The Effects of Feedforward Self-modeling on Self-efficacy, Music Performance Anxiety, and Music Performance in Anxious Adolescent Musicians

Abstract

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a significant concern for musicians of all ages, levels of mastery, and genders (Kenny, 2011). Whereas the anxiety-performance relationship has been well researched in athletes, similar research with musicians is sparse (Nordin-Bates, 2012). In the present research, video feed-forward self-modeling (FF-SM video) was explored as an intervention for use by musicians. FF-SM involves video-editing, typically, to depict a level of master performance higher than that yet attained by the individual. Although video FF-SM has been used successfully with athletes (Ste-Marie, Rymal, Vertes, & Martini, 2011) to increase self-efficacy and improve performance, its use has not yet been explored with musicians. In the present study, Bandura’s Self-efficacy Theory (1977) was used as a framework to explore whether FF-SM videos would increase self-efficacy, lower anxiety, and improve performance in adolescent musicians who self-reported MPA. Twelve string musicians, aged 13 to 18 years, who self-reported MPA took part in a two-week intervention where in one week they practiced with the use of a FF-SM video and in the alternate week they practiced without the video. At the end of each week, participants performed the selected repertoire from their video. Video FF-SM significantly increased musicians’ self-efficacy but only for those musicians who viewed the video in the second week. No changes in anxiety or performance levels were observed. Zimmerman’s triadic self-regulation model is used to explain the cyclical pattern of self-efficacy benefits. It is concluded that the FF-SM video can be an effective tool to increase self-efficacy for musicians who self-report MPA, but that an enactive experience is first needed for those benefits to occur. Research extended over a longer time frame is recommended in order to examine whether influences on anxiety and performance would emerge at a later time.