Reduction of performance anxiety in music students

Many music students experience considerable anxiety when they perform. The present article describes a two-session hypnotherapeutic approach combining relaxation, positive suggestion, and symbolic success imagery designed to reduce this performance anxiety. The subjects of the study were 40 second- and third-year music students studying at a conservatorium of music who were paired on the basis of their Performance Anxiety Inventory scores. One member of each pair was allocated at random to an experimental group and the other to a control group. Further administrations of the Performance Anxiety Inventory (PAI) took place immediately after conclusion of the two-session treatment and 6 months later. At the time of this follow-up, subjects completed an anecdotal report providing information on their performance over the previous 6 months. Results indicate that the method is likely to assist musicians in the reduction of their stage fright.