There are three qualities that a successful performer must have: a) a technical control of their instrument, b) good taste in using this technique musically and artistically and c) the courage to do this in front of an audience. There are few activities that can produce tension and anxiety as quickly and as thoroughly as performing in public.

Most performers have experienced performance anxiety in some form and to various degrees. This fear may be experienced while preparing for a performance, for days or even weeks before hand, and not just while performing. It can be experienced in the present (stage fright) as apprehension (fear of what could happen) and arousal (anticipation). Performance anxiety is no different from general anxiety. Feelings of fear and apprehension are accompanied by increased and prolonged physiological arousal. Severe anxiety is where the arousal is too high for optimal performance. This arousal may be normal and temporary, or abnormal and long lasting and symptoms can be cognitive, behavioral and physiological. Research (Steptoe 1989) shows that the processes underlying musical performance anxiety indicate that cognitive, behavioral and physiological factors are involved.

Physiological reactions to stress and anxiety include difficulty concentrating, loss of appetite, increased heart rate, and shortness of breath, dizziness, butterflies, shaking knees, shaking hands and sweaty palms. Generally the physiological symptoms are part of the fight or flight reflex. Measurements taken during studies of performance anxiety also showed raised levels of adrenaline and noradrenalin in the urine and this causes the hyper-alertness mentioned previously. This indicates activation of the nervous system (Deutsch 1999) and these physiological reactions interfere with performing by making it difficult to control finger actions and breathing.

Cognitive symptoms of anxiety include fear of making mistakes and feelings of inadequacy and worrying about things happening. Behavioral symptoms are not being able to do things, which normally happen naturally.

The three components of performance anxiety (physiological, cognitive and behavioral as mentioned previously) are the same as in general anxiety and are not always co-related (Lehrer in Grindea 1995). Sometimes the symptoms of performance anxiety come from one group and at other times all three. Interestingly, performance anxiety seems to affect more females than males (Deutsch 1999). Abel et al (1990) puts this down to the theory that males are less able to express their feelings than females.

Levels of performance anxiety vary considerably between musicians, as do the effects that anxiety has on their performances. Age seems to be significant in the matter of performance anxiety suggesting that as they get older, professional musicians are more able to cope with stress (Clarke et al. 2000). The development of strategies for coping may increase with age and experience. Inability to communicate is usually not due to lack of desire or lack of ability or talent but is usually the result of physical tension, flawed mental attitudes and social pressures. The one thing that is not clear is whether physical tensions cause the flawed mental attitudes or do flawed mental attitudes cause the physical tensions? Further research may shed light on this.

The transactional model of stress suggests that anxiety occurs when an individual believes that they do not have the ability to handle the demands of a situation (Reactive anxiety). Studies have indicated that high levels of anxiety are related to low levels of confidence (Abel et al 1990). Mastery of task and anxiety are related. Research has found that if the task is simple or well learned so that the correct responses are dominant, then an audience enhances task performances (Zajonc as cited in Lloyd & Mayes 1999). If the task is poorly learned such that incorrect responses are likely to be dominant, then an audience inhibits task performance. Therefore the general effect of an audience is to enhance the likelihood of dominant responses. The argument therefore is that the presence of others increases drive and thereby enhances the performance of well-learned tasks and inhibits the performance of poorly learned tasks.

Picard (1999) states that literature on Performance Anxiety is contradictory. Some research stresses Performance Anxiety's detrimental effects while others deal with the positive effects but most research so far on the causes of anxiety, has focused on brain processes and psychological factors such as cognitive processes and learning processes. From the earliest work on anxiety, researchers have consistently reported a negative correlation between high levels of anxiety and achievement. The effects of anxiety on achievement are quite clear. Anxiety can be both the cause and effect of failure. Performers play badly because they are anxious and their poor performance increases their anxiety.

But it is suggested that some anxiety is good for us as performers (Adaptive anxiety). It may actually help us to perform better in some situations (Hallam 1998), and while anxiety can be negative, musicians tend to respond to anxiety rather than be affected by it - indeed many performers argue that they need to be aroused in order to perform well (Steptoe 1989) and the Yerkes-Dodson law (Eysenck 1998) states that performance is enhanced with mild levels of anxiety.

