Date of Award

Spring 5-11-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Major

Expressive Therapies

First Advisor

Leticia Prieto Álvarez

Abstract

Music performance anxiety (MPA) can be defined as manifestations of stress when faced with the task of performing in front of an audience and it impacts musicians of all ages and degrees of experience. MPA is a complex issue influenced by psychological, physiological, behavioral, environmental, and social factors and can affect one’s confidence, self-esteem, enjoyment of music, and career choices. This study investigated the development of methods in music therapy to reduce MPA and strengthen a musician’s relationship with performance. Through my own experiences in autoethnographic, mixed methods research, I explored the use of music and imagery and improvisation to support musicians’ well-being in musical performance and potential reduction of MPA. This study utilized a pre- and post-test design and used musical performance experiences as the metric to which the effects of the music therapy methods were measured. This process revealed the value of music therapy for performing musicians to explore internal resources and access enjoyment in the performance task. These findings hold implications for how MPA is approached by clinicians and musicians and contributed a concrete method that can be utilized with performing musicians experiencing MPA. There are further implications for the treatment of anxiety related to general performance tasks beyond musical performance as well, and this study sought to connect these experiences to future research.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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