An Investigation of Musical Performance Anxiety in the Marching Arts

Jacob J. Levy, PhD, Christopher M. Castille, MA, and Justina A. Farley, BA

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of musical performance anxiety (MPA) in marching artists. The marching arts include high school and college marching bands, drum and bugle corps, and indoor color guard and percussion ensembles. Drawing on a sample of 780 world class drum and bugle corps performers, we examined the prevalence of somatic and cognitive symptoms of MPA. We also examined differences in endorsement of symptoms by performing section (i.e., brass players, percussionists, and dancers/color guard) and gender. Results revealed a relatively low prevalence of MPA symptoms as compared with prior studies of adolescent and young adult performers. In addition, color guard performers reported significantly greater magnitudes of somatic MPA symptoms than brass players, and female performers reported greater magnitudes of cognitive MPA symptoms than their male counterparts. Practical recommendations are discussed. Med Probl Perform Art 2011; 26(1):3034.

usical performance anxiety (MPA) is a distressing and disabling condition that affects performers of all ages.1 Salmon2 defined MPA as the experience of persisting, distressful apprehension about and/or actual impairment of, performance skills in a public context, to a degree unwarranted given the individuals aptitude, training, and level of preparation.2(p3) At least half of all musical performers, regardless of age, gender, and experience level, have been found to report problems associated with MPA35; however, the manifestation of MPA symptoms has been found to vary depending on performance setting.6 The symptoms of MPA can be categorized in terms of somatic and cognitive reactions to a perceived or real threat. When a person feels threatened, the body reacts . . . automatically. This reaction is often referred to as the fight or flight response and refers to what happens when the sympathetic branch of a persons autonomic nervous system is activated. Several somatic sensations result from this physiological activation, including rapid heart rate, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, reduction in saliva flow (i.e., dry mouth), nausea and vomiting, muscle tension and tremors, and fainting. In addition to somatic reactions, individuals who experi-

ence anxiety in social or performance settings (as in MPA) also experience cognitive symptoms related to unrealistic thinking about performing, such as excessive worry about not living up to performance expectations and fearing that they will make a mistake to ruin the performance. The irony is that these MPA symptoms can indeed impact the quality of ones performance, resulting in the very experiences one is attempting to avoid, which in turn creates greater anxiety about future performances. For example, [h]igh arousal often influences the choice of tempo, which tends to be faster in performance than during practice, adding technical difficulties.7 Also, worry about making an error divides ones attention from the performance tasks at hand, e.g., the performer may stop listening to themselves or attending to other performance cues.7 Musical performances do not always occur in a concert hall. Each year, hundreds of thousands of teens and young adults take to football fields and gymnasium floors to participate in marching music activities, including high school and college marching bands, drum and bugle corps, and indoor color guard and percussion ensembles.810 Many of these units not only perform as entertainment for sporting events and parades, but also perform in state, regional, national, and international competitions. These young performers face the excitement and pressure of performing in front of large audiences, as well as having their performances judged and critiqued by various music educators and experts. It seems reasonable to assume that such performance stress may have some negative consequences for these performers, such as experiences of MPA. Current Study To date, no study has formally investigated MPA within the context of the marching arts. To help begin to fill this void in the literature, the current student focused on a population of world-class junior drum and bugle corps performers. The investigation was designed to answer the following research questions:
1. What is the prevalence of MPA symptoms among a sample of adolescent and young adult marching arts performers? 2. Are there section differences (brass, percussion, and color guard) and/or gender differences in the manifestation of reported MPA symptoms (i.e., cognitive and somatic symptoms)?

Dr. Levy is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Ms. Farley is a doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology Program, Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee; and Mr. Castille is a doctoral student in the Industrial and Organizational Psychology program, Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA. Parts of this study were presented at the Medical Problems of Performing Artists Symposium, Snowmass, CO, July 2010. Address correspondence to: Dr. Jacob J. Levy, Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, 215G Austin Peay Bldg, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. Tel 865-974-4866, fax 865-974-3330. jlevy4@utk.edu. 30 Medical Problems of Performing Artists

METHODS
Participants Archival data from 780 junior drum and bugle corps performers, representing six Drum Corps International (DCI)

