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I have decided to study performance anxiety. I am posting this survey for two reasons. First, to gather information about anxiety, and second, to test this survey's validity and reliability. This data may be used for publication. All participants will remain anonymous, and any identifing material will be destroyed upon the completion of the study. If you wish to participate, and please do. We have a wealth of experience and knowledge that can be tapped to further our field as performers and educators. Please fill out the survey below and private message me the results, email me (tuba1973@aol.com" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank), or snail mail D. Crow 800 North smith I 1. If you email me at my Aol account please title the subject Anxiety Study. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Age________

Sex________

Occupation__________

1. How many years of musical instruction have you receive? __________

2. Do you currently earn your living through either performance, or as a music educator?_________

(Answer question 3 only if you answered no to question 2)
3. Why did you not choose music as a profession?





4. Have you ever felt performance anxiety prior to a performance?________
5. Do you feel that performance anxiety has ever hindered your performances? ________
6. How do you currently deal with performance anxiety?





7. Describe a performance, recital, or jury that caused a high amount of perceived performance anxiety.












The following question use a Likert scale (1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree)
8. I feel jittery prior to entering a performance venue.
1 2 3 4 5
9. The size of the audience affects my performance negatively.
1 2 3 4 5
10. I feel I am an above average performer.
1 2 3 4 5
11. I feel acknowledgement of my skills by others fairly represents my success as a musician.
1 2 3 4 5
12. I experience anxiety when I perform for an audience.
1 2 3 4 5
13. I prefer to perform in small settings
1 2 3 4 5
14. The audience composition (i.e. fellow performers, professor, and professional) inspire me to perform well.
1 2 3 4 5
15. I deal well with criticism.
1 2 3 4 5
16. My professors and colleagues’ opinions affect my performance.
1 2 3 4 5
17. When attending a lesson I feel I perform better if my teacher is in good spirits
1 2 3 4 5
18. I feel anxiety while playing my instrument in any capacity.
1 2 3 4 5
19. I must meet or exceed perceived expectations of others
1 2 3 4 5
20. I feel it is important to be seen as a competent musician.
1 2 3 4 5
21. Others opinions so not affect my performance
1 2 3 4 5
22. I feel anxious when preparing for juries
1 2 3 4 5
23. If a professor or fellow perform is visibly agitated or disinterested I feel my performance suffers.
1 2 3 4 5
24. I avoid practicing where others can hear me.
1 2 3 4 5
25. I seek the advice of fellow tubist frequently.
1 2 3 4 5
26. My lessons are a success only if my teacher is happy.
1 2 3 4 5
27. After hearing two conflicting reports on a performance, the first, spoken directly to you and positive, the second, spoke between faculty and negative, I feel misled.
1 2 3 4 5
28. My anxiety is greater performing for faculty and professionals.

1 2 3 4 5

thank you I will reformat it.

Also, run it through Microsoft word for a spell check. You may also want to have others proofread it; there are many errors.

Also, you make no allotment for Auditions, which is an extraordinarily anxious situation for many.

I would leave a blank to respond to the 1-5 scale - you can't really circle the right number in an e-document.

My $.02

J.c.S.

And what about amateurs? I know amateurs who are not pros precisely because of the performance anxiety that they suffer; what they can do in the practice room does not bear any resemblance to what happens on stage. I've seen fine instrumentalists shaking so badly during an amateur band performance that they literally had trouble keeping the mouthpiece on their lips. I've also been told of seasoned pros who had one-off experiences of the same kind of shaking, that threw them for a loop.

How about ex-pros? Or retired pros? Maybe a set of buttons at the beginning where one can choose a category, with a preview so that people can suggest other categories. I'd suggest a couple of test runs with the plan of a re-do after the responders help you with "missing" or "skewed" questions.

It might be nice to have a "blathering section" where people can tell about techniques that worked for them. You'd get all the usual things about beta blockers, bananas, turkey, and mind-over-matter, but you might stumble on something entirely new, too, that would be valuable input for such a study.

MA

I recommend you make your survey in two formats, (1) a web form and (2) a pdf for printing and snail mailing. Make sure the mailing address is on the pdf. You need to make it as easy as humanly possible for people to respond. That includes making the survey as easy to read as humanly possible and making it fit on as few pages as possible. A web form will give the respondents a greater feeling of anonymity. Greater anonymity will give you more honest answers.

If you haven't already, have some folks test it and give feedback (something like Wade has done, but have them do it in person, you'll get much better feedback). I would use any responses you get to make some of the open ended questions into multiple choice questions. Analyzing your data will be significantly simpler if you don't have to code the responses to open ended questions.

Question 2 could be easily coded as multiple choice. However, the answer could be both. Question 3 should be easily coded into multiple choice with choices based on some testing and an "other, please specify:__________________" answer.

Questions 4 and 5 sound like you expect yes or no answers, but you'll get other answers too. They need to be multiple choice.

regarding this question:
4. Have you ever felt performance anxiety prior to a performance?________

If the respondent has EVER experienced performance anxiety, he or she should say "yes" but you will get some ambiguous answers. Say I'm Super Tuba Player and I had some anxiety the first week I played with the Super Duper Symphony right after I won the job. But, I won the job 18 years ago and haven't felt any anxiety since. How does Super Tuba Player answer the question? Does he or she say "yes" or "once" or "I used to, but I don't anymore"?

Question 6 needs to be multiple choice with an "other, please specify:_________" option. The greater the respondent's perceived anonymity of the survey, the more likely you'll get honest answers. I could see how if some folks use beta blockers or some prescription drug, they might consider that embarrassing and might not want you to know it if you know who they are.

In its present format, I won't take it unless I have to. It will take much too long because responding to the Likert scale questions will be a bit of a pain. The Likert scale questions are also difficult to read because of the lack of whitespace between questions.

I hope this helps,
Christian

I agree that the questions are confusing and target different groups rather randomly. The question you need to ask is are you studying performance anxiety in general or in specific categories of musicians? I'm sure performance anxiety affects all types of musicians, at all levels, and in many situations. Your questions seem to indicate you are only interested in the topic in relation to kollidge settings basically. If that's so, then make it clear.

Question 2 - Seems to me that since you are trying to study performance anxiety you'd really only be interested in musicians who perform on a regular or semi-regular basis. Follow up questions could establish whether these performing musicians were professional, amateur, educators, etc.

Question 3 - why do you care about this answer unless the reason was anxiety (in the context of your study)? Maybe a better question would have been, "Was performance anxiety a significant factor in your reason not to choose music as a profession?"

Question 25 - Is your survey only about tuba players?

I'd separate the questions into groups. Some apply to all performing musicians. Some only to students.

What I'm seeing here is a survey made up by a student (possibly pretty young) who hasn't really experienced life very much outside of school. And that's just an observation, not a put down. Take some time and think through your study objectives and what types of questions really will lead to some useful answers. Imagine, if you have to, how anxiety might affect performers who are not and haven't been in school for quite some time. Several people have already contributed useful information that can help you do this.

On the other hand, if you really are interested in only academic performance anxiety, then make that clear so others outside of school won't waste their time even reading through the survey.

You also may want to read or reference "The Inner Game of Music" by Green. Sometimes it appears on the right margin in the form of those revolving ads. It's a great source of insight to the mental side of performing, and draws a direct comparison of the "physical" side of performing.

In my past life, I required my HS Wind Ensemble kids to read this in the month leading up to All-State and All-County auditions...