AN OVERVIEW OF PERFORMANCE ANXIETY IN MUSIC EDUCATION PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Anxiety is a condition that occurs almost in every area of life. This situation is not specific to people who have specific professional groups such as amateur or professional musicians, actors, newscasters and football players of all ages and who must be in front of a community throughout their life. The activities in the daily life of people such as speaking in front of the public, taking exam and dancing can also include performance anxiety. Regardless of experience, although performance anxiety tends to appear in childhood, adolescence and professional life, especially musicians who are still at the beginning of their careers may face serious problems, which may cause them to become injured or even unable play their instruments. These problems cause musicians to feel performance anxiety from the moment they are under stress and pressure while making individual or collective music; thus cognitive and psychological stimulants are activated. Since musical performance includes different parameters such as attention, memory, motor skills, physical properties, emotional dimensions, performance content / moment, the significance of the subject gets more important. As a matter of fact, the most important aspect of the field is encountered at the music education period. The fact that many music students have to perform in cases such as exams, rehearsals, concerts, etc. points out to the possibility of encountering performance anxiety frequently.
In this study, which is prepared with the collection of research and resources related to performance anxiety in the national and international music education literature; the ways of reducing anxiety and coping with anxiety are outlined.