TABLE 1. PAQ Items Endorsed Frequently or Always by Participants across Sections PAQ Item Over critical of my performance Worry about my performance Apprehensive about potential errors Worry about ability to perform Feel nervous Have sweaty palms Feel I will make a mistake and ruin the performance Lack confidence Muscles feel tense Tense in stomach Have a dry mouth Hard to concentrate Shake Feel need to urinate more often Do not feel in control of the situation Do not feel well prepared Become preoccupied with other things Experience palpitations Feel that I may be sick Feel that I may faint n = 780; brass n = 419, color guard n = 172, percussion n = 189. Total % 57 56 17 16 14 14 12 11 8 7 6 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 2 2 Brass % 56 48 14 14 10 7 13 12 10 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 Guard % 52 67 19 17 22 22 10 9 9 13 9 7 6 9 6 2 2 2 1 1 Percussion % 62 63 17 19 15 22 10 11 9 7 5 4 5 3 4 2 2 4 1 2

world-class drum and bugle corps, were used in the study. Participants consisted of 562 (72%) males and 218 (28%) females. The mean age of participants was 18.77 yrs (SD 1.59, range 1521). The age and gender breakdown of the study sample was consistent with the membership of the participating drum corps, with a slightly greater proportion of males (6% difference) and slightly younger in age (a half-year difference) than the average of all world-class drum and bugle corps participants.8 Procedure and Instrumentation All data were originally collected as part of performance enhancement programs within each corps and maintained in a secure data archive. All potential participants agreed to allow their non-identifying information to be archived for future research, and the company responsible for maintaining the archive granted permission to the authors to access the data. As an archival study, this study was approved by the first authors Institutional Review Broad. Participants completed (via paper and pencil administration) the instrument described below. Performance Anxiety Cox and Kenardys Performance Anxiety Questionnaire (PAQ)6 was used to assess both somatic and cognitive symptoms of MPA. The measure instructs respondents to indicate how often (Likert-type scale: 1 never, 2 infrequently, 3 sometimes, 4 frequently, and 5 always) they experience 10 somatic symptoms (e.g., sweaty palm, heart palpitations) and 10 cognitive symptoms (e.g., excessive worry and apprehension about performances) across three performance settings

(rehearsals, group public performance, solo public performances). The PAQ demonstrated strong internal consistency with the current sample (PAQ total score: Cronbachs = 0.89; PAQ-Cognitive subscale, Cronbachs = 0.81; PAQSomatic subscale, Cronbachs = 0.83). These reliability coefficients are nearly identical to previous studies utilizing the PAQ.6,11

RESULTS
Prevalence of MPA Symptoms in Marching Artists The participants mean PAQ score for all items across three performance settings was 2.36 (SD 0.46, range 15). Table 1 provides the percentage the PAQ items endorsed as occurring frequently or always by participants (total and across sections). Cognitive symptoms were endorsed as occurring most frequently. The two items with the highest percentage of frequently or always responses were: I am overly critical of my performance (57% total sample) and I worry about my performance (56% total sample). With regard to somatic symptoms, the two items with the highest percentage of frequently or always responses were: I feel nervous (14% total sample) and I have sweaty palms (14% total sample). Analysis of Gender and Section Differences Table 2 contains the means and SDs of the PAQ subscales (PAQ-Cognitive and PAQ-Somatic) by section and gender. One-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine the effect of two independent variables (section and gender) and their interaction on two dependent performance anxiety variables (PAQ-Cognitive
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TABLE 2. Means and Standard Deviations of PAQ Subscales by Section and Gender Male PAQ-Cognitive Brass Color guard Percussion Brass Color guard Percussion No. 331 65 166 331 65 166 Mean 2.44 2.51 2.43 1.77 2.03 1.84 SD 0.56 0.62 0.57 0.53 0.63 0.54 Female Brass Color guard Percussion Brass Color guard Percussion No. 88 107 23 88 107 23 Mean 2.60 2.47 2.74 1.89 2.01 1.97 SD 0.58 0.53 0.54 0.55 0.51 0.50

PAQ-Somatic

Note: Range 15 (never-always experience symptoms)

