Attending college is a highly stressful endeavor regardless of academic major or future career goals. In addition to demanding coursework and the necessity for strong time-management skills, college introduces students to unfamiliar situational, interpersonal, and psychological stressors including financial struggles, new living situations, and worries regarding future career success (Wristen 2013). Alongside stressors common to all college students, collegiate musicians face an array of unique factors that make their chosen area of study particularly trying. Students must juggle substantial musical obligations alongside the core undergraduate curriculum, leaving less time for valuable social activities and personal relaxation. Music students are also subjected to frequent public criticism that they may internalize more readily than their peers, display higher levels of perfectionism and self-blame, and regularly experience emotional distress in the form of performance anxiety (Sternbach 2008; Wristen 2013). Studies by Lipson et al. (2016) and Spahn et al. (2004) corroborate these findings, showing that music students are more likely to experience depression, anxiety disorders, suicidal ideation, and non-suicidal self-injury than their peers in other academic areas. Though music professors cannot substitute for mental health professionals, there are steps we can take to mitigate these stressors and help students build and maintain mental wellness.

Ryan and Deci’s self-determination theory (SDT) is a model of well-being that not only provides tools for building psychological health, but also addresses the connection between well-being and autonomous, or self-endorsed, motivation (Ryan and Deci 2000). As mastering one’s instrument is a lifelong endeavor, students must be sufficiently motivated to deal with the mentally-taxing components of collegiate music study (e.g., frequent criticism, self-blame, performance anxiety, etc.). While intrinsic motivation, or motivation that stems from inherent enjoyment or interest in an activity, is most effective, the journey towards becoming an expert musician demands tedious but necessary endeavors that are generally not considered intrinsically rewarding. Luckily, SDT provides tools for increasing students’ autonomous motivation for these tasks, as autonomous motivation yields much more positive and sustained results:

Comparisons between people whose motivation is authentic…and those who are merely externally controlled for an action typically reveal that the former…have more interest, excitement, and confidence, which in turn is manifest both as enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity, and as heightened vitality, self-esteem, and general well-being. (Ryan and Deci 2000, 69)

SDT asserts that there are three psychological needs that must be fulfilled in order to promote autonomous motivation and well-being: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The first need, autonomy, arises when a person is willingly engaged in an activity they either find valuable or consider interesting. Again, as many necessary aspects of musical study are commonly not intrinsically motivated (e.g., technical exercises, performing disliked genres, etc.), we can employ autonomy-supportive behaviors to increase students’ self-endorsed motivation for these activities. Allowing students input regarding the direction of their education, for instance, encourages autonomy as it more readily provides a sense of ownership. While certain musical staples are essential for a complete education in one’s field, we can support autonomy by allowing students to choose supplemental pieces from appropriate repertoire lists. Another effective way to promote autonomous motivation for undesirable tasks is by providing rationales.  If a student believes an activity to be unnecessary or irrelevant to their goals, they are less likely to view the activity as self-determined. However, when supplied with rationale, the activity becomes more likely to be valued. For instance, we may explain that diligently practicing scale patterns will help with sight-reading in the future, as the student will develop visual pattern recognition allowing them to process information more quickly. However, we must not provide rationales that inadvertently discourage autonomy. For instance, telling a student they should practice so they do not fail their jury at the end of the year is controlling and counterproductive.

Competence refers to the innate desire to master new tasks or activities and is developed when a person successfully meets challenges beyond their current abilities. Ryan and Moller explain that, in order to successfully foster competence, a learner’s dominant experience with an activity should be success. We can facilitate this process by providing students with optimal challenges, or “...activities that are both volitional and well suited to stretching one’s ability” (Ryan and Moller 2017, 221). Scaffolding, the classic educational technique attributed to Vygotsky, provides a means of helping students achieve levels of performance they cannot yet reach individually. Approaches such as explaining, modeling, questioning, giving hints, and providing feedback fit readily into the interactive private lesson setting (van de Pol et al. 2010). In particular, providing feedback can strongly support or thwart competence depending on its content. While studies have documented that positive reinforcement of correct behavior is generally most effective at increasing competence, negative feedback is often required in order to address what a student has done incorrectly. Carpentier and Mageau (2013) found that negative feedback is more effective when it is change-oriented and meets eight criteria: feedback must be “1) empathic, 2) paired with choices of solutions, and 3) based on clear and attainable objectives,” and must “4) avoid person-related statements, 5) be paired with tips, and be delivered 6) promptly, 7) privately, and 8) in a considerate tone of voice” (425).

