The effectiveness of rational-emotional group training on amateur musicians’ performance anxiety

Performance anxiety-the exaggerated and incapacitating fear of performing in public-is a widespread problem among musicians. It occurs frequently and can cause considerable distress. This fear afflicts individuals who are generally prone to anxiety, particularly in the situation of high public exposure. Performance anxiety probably is as old as artistic performance itself, but psychological researches on it started only about some decades ago. Studies have shown that high percentages of anxiety disorders are common among both amateur and professional musicians during performance activities.
Irrationality, perfectionism and catastrophic cognitions are the main characteristic of musicians. Unfortunately, these are the main cognitive reasons of increasing fear which reduces success-ratio of their performance. Pessimistic self-talk, irrational beliefs and feeling of panic can seriously affect performance quality.
One of the effective psychological treatments is cognitive restructuring, the process which attempts to modify habitual thoughts and attitudes; rationalizing the individuals’ irrational beliefs. Unfortunately, this kind of educations did not exist in the performance instructional curriculum.
Rational-Emotional Therapy is one of the most prevalent cognitive methods applied to reduce the anxiety disorders. This method is based on the Albert Ellis cognitive theory. From his point of view, our emotions are results of analyzing Activity events in our Beliefs, not the events per se. To the other word, after being analyzed in our Believes, Activity events will lead to emotional and behavioral Consequences (i.e. irrational believes cause emotional distress and rational believes results in balanced emotions). Hence, each change in the process of analyzing the beliefs system leads to a change in the emotional consequences.
The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of rational- emotional group training on musician’s performance anxiety. The research method is an experimental one accompanied by both pre-test and post-test phases with one control group. Validated Spielberg state- trait anxiety inventory questionnaire were employed in order to assess the quantity of performer’s anxiety in each phase. The sample includes 60 (mean age=19.31 years, SD=2.46) amateur music performers who have at least 5 years of professional experience and 3 live performances. They had received instructions of a melodic instrument for a minimum mean (SD) time of 6.1(1.42) years in Karaj’s music institutes. Participants were selected by nonrandomized sampling and then were divided into two separate groups (experimental and control) randomly. Initially, the pre-test was performed for both groups by solo public performing and then Spielberger test anxiety inventory was fulfilled. Next, the experimental group underwent group rational-emotional restructuring and training for eight 2-hours consulting sessions. At the end of the training, post-test was performed for both groups. The data was analyzed by SPSS-22 and then the independent T- test was performed. The results showed a significant difference: the mean scores of state anxiety in the experimental group in comparison with that of the control group was decreased significantly (P<0.05). With a deductive overview, results showed group rational- emotional restructuring was effective in reducing musicians’ performance anxiety. According the above mentioned, group rational and emotional trainings are recommended for performers in the educational process to control and decrease performance anxiety.