and PAQ-Somatic). Given the differences in sample size among sections and gender, we conducted Levines Test of Equality of Variance to assess homogeneity of variances. Results revealed that there were no significant differences in variance across sections or gender: PAQ-Somatic, F(5,774) = 1.29, p = 0.27; PAQ-Cognitive, F(5,774) = 0.39, p = 0.85 thus the succeeding analyses were conducted with equality of variances assumed. Significant main effects were found for section [Wilks = 0.96, F(4, 1546) = 7.58, p < 0.001] and gender [Wilks = 0.99, F(2, 773) = 3.37, p = 0.03]. There was not a significant section by gender interaction effect [Wilks = 0.99, F(4, 1546) = 1.73, p = 0.14]. Analyses of variances (ANOVA) on the dependent variables were conducted as follow-up tests to the MANOVA. Using the Tukey Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) method to test for significant differences between groups, each ANOVA was tested at the 0.025 probability level. With regard to gender, the ANOVA for PAQ-Cognitive was significant, F(1,774) = 6.54, p = 0.01; while the ANOVA for PAQSomatic was not, F(1, 774) = 1.86, p = 0.17. With regard to section, the ANOVA for PAQ-Somatic was significant, F(2, 774) = 6.21, p = 0.002; while the ANOVA for PAQ-Cognitive was not, F(2,774) = 0.70, p = 0.489. Post hoc analyses to the univariate ANOVA for PAQSomatic by section were conducted using the Tukey HSD method for pairwise comparisons. Each pairwise comparison was tested at the 0.025 divided by 3 or 0.008 level. The color guard reported significantly higher (p < 0.001) PAQ-Somatic scores than the brass section and nearly significantly higher scores than the percussion section (p = 0.010). Brass and percussion performers did not significantly differ on magnitudes of PAQ scores (p = 0.43).

DISCUSSION
Performance Context of Marching Arts To date, the primary focus of MPA research has been on orchestral or concert settings and has not directly examined the experiences of performers who participate in marching ensembles. For marching bands, drum and bugles corps, and indoor color guard and percussion ensembles, the performance environments are open fields, football fields, and gymnasium floors. These marching musicians perform at high velocities while either dancing or playing (perhaps both simultaneously) loud
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and lush musical rhythms and chords in an attempt to excite the thousands of viewers. In terms of proximity, the instrumentalistscomprised of brass and woodwind players in marching bands (brass players only in drum and bugle corps) and percussionistswill be noticeably nearer to each other during the performance for the purpose of keeping time, maintaining intonation, and producing a unified sound, thus making any error seemingly unnoticeable to even the most discriminating viewer/listener. In a much more drastic contrast, the dancers (commonly referred to as the color guard) are primarily visual performers. These performers will dance, perform choreography, spin flags, or throw rifles, sabers, and other apparatuses into the air in time with the melodies and rhythms created by the instrumental sections in order to provide a visual interpretation of the program. The actions executed by these performers attract more attention on an individual level than their instrumental counterparts because of the amount of visual material (or bodywork) being performed at any given moment. Thus, the individuals in the color guard are the most exposed performers in the ensemble (with the exception of solo performers) with regards to synchronized executions. As for the judgmental component of marching arts performances, there are varying degrees of difficulty in evaluating performances. For example, if an instrumentalist makes a performance error, he or she is inside a condensed form, and thus the error may not even be perceived by those performers most proximal and even less so by the distal crowd. Though a timing error takes a trained ear to notice, only those most proximal are likely to hear the error, unless the drummer is seen actively drumming out of time or out of sync with those around him or her. The proximity that the color guard performers share with regard to error perception and judgment is uniquely different from their musician counterparts. Because their material is primarily visual in nature, errors such as not catching (e.g., dropping) or not precisely catching a tossed object can be noticed by even the most untrained pair of eyes, making any error produced seem more amplified than those errors produced by the musical ensemble. As one may expect, the pressure these young performers face is considerable. Drum Corps International member units typically rehearse 8 to 12 hours daily and compete in 20 to 35 competitions throughout the United States and Canada during an 8-week summer tour. In general, rehearsals occur in 4hour blocks. On days with a competition, units typically

rehearse for 8 hours (two rehearsal blocks), and on days without a competition, units will usually complete three rehearsal blocks. Rehearsal times may vary depending on travel demands (i.e., travel time from rehearsal site to performance venue, and from performance venue to next destination city). It is very rare for daily rehearsal time to be less than 6 hours, regardless of travel demands. Competition among these groups is intense, often with judges determining differences in placement by fractions of a point. These performers are expected to perform at a high level, everyday. Thus, investigating their personal reactions to performance stress (e.g., MPA) appears warranted and needed. Prevalence of MPA in Marching Arts The vast majority of marching artists are adolescents and young adults (with notable exceptions including military bands and all-age or senior drum and bugles corps). The focus of the current investigation was on world-class junior drum and bugle corps (performer ages 1521 yrs). With regard to prevalence of MPA symptoms, the mean PAQ score for the current sample was considerably lower than means from other studies of adolescent musicians11,12 and similar to the low trait anxiety sample in Cox and Kendardys6 normative sample. Of particular note are the differences in endorsement of somatic symptoms. For example, in their study of gifted adolescent music students, Fehm and Schmidt11 found 78% of their sample reported feeling nervous frequently or always and 57% of their sample reported experiencing sweaty palms frequently or always. While nervousness and sweaty palms were also the most frequently endorsed somatic symptoms in our sample, only 14% of the total sample (22% of the color guard) reported experiencing these symptoms frequently or always. With regard to prevalence of cognitive symptoms, participants in our sample were more consistent with previous research findings.5,13 For example, over half of our participants endorsed being excessively worried and self-critical of their performances. In addition, female performers reported significantly greater experiences with cognitive symptoms of MPA than their male counterparts; however, no significant gender difference was found with regard to experiences with somatic symptoms of MPA. Interestingly, our mixed findings are consistent with previous research on gender differences, where some investigators have found females to have a higher prevalence of MPA,5 while others have found no difference.11 The overall presence of MPA in marching artists being lower than in other studies of adolescent musicians may be a function of the personality characteristics of performers attracted to this setting. Previous research suggests that orchestral musicians tend be introverted,14 a personality trait often linked to MPA.15 Kemp14 posited that introversion was beneficial to musicians due to the long hours of solitary practice needed to become successful. In stark contrast to the rehearsal environment describe by Kemp, marching musicians, and drum and bugle corps performers in particular, rehearse long hours in a group setting, in addition to travel-

