Relaxed drummers, stressed violinists
Israeli researchers have investigated the extent to which stage fright and flow experiences among orchestral musicians depend on social circumstances. Their results show that percussionists seem to be more in flow than string players, and soloists more than tutti players.
Susanna Cohen and Ehud Bodner from Israel's Bar-Ilan University examined 202 orchestral musicians in terms of their relationship between performance stress on the one hand and flower experiences on the other.
The evaluations showed that principals and first soloists are more in flow than second soloists and tutti players. Second soloists (associate principals) struggle with more stress than first soloists, and percussionists are more in flow than string players. According to the findings, older musicians are also more in flow than younger ones.
Original article:
Susanna Cohen and Ehud Bodner: "Flow and music performance anxiety: The influence of contextual and background variables", Musicae Scientiae, April 2019, https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864919838600
