Flow Theory and the Development of Musical Performance Skills.

TLDR

The study applies Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory to investigate how motivational and social factors influence the development of musical performance skills in young musicians within their everyday life context. Using Experience Sampling Method, the authors collected real‑time reports from 60 musicians aged 12‑16 across high‑achieving, moderate‑achieving, and non‑specialist school groups to assess thoughts and activities during a typical week. Results show that high‑achieving musicians practiced more and reported greater flow during musical activities than moderate achievers, indicating that flow experiences differ by achievement level and have implications for music education.

Abstract

The present study adopts the theoretical and methodological approach used in theory proposed by Csikszentmihalyi (1975, 1993) to examine motivational and social factors associated with young musicians ' development of musical performance skills concurrent with, and in the context of, their everyday life experience. To achieve this aim, the study employed innovative methodology, the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), developed by Csikszentmihalyi to record young musicians ' descriptions of thoughts and activities at random moments during the course of a typical week. The experiences of three groups of young musicians aged 12-16 years who were attending two different schools in the North of England were examined: high achievers from a specialist music school (n =20), moderate achievers from a specialist music school (n-20), and young musicians from a non-specialist state school (n=20). In line with previous research, the results indicated that high achievers spent significantly more time practising during the course of the week than average achievers from both schools. Analyses of data collected using the ESM revealed a significant difference in the extent to which the young musicians in each group reported flow experiences when engaged in musical compared with non-musical activities. In particular, high achievers at the music school and students at the non-specialist school reported more flow experience when practising than the moderate achievers at the music school. The findings are discussed in terms of the implications for music education.