Gerir a ansiedade na performance musical de crianças e adolescentes: uma proposta metodológica assente na exposição gradual

Anxiety represents one of the major influencing factors of the quality of musical performance, being detrimental when uncontrolled. Its incidence is verified in professional musicians, amateurs and music students, including children and adolescents. The main goal of this study was to develop a strategy for music performance anxiety (MPA) management in children and youth, with the participation of five students enrolled in a specialized artistic education school in the north of Portugal. A methodology based on the gradual exposure technique (LAST 2006) was developed comprising the construction, on the part of the students, of a hierarchical list of ten experiences causing anxiety, followed by the execution of the activities at hand and their evaluation. It was intended that through repeated exposition to increasing MPA levels provoking situations, the participants would become familiar with anxiety, learning to manage and recognize it as a constructive part of the performance. The data collection instruments used were: semi- structured interviews; initial, after session and final questionnaires to students and evaluative questionnaires to their teachers; and direct observation and registers through logbook. The results of the intervention showed that this methodology had a positive impact, since there was a reduction of anxiety levels of the participants by the end of the study, when compared to their initial state. There was also an increase of the levels of self-confidence, task preparation and motivation for public performance.