Psychology Commons^™

An Exploration Of Musical Performance Anxiety (Mpa) And Its Relation To Perfectionism And Performance, Gitta Marko

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA) is a critical and common issue for musicians, as much of their success and income depends on their quality of performance. MPA is the experience of distressful apprehension about and/or impairment of performance, not reflecting the individual’s musical abilities. Since the pressure to perform their best is extremely high for musicians, striving for perfection in this field is typical. In my senior project, I investigated the elements and mechanisms behind the development of MPA and its relation to perfectionism. Seventeen Bard Conservatory musicians’ levels of MPA and perfectionism were assessed using established measures prior to their …