Psychological well-being in professional orchestral musicians in Australia: A descriptive population study

Abstract

We report the major findings from the psychosocial questionnaire component of a cross-sectional population survey of the musicians in Australia's eight full-time professional symphonic and pit orchestras. The response rate was 70% (n = 377). Female musicians reported significantly more trait anxiety, music performance anxiety, social anxiety, and other forms of anxiety and depression than male musicians. The youngest musicians (<30 years) were significantly more anxious compared with the oldest musicians (51+). The youngest female musicians were most affected by music performance anxiety. Music performance anxiety was lowest for the older musicians (51+ years). Thirty-three per cent of musicians may meet criteria for a diagnosis of social phobia. Twenty-two per cent answered in the affirmative to a question screening for post-traumatic stress disorder. Thirtytwo per cent returned a positive depression screen; this subgroup had higher scores on the anxiety measures. Linear regression analysis identified the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T), the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), the Anxiety and Depression Detector (ADD) and age as independent predictors of music performance anxiety severity. Significant numbers of musicians drank alcohol in a manner outside the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) alcohol guidelines (2009); only 6% were current smokers. This study has identified a significant pattern of anxiety, depression and health behaviours that require attention in occupational health and safety policies and programmes for this workforce.

Interventions for music performance anxiety: results from a systematic literature review

“…Nonetheless, it is believed that this more select group (relative to music students) deserves special and specific attention, as many of them end up creating their own coping strategies, which often include the indiscriminate use of drugs with no medical supervision 58 .…”

A zenei teljesítményszorongás rizikó- és protektív faktorai

“…Mint a szorongásos és depressziós kórképek esetében, a zenei teljesítményszorongás is elsősorban a lányokat, nőket érinti, és ez már egészen kisgyermekkorban megmutatkozik (Kenny, Driscoll és Ackermann, 2014). Az életkor tekintetében a serdülőkort szokták említeni, mint sérülékeny életszakaszt a pszichikai problémák tekintetében, s ez alól a zenei teljesítményszorongás sem kivétel (Papageorgi, Hallam és Welch, 2007).…”

“…A gyakorlással és a fellépések számával egyenes arányban az ún. zenei magabiztosság jelentősen nőhet ugyan, de vannak olyan (köztük nagyon sikeres, világhírű) muzsikusok is, akik életük végéig küzdenek ezzel a kihívással (Kenny, Driscoll és Ackermann, 2014;Salmon, 1990).…”

“That's cool, you’re a musician and you drink”: Exploring entertainers’ accounts of their unique workplace relationship with alcohol

“…Music researchers have identified entertainers as 'sensation-seekers' (Miller & Quigley, 2011) and it has been suggested that the lifestyles of gigging entertainers fosters increased alcohol use because of work-related mental health issues (Dobson, 2010;Ewens, 2016;Kenny et al, 2014;Raeburn, 1987). However the precise ways by which entertainers' drinking behaviour is shaped by their working conditions, rather than individual factors, remains unknown.…”