Mei-Chuan Lin

Date of Award

January 2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Music

First Advisor

Katherine Norman Dearden

Abstract

Cultural context may be an important factor in Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) and how it is managed. Taiwanese culture and music education place great importance on academic achievement and technique skills rather than overall development. Under the intensely competitive atmosphere of Taiwanese music education, it is possible that music students may experience higher levels of performance anxiety (PA) than students from western societies. The purpose of this study was to investigate MPA in college students in Taiwan (n=337) within the context of their cultural background, social stressors, students’ values and beliefs, and parental influences.

Using Chinese editions of the Kenny (KMPAI-R-C) and Lin (L-MPAI-C) Music Performance Inventories as measurements, this study especially aimed to find: 1. if participants suffer from MPA; 2. if there is any significant difference in MPA among four types of music students: pianists, vocalists, string and wind instrumentalists; 3. potential variables that contribute to their MPA; and 4. similarities and differences between the results of the present study and previous studies using the K-MPAI-R as the measurement. Findings were that: 1. over 70% of participants suffered from MPA; 2. there were statistically significant differences in MPA according to instrument type on three constructs of L-MPAI-C (MPA experience: pianists had higher MPA than wind instrumentalists; memorizing requirements: pianists’ MPA was greater than string and wind instrumentalists; instrumental challenges: vocalists had a higher MPA than pianists and wind instrumentalists); 3. there were positive correlations between parental influences, memorizing requirements and participants’ MPA; 4. K-MPAI-R-C and L-MPAI-C had high internal consistency; 5. gender, early MPA experiences, perfectionism, and self-efficacy played crucial roles in participants’ MPA.

Keywords: Music performance anxiety, Taiwan, Kenny inventory,

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