook”. The subject of the research is anxiety, cognitive rigidity and self-regulation among musicians before and after passing a series of classes with the help of the “Music Performance Anxiety Correction Notebook”. The Notebook made it possible to reduce anxiety indicators in students at a children's music school without impairing the executive abilities of the frontal lobes. In the future, we plan to test the notebook on children of different age categories in children’s music school, as well as to develop a program for music performance anxiety correction among gifted children from different creative directions – music, choreography, acting, poetry. This research allows us to develop further the problem of “music performance anxiety” in Russia.