Effects of Performer Attractiveness, Stage Behavior, and Dress on Violin Performance Evaluation

The purpose of this study was to determine whether certain nonmusical attributes of violinists would affect judges' ratings of their performances. Twelve violinists (6 females and 6 males) were videotaped. They and their performances were rated by 72 graduate students and university music faculty members. Members of the visual group rated violinists by viewing a videotape with the sound turned off They rated them on appropriateness of dress, stage behavior, and physical attractiveness. Members of the audiovisual and audio groups rated musical performance on six test items and did not rate nonmusical attributes. Results from the audiovisual and audio groups revealed significant interactions on half the test items for treatment by dress and treatment by stage behavior: violinists who were high on stage behavior and on dress benefitted significantly from videotape evaluation, but violinists who were low on these attributes were not evaluated differently on audiotape versus videotape. For attractiveness, however, there was no significant interaction: more attractive violinists received higher musical performance ratings than less attractive violinists did under both the audiovisual and audio conditions. In light of earlier research, this suggests that more-attractive performers may progress to a higher level in their acquisition of performance skills than less-attractive performers.