An academic study focusing on brass band performance anxiety and coping strategies is now being made available in an abridged version.

Undertaken by Fiona Smith, Kagari Shibazaki and Nigel King at the Department of Psychology, University of Huddersfield, the study was completed in 2020, and has now been published in the International Journal of Music, Health, and Wellbeing.

It used statistical analysis from an original questionnaire (designed to achieve demographic information, player experience and player coping strategies) and a music performance anxiety (MPA) specific scale.

Heightened anxiety

From the data, the team identified that contesting brass band players in the UK were, as suspected from previous anecdotal evidence, experiencing heightened anxiety in comparison with non-contesting counterparts.

Moreover, contesting players were found to have experienced numerous physical symptoms when competing, such as a racing heart or increased sweating. There were also feelings of self-doubt from pressure applied by from others to perform well on a constant basis.

Although numerous coping strategies were reported to be used by both contesting and non-contesting players, such as meditation, visualisation and alcohol, it was also substantiated that preparation and practice allied to a positive mental attitude were found to be key in alleviating Music Performance Anxiety (MPA).

Hard to ignore

Speaking to 4BR, Fiona Smith told 4BR: "Although brass banding is predominantly a healthy hobby for many and a great asset in assisting most people's wellbeing, during interviews, we found it hard to ignore there was a darker side to playing, with some particularly distressing concerns regarding attitudes relating to MPA."

Fiona added: "Discussions relating to MPA were seen as something of a taboo and being open about contesting insecurities was said to be even more of an issue, with participants expressing a real possibility of receiving negative feedback from peers, and in some cases, being sacked from their position in the band."

we found it hard to ignore there was a darker side to playing, with some particularly distressing concerns regarding attitudes relating to MPAFiona Smith

Further work

Following the findings of her Masters submission, Fiona acknowledged that further in-depth work was now required to fully understand the issues explored.

"We would also recommend that future research should perhaps include the wider international brass banding community."

She concluded: "Furthermore, it would be interesting to focus on conductors so that we can better understand the organisational culture of brass bands and their competitive outlook".

Participating further

Fiona is currently undertaking a part-time PhD at the University of Huddersfield on an expansion of her master's work, aiming to explore and compare UK and Norway contesting brass band players and conductors' experiences and perceptions of being open about MPA.

If you would be interested in participating in an upcoming online focus group study, please contact Fiona directly at fiona.smith@hud.ac.uk

During her master's work. Fiona set up a Facebook research page for individuals who would like to follow her work more closely. The page is still available (and regularly updated) for those who are interested.

Further details

For access go to: https://www.facebook.com/fspsychbrassbandresearch/

For the recently published academic journal paper (abridged) version: https://tinyurl.com/36esmuap

For the full masters thesis: https://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/35413/1/FINAL%20THESIS%20-%20Smith%2C%20Fiona.pdf