Relatedness is the need to feel connected with others in one’s social sphere. As many of us have likely experienced, musical activities are often naturally conducive to relatedness. This sentiment was reflected in a study by Dagaz (2012), who interviewed 25 high school marching band members to explore how ensemble participation impacted their social lives and personal identities. Dagaz identified several common themes supporting relatedness: 1) students felt accepted regardless of their appearance, sexual orientation, or various personality quirks; 2) students experienced belonging because every member of the band was vital to its success; and 3) students had the opportunity to both care for and be cared for by other ensemble members.  When compared to educators in other academic fields, applied music professors have a unique opportunity to develop positive relationships with students and can support relatedness among students by holding social events solely for the purpose of building relationships. Additionally, given that first-year students likely know very few or none of their new classmates, implementing a buddy system between these students and upperclassmen can provide them with the support they need during a time of substantial change. Beachboard et al. (2011) found that when educational cohorts, or groups of students majoring in the same field who progress through their studies together, focused on relatedness need satisfaction, students experienced higher levels of motivation and academic achievement. These findings may be replicated by treating each class within our studios as educational cohorts, maintaining the same groups of students for activities such as group lessons and technique classes.

While collegiate music educators cannot replace mental health professionals when wellness interventions are required, incorporating aspects of Ryan and Deci’s self-determination theory into pedagogy may mitigate stressors inherent to majoring in music. By supporting students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness, we can equip them with strong, effective forms of motivation in order to overcome challenges they will face in their journeys towards becoming experts in their fields, in turn leading to greater overall psychological well-being.    

 

References

Beachboard, Martine Robinson, John C. Beachboard, Wenling Li, and Stephen R. Adkison. 2011. “Cohorts and Relatedness: Self-Determination Theory as an Explanation of How Learning Communities Affect Educational Outcomes.” Research in Higher Education 52 (8): 853–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-011-9221-8.

Carpentier, Joëlle, and Geneviève A. Mageau. 2013. “When Change-Oriented Feedback Enhances Motivation, Well-Being and Performance: A Look at Autonomy-Supportive Feedback in Sport.” Psychology of Sport and Exercise 14 (3): 423–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2013.01.003.

Dagaz, Mari C. 2012. “Learning from the Band.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 41 (4): 432–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241612447813.

Lipson, Sarah Ketchen, Sasha Zhou, Blake Wagner, Katie Beck, and Daniel Eisenberg. 2015. “Major Differences: Variations in Undergraduate and Graduate Student Mental Health and Treatment Utilization Across Academic Disciplines.” Journal of College Student Psychotherapy 30 (1): 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/87568225.2016.1105657.

Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. 2000. “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being.” American Psychologist 55 (1): 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.55.1.68.

Ryan, Richard M., and Arlen C. Moller. 2017. “Competence as Central, but not Sufficient, for High-Quality Motivation.” In The Handbook of Competence and Motivation: Theory and Application, edited by Andrew J. Elliot, Carol S. Dweck, and David S. Yeager. Guilford Press.

Spahn, Claudia, Sandra Strukely, and Andreas Lehmann. 2004. “Health Conditions, Attitudes Toward Study, and Attitudes Toward Health at the Beginning of University Study: Music Students in Comparison with Other Student Populations.” Medical Problems of Performing Artists 19 (1): 26–33. https://doi.org/10.21091/mppa.2004.1005.

Sternbach, David J. 2008. “Stress in the Lives of Music Students.” Music Educators Journal 94(3): 42–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/002743210809400309.

Wristen, Brenda G. 2013. “Depression and Anxiety in University Music Students.” Update: Applications of Research in Music Education 31 (2): 20–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123312473613.

Pol, Janneke van de, Monique Volman, and Jos Beishuizen. 2010. “Scaffolding in Teacher–Student Interaction: A Decade of Research.” Educational Psychology Review 22 (3): 271–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-010-9127-6.