Effects of Trait Social Anxiety and Cognitions of Perfectionism on State Music Performance Anxiety

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between trait social anxiety, cognitions of perfectionism, and state music performance anxiety. Seventy-seven (77) members of a university piano club completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970) twice, before and after their performance. In addition, as indices of main factors for state music performance anxiety, cognitions of perfectionism before performance, audience and interaction anxieties, and self-oriented perfectionism were measured. Results showed that of two social anxiety tendencies, only audience anxiety, and of three cognitions of perfectionism, only concern over mistakes significantly explained pre-performance state anxiety. An interaction effect of the two variables was found; that is, audience anxiety significantly explained pre-performance state anxiety only in high concern-over-mistakes group. These findings should provide some practical suggestions for musicians and their educators.