The major aim of the research is to analyse the type and complexity of emotions which adolescent musicians experience before giving a solo music performance. Another aim is to explore the function of these emotions for performance quality. Just before a school concert, students filled out The UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (UMACL). Right after the performance, both the performing students and competent referees used The Performance Evaluation Scale. The results show that musicians’ pre -performance emotional state is dominated by ambivalent emotions of hope and sadness, as well as joy and anxiety. As a result of a cluster analysis, six clusters were obtained which defined emotional states before the performance: high music performance anxiety, moderate music performance anxiety, calm, mixed emotions, joy with background fatigue, and excitement. The findings show the functional significance of positive emotions and mixed emotions for performance quality.

This paper investigates attachment themes in the life history narratives of professional orchestral musicians and their relationship with music performance anxiety (MPA). Narrative accounts derived from open -ended in -depth interviews of ten professional musicians were analysed from an attachment perspective using content and thematic analysis. We hypothesized that the performance setting re -triggers unprocessed feelings related to early attachment experiences, especially when traumatic, and that defensive manoeuvres against their re -emergence into consciousness are activated. The interviews identified early relational trauma as a relevant etiological factor in the MPA -symptomatic of the musicians studied. A case is made for the addition of an attachment -informed life -course model rather than a purely symptomatic approach to understanding and treating severe MPA and other intra -personal psychodynamics of performing musicians.

Pure-tone audiometry (PTA) and transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) were determined in 57 classical orchestral musicians along with a questionnaire inquiry using a modified Amsterdam Inventory for Auditory Disability and Handicap ((m)AIADH). Data on musicians' working experience and sound pressure levels produced by various groups of instruments were also collected. Measured hearing threshold levels (HTLs) were compared with the theoretical predictions calculated according to ISO 1999:1990. High frequency notched audiograms typical for noise-induced hearing loss were found in 28% of the subjects. PTA and TEOAE consistently showed a tendency toward better hearing in females vs. males, younger vs. older subjects, and lower- vs. higher-exposed to orchestral noise subjects. Audiometric HTLs were better than theoretical predictions in the frequency range of 2000-4000 Hz. The (m)AIADH scores indicated some hearing difficulties in relation to intelligibility in noisy environment in 26% of the players. Our results indicated a need to implement a hearing conservation program for this professional group.

The overall purpose of this study was to assess hearing status in professional orchestral musicians. Standard pure-tone audiometry (PTA) and transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) were per- formed in 126 orchestral musicians. Occupational and non-occupational risk factors for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) were identified in questionnaire inquiry. Data on sound pressure levels produced by various groups of instruments were also collected and analyzed. Measured hearing threshold levels (HTLs) were compared with the theoretical predictions calculated according to ISO 1999 (1990). Musicians were exposed to excessive sound at weekly noise exposure levels of for 81-100 dB (mean: 86.6±4.0 dB) for 5-48 years (mean: 24.0±10.7 years). Most of them (95%) had hearing corresponds to grade 0 of hearing impairment (mean hearing threshold level at 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz lower than 25 dB). However, high frequency notched audiograms typical for noise-induced hearing loss were found in 35% of cases. Simultaneously, about 35% of audiograms showed typical for NIHL high frequency notches (mainly occurring at 6000 Hz). When analyzing the impact of age, gender and noise exposure on hearing test results both PTA and TEOAE consistently showed better hearing in females vs. males, younger vs. older musicians. But higher exposure to orchestral noise was not associated with poorer hearing tests results. The musician’s audiometric hearing threshold levels were poorer than equivalent non-noise-exposed population and better (at 3000 and 4000 Hz) than expected for noise-exposed population according to ISO 1999 (1990). Thus, music impairs hearing of orchestral musicians, but less than expected from noise exposure.