Pilot Study to Assess Breathing During Sight-Read Stringed Instrument Performance

Authors

Collin T. Erickson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Clark Potter MM, MFA, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Gregory Bashford Ph.D, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

5-9-2016

Document Type

Poster

Citation

Erickson CT, Potter C, Bashford G. Pilot Study to Assess Breathing During Sight-Read Stringed Instrument Performance. UCARE Poster session, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Research Fair, April 2016, Lincoln, NE.

Comments

Copyright © 2016 Collin Erickson, Clark Potter, Greg Bashford,

Abstract

For many musicians, one common occurrence during a performance is the presence of stage fright. Stage fright, though not always expressed can influence the confidence and self-esteem of a performer, and thus can affect the quality of the performance. Every day musicians are affected by stage fright, and there has been no exact solution as to how to lessen the feeling of anxiety musicians feel before performing. No data has been collected to find the correlation between the regularity of breathing and the level of stage fright that a person feels during their performance. A way to quantify regularity of breathing could be crucial to enhancing a musician's musical ability, as well as eliminating the discomfort of stage fright during performance. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively assess the regularity of breathing during a sight-read stringed instrument performance, while gaining more insight as to how stage fright is hindering the quality of the performance.