The aim of the study was to explore the sources concerning musical perspectives about performance anxiety and their influence on musicians. Since this study is a review of the available literature on this topic, I used mainly books, articles and reported case studies. The problems encountered while writing this dissertation were the lack of material available on the subject of using music to deal with musicians who suffer from performance anxiety. Musicians listen to music differently from non-musicians, and therefore, when using music to deal with their performance anxiety, a different approach would have to be used. In this dissertation four main perspectives of music and their relationship to performance anxiety are discussed. My general conclusion is that, although each theory sees performance anxiety through a different light, they all have the same general thinking about performance anxiety. Performance anxiety has to be dealt with separately and differently with each musician. Unfortunately there is no set pattern or plan that can be set down to alleviate performance anxiety. However, common symptoms and useful ways to deal with them are discussed. One very important point that I realised early on in my dissertation, was that performance anxiety has to be dealt with at an early age. Young musicians often suffer severely from performance anxiety. If this can be recognised early in musicians’ careers, they will start to learn to cope with the symptoms; it will become part of their learning process as musicians. I feel that there could be a more open approach to performance anxiety. Performance anxiety is often seen as a sign of weakness and is therefore often not discussed openly. The music therapist Pixie Holland says that people with a lot of stress in their lives are often not willing to admit that they have a problem coping with stress. Therefore, the first step to dealing with performance anxiety is for musicians to admit that they suffer from it and cannot cope with it by themselves. I recommend to musicians to read as much as possible about the subject of performance anxiety. The more one knows what happens while suffering from performance anxiety, the easier it might be to deal with it. Even though there is much documentation and literature available on the subject of using music to relieve anxiety and stress, there was only a small amount available on the specific use of music to relieve musicians’ performance anxiety. I therefore recommend further study on the effects of music on performance anxiety that musicians suffer in a musical performance situation. Copyright / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Music / unrestricted

The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate mindfulness strategies and their influence on working memory. The potential role of music in facilitating mindfulness practice is explored. Various listening exercises were investigated along with their influence on working memory (i.e. attention control). Thirty-four individuals were randomly assigned to participate in one of four listening groups: 1) mindfulness with music, 2) mindfulness without music, 3) music only, and 4) silence. Thirty-four participants engaged in a computerized digit-span task before and after the listening exercise to assess pre- and post-test working memory performance. Thirty participants were included in data-analysis due to technical errors in data collection. Differences between listening exercises were explored and comparisons were made between mindfulness, non-mindfulness, music, and non-music based exercises. Two-tailed independent samples t-tests found no significant differences in working memory when comparing mindfulness versus non-mindfulness and music versus non-music based exercises. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicated no significant differences in working memory for any of the listening conditions. Results call for further examination of control variables and methodology to explore the role of music listening in mindfulness practice. Implications for further research and contributions to music therapy and music education are considered.