Insulating Musical Motor Skills Against Music Performance Anxiety by David R. Pell A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, Graduate Department of the Faculty of Music in the University of Toronto © Copyright by David Reginald Pell ii Insulating Musical Motor Skills Against Music Performance Anxiety David R. Pell Doctor of Musical Arts Faculty of Music, 2020 Abstract Musicians as performers are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of Music Performance Anxiety (MPA). The effects of MPA on attention and motor skills can be profound yet are under-researched. This thesis explores musical performance from a motor-learning perspective, examines the effects of MPA on motor control and attention, and analyzes coping strategies of elite professional classical brass players. A learning framework based in theories of embodied cognition is subsequently proposed for insulating musical performance against the deleterious effects of MPA. iii Acknowledgements It’s possible that the path taken in earning a doctorate degree can be one that is simple, straightforward, and direct. Mine has been anything but. It has, instead, been a long and winding one that began with my own personal and professional failures when I first felt the nerve-wracking effects of Music Performance Anxiety and struggled to find ways to cope and continued through many years of performing both well and badly. The support of my wife, Jenna Kalinsky, and parents, Reg and Betty Pell, as I worked first to become a better performer and then toward an understanding of the process behind this elusive goal has been steadfast and invaluable. Without their sacrifices throughout I would never have even come close. My gratitude and my love are unending. I am extremely grateful for the guidance and encouragement of my academic advisors Drs. Michael Thaut, Jeffrey Reynolds, and Luc Tremblay as well as Dr. Katherine Tamminen for her time helping me work through the statistical data I collected. This process has been transformative to me as a musician and academic and it is my hope that the efforts manifest in this dissertation may be of benefit to performers and teachers going forward. iv Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................................... III INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 THE NEED FOR THE CURRENT RESEARCH ...................................................................................................................................2 CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 MOTOR LEARNING....................................................................................................................................................... 5 CLOSED LOOP, OPEN LOOP AND SCHEMA THEORIES .............................................................................................................. 12 CLOSED LOOP .................................................................................................................................................................................. 12 OPEN LOOP ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 SCHEMA ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 13 MOTOR LEARNING PRINCIPLES GENERALIZABLE TO MUSIC ................................................................................................. 15 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRACTICE SCHEDULES, ANXIETY, AND SELF-EFFICACY ................................................. 24 SLEEP CONSOLIDATION ................................................................................................................................................................. 25 MENTAL PRACTICE AND MENTAL IMAGERY ............................................................................................................................. 29 IMAGERY AND MEMORIZATION ................................................................................................................................................... 33 IMAGERY AND OBSERVATION ....................................................................................................................................................... 37 MODELING ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 38 DELIBERATE PRACTICE ................................................................................................................................................................. 42 FOCUS OF ATTENTION ................................................................................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 2 .................................................................................................................................................................. 49 EXPERT SKILL BREAKDOWN UNDER PRESSURE .......................................................................................... 49 THE CLASSICAL MUSIC PROBLEM ............................................................................................................................................... 50 MPA AND CHOKING ....................................................................................................................................................................... 54 SELF-FOCUS THEORIES: DISTRACTION AND EXPLICIT MONITORING .................................................................................. 57 THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTENTION IN HIGH-STAKES PERFORMANCE.................................................................................. 60 PROCESSING EFFICIENCY AND ATTENTIONAL CONTROL ....................................................................................................... 60 CHAPTER 3 .................................................................................................................................................................. 62 THE EXPERIENCE OF MUSIC PERFORMANCE ANXIETY AND COPING MECHANISMS AMONG ELITE ORCHESTRAL BRASS PLAYERS ............................................................................................................... 62 METHOD ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 63 MEASURES ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 64 RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 67 CSAI.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 69 TOPS 3 ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 70 DISCUSSION...................................................................................................................................................................................... 71 PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE CORRELATIONS....................................................................................................................... 73 MULTI-FACETED COPING STRATEGIES ...................................................................................................................................... 74 v PREPARATION ................................................................................................................................................................................. 76 GENDER ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 76 AUTOMATICITY ............................................................................................................................................................................... 77 GOAL SETTING AND IMAGERY ...................................................................................................................................................... 77 SELF-TALK ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 78 BETA-BLOCKERS