The Benefits of Bonding With a Musical Instrument
The Benefits of Bonding With a Musical Instrument -
Forging a deep, intense relationship, in which two meld into one, can be a difficult, emotionally draining process. But the end result is so worth it.
Especially when that bond is between musician and instrument.
That’s the conclusion of new research from Finland, which found musicians who consider their instrument an extension of themselves are more confident, and feel less performance anxiety.
“Feeling united with the instrument indeed seems to be an advantageous relationship,” writes a research team led by Veerle Simoens of the University of Finland’s Cognitive Brain Research Unit. Its study is published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.
Simoens and co-author Mari Tervaniemi distributed a series of questionnaires to a large group of musicians in Finland, a small nation renowned for producing important classical composers and performers.
They received responses from 116 students and 204 professionals. Eighty-three percent were classical musicians; the remainder were divided among such genres as pop-rock, folk-ethnic, and jazz.