ing and living with well over 200 people while on tour. Levy and colleagues16 found drum corps participants tend to be quite extroverted, and extraversion and low MPA were significant personality predictors of satisfaction with drum corps participation.17 Future research is needed to examine if these findings are consistent with other large ensembles and touring performing artists (e.g., Broadway touring companies, Cirque du Soleil, etc.). Section Difference in the Manifestation of MPA Symptoms For color guard performers, like dancers, their bodies are their instruments. It is possible that color guard performers are more aware of their bodily reactions than musicians. Previous research suggests that compared to musicians, dancers tend to be more anxious and hypochondriacal.18 Compared with their musician counterparts (especially brass performers), color guard performers in our sample reported a higher frequency of somatic symptoms of MPA. Of particular note were the differences in reports of hand sweating and stomach tension. The bulk of color guard performers manipulate and toss various apparatuses during the course of their performance, thus having excessively sweaty hands may have detrimental effects on the quality of their performance (i.e., may lead to more drops). Practical Recommendations Based on the results of this study, we offer several recommendations as they relate to addressing MPA symptoms within the marching arts. While the prevalence of MPA may be less in the marching arts than in other performance settings, over half of the performers did express excessive worry and self-criticism related to their performances, and some performers did express significant distress related to MPA symptoms. As such, we recommend assessing MPA in all marching artists. There are several brief, well validated measures of adolescent and young adult MPA.1,6,19 Performers reporting greater magnitudes of MPA symptoms can be provided with a more in-depth evaluation by the units treating therapist or physician or referred for a more thorough assessment and therapy to an external health service provider. For the performing unit, as a whole, it appears important to provide education and training on cognitive restructuring strategies (with the aim of preventing the progression of negative thinking to a dysfunction level). One such strategy is teaching performers to identify patterns of negative and limited thinking (e.g., polarized thinking, overgeneralization, etc.) with alternative and more realistic thinking (i.e., positive self-talk).20 Another popular cognitive-behavioral strategy is stress inoculation training in which the performer can imagine, refine, anticipate, and practice the steps necessary for a successful performance.21 These strategies can be effectively taught in a small group setting and may help to reduce the two most common MPA issues for marching artists, excessive worry and being overly critical.
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Because the color guard, as a section, reported a higher frequency of somatic symptoms of MPA (most notably, sweaty hands and stomach tension), it is recommended that, in addition to the cognitive strategies described above, these performers also be taught behavioral strategies to increase peripheral blood flow and reduce muscle tension. Recent research has found biofeedback training (i.e., skin conductance training) along with respiration training (i.e., training respiration cycles to 810/min) to reduce somatic reactions (such as excessive sweating and muscle tension) of anxiety.22 As it relates to performance anxiety in dancers, there is some evidence that biofeedback training may reduce MPA symptoms23 and may also improve the quality of dancers performances.24 Additional research is needed to examine such interventions in the context of the marching arts. Limitations It should be noted the results of this investigation may be unique to drum and bugle corps performers and may not necessarily generalize to other marching artists. Participation in world-class drum and bugle corps is voluntary and requires extensive travel and intensive rehearsal schedules different from other marching arts (e.g., high school and college marching band). It is possible that the personal characteristics, including prevalence of MPA symptoms, of drum and bugle corps performers may be different from those marching artists who choose not to participate in this context. Replication and extension of this investigation with other marching arts are needed. In addition, measurement of MPA symptoms was limited to performer selfreport. Some symptoms may be beyond awareness, minimalized, or exaggerated by respondents. Future researchers may wish to assess physiological indicators of MPA, such as cortisol level, blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension (via EMG), and brain waves (via EEG), in addition to subjective measures of MPA.

relate to experiencing hand sweating, dry mouth, and gastrointestinal complaints. Compared with the treatment of other anxiety disorders, there have been relatively few treatment outcome studies for MPA. It is hoped the results of this study will spark interest in conducting intervention and outcome studies of MPA within the marching arts. Future researchers may wish to explore the relative benefits of cognitive, behavioral, and combined cognitive and behavioral strategies across the various performance sections of marching artists.