However performance begins to suffer if the anxiety becomes too great (Maladaptive anxiety). Experience of traumatic events producing anxiety has a long history in psychology. One bad experience of performing leads to another. The experience becomes internalized through a process of conditioning and so the fear is reproduced in later situations. Anxiety becomes a response to something that may happen and not a response to something that does happen. This is the Catastrophe Theory and it was originally a mathematical model (Hardy & Parfitt 1991). The 'vicious circle' becomes possible where the perception of mistakes leads to the increase of anxiety, leading to more mistakes until the performance collapses. Anxiety and stress may also affect the self-reflective capacity that we as human beings have (Gross 1995). This in turn may influence self-esteem and faith in one's ability, which may also increase the anxiety, felt, and increases the likelihood of pathological anxiety developing.

So, why is anxiety so common - particularly since it is an unpleasant experience? Like most psychological disorders, general anxiety tends to run in families. Torgerson (as cited in Eysenck 1998) found that anxiety states were around twice as common in close relatives. His evidence from twin studies suggested that there might be a genetic basis to general anxiety but it did not appear to be a strong influence. Kemp (1996) claims that performance anxiety is most likely to affect those who have a tendency to neuroticism and that musicians have more anxious, neurotic personalities than most of the general population. It is difficult though, to assess whether this is because a nervous disposition helps you become a musician or if musical performance leads to anxiety. So is anxiety a personality trait shared by those who become musicians or is there something about performing that leads to pathological anxiety? In other words is anxiety a 'trait' (due to personality) or is it a 'state' (due to the particular circumstance)?

This is a difficult question to answer. Steptoe, A. & Fidler, H. (1987) found that there was a direct correlation between performance anxiety and neuroticism (a personality 'trait') leading us to believe that there may be a connection between personality and performance anxiety. Eysenck (Robinson 2000) also proposed that personality was made up of many traits and that these traits give rise to tendencies to behave in particular ways, including being anxious. In addition, Kemp (1996) thinks that it is important to make a distinction between 'trait' anxiety, (your tendency to be anxious) and 'state' anxiety (Which is when a person's anxiety levels are affected by a situation.). However in reality the difference between 'state' and 'trait' is not as clear-cut. A person's tendency to anxiety will influence the level of response they give to a situation but in fact, the situation may be stressful and the performer will react to it and not their innate tendency to be anxious. Some performers are anxious in many situations while some situations are especially anxiety provoking. (State anxiety) Skinner's belief (Robinson 2000) was that our environment determined our behavior and we should also be aware that the mere physical presence of some people could have an influence on thoughts, feelings and actions whether or not the person is involved with the performer as another group member.

Many researchers (e.g. Hamann & Sobaje 1983) believe that far from being a negative influence, 'State' anxiety (When a person's anxiety levels are affected by a situation) has motivational and drive properties that are of benefit to performance. Kemp (1996) also thinks anxiety can be motivational. Arousal can be enhanced by anxiety and therefore heightens the degrees of sensitivity and imagination. In other words, a small amount of anxiety is not only normal but also it is helpful and necessary to perform tasks more efficiently. Hamann and Sobaje (1983) showed that levels of 'state' anxiety could actually assist a performance. Clearly this correlates with research (Steptoe 1989 and Hallam 1998) and the Yerkes-Dodson law (Eysenck 1998) as mentioned before.

Hamann (1982) also managed to demonstrate a relationship between trait and state anxiety: performers with high trait anxiety experienced greater increases in state anxiety than those with lower trait anxiety. Moreover, Hamann found that students who had a high level of mastery on their instrument benefited more from the high levels of state anxiety then those who shared the same levels of trait anxiety but possessed low mastery. This confirms Zajonc's research (as cited in Lloyd & Mayes 1999) mentioned previously, but clearly there is still opportunity for more research.

So, the causes of anxiety can be many different things and the factors that may contribute to performance anxiety are many: too much practice, too little practice (Reactive anxiety) fear of illness, other people's expectations, the pursuit of technical perfection, performing ('state' and pathological anxiety) and a predisposed tendency to anxiety. (Trait anxiety and maladaptive anxiety) Identifying the cause of your anxiety is important and identifying which group your symptoms come from is significant in deciding which 'therapy' to pursue. Anxiety is an intrinsic part of human nature and a lot of research has been focused on how to harness stress and turn it into a positive force. If you learn why something happens, it usually becomes less frightening, (Jones 2000) but unfortunately tension plays a disproportionate part of everyday life for many performing artists and they have to find a way to cope.