REFERENCES
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Osborne MS, Kenny DT: Development and validation of a music performance anxiety inventory for gifted adolescent musicians. J Anxiety Disord 2005; 19:725751. Salmon PG: A psychological perspective on musical performance anxiety: a review of the literature. Med Probl Perform Art 1990; 5(1):211. Ryan C: Exploring musical performance anxiety in children. Med Probl Perform Art 1998; 13(3):8388. Shoup D: Survey of performance-related problems among high school and junior high school musicians. Med Probl Perform Art 1995; 10(3):100105. Wesner RB, Noyes R, Davis TL: The occurrence of performance anxiety among musicians. J Affect Disord 1990; 18:177185. Cox WJ, Kenardy J: Performance anxiety, social phobia, and setting effects in instrumental music students. J Anxiety Disord 1993; 7:4960. Lehmann AC, Sloboda JA, Woody RH: Psychology for Musicians: Understanding and Acquiring the Skills. New York: Oxford; 2007. Drum Corps International: Introduction: showcasing the best of the best [website]. Indianapolis, IN: DCI; (n.d.). Available at: http://www.dci.org/about; accessed Oct 6, 2010. Music for All: What we do [website]. Indianapolis, IN: MFA; (n.d.). Available at: http://www.musicforall.org/site/what-we-do; accessed Oct 6, 2010. Winter Guard International: What is WGI? [website]. Dayton, OH: WGI; (n.d.). Available at: http://www.wgi.org/contents/What-isWGI.html; accessed Oct 6, 2010. Fehm L, Schmidt K: Performance anxiety in gifted musicians. J Anxiety Disord 2006, 20:98109. Hille C: Performance anxiety in music students [unpublished]. Dresden: Technische Universitt Dresden; 2002. Liston M, Frost AAM, Mohr PB: The prediction of musical performance anxiety. Med Probl Perform Art 2003; 18:120125. Kemp AE: The Musical Temperament. New York: Oxford; 1996. Langendrfer F, Hodapp V, Kreutz G, Bongard S: Personality and performance anxiety among professional orchestra musicians. J Individ Diff 2006; 27:162171. Levy JJ, Lounsbury JW, Kent KN: Big five personality traits and marching music injuries. Med Probl Perform Art 2009; 24:135140. Levy JJ, Lounsbury JW: Big Five personality traits and performance anxiety in relation to marching arts satisfaction. Work (in press). Merchant-Haycox SE, Wilson GD: Personality and stress in performing artists. Person Individ Diff 1992; 13:10611068. Kenny DT, Davis P, Oates J: Music performance anxiety and occupational stress amongst opera chorus artists and their relationship with state and trait anxiety and perfectionism. J Anxiety Disord 2004; 18:757777. Beck A, Emery G, Greenberg R: Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective. New York: Basic Books; 2005. Meichenbaum D: Stress Inoculation Training. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon; 1985. Pastor MC, Menndez FJ, Sanz MT, Abad EV: The influence of respiration on biofeedback techniques. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 2008; 33:4954. Singer K: The effect of neurofeedback on performance anxiety in dancers. J Dance Med Sci 2004: 8:7881. Raymond J, Sajid I, Parkinson LA, Gruzelier JH: Biofeedback and dance performance: a preliminary investigation. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 2005; 30:6573.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study sought to expand the literature of MPA in adolescent and young adult performing artists by focusing on a performance context not previously investigated, the marching arts. Overall, the marching artists in our study reported a lower magnitude of somatic MPA symptoms compared with previous investigations of adolescent and young adult performers; however, over half of our participants reported being overly critical of their performances and worrying about their performances. Similar to previous research,13 cognitive symptoms of MPA were more frequently endorsed (as compared to somatic complaints), and female participants reported greater magnitudes of cognitive symptoms of MPA than their male counterparts. When we examined differences in endorsement of MPA symptoms by section, color guard performers significantly endorsed a greater frequency of somatic symptoms than brass musicians, especially as they
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20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

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