Engaging Audiences in Music Performance: A Positive Psychology Approach
The "E" in PERMA Part 1: Differentiating Between Solitary and Social Flow
Christopher Peterson, one of the founding figures of positive psychology and former psychology professor at the University of Michigan, summarized the field of positive psychology in three words:
Other people matter.
In institutional based music performances do other people matter? Have you attended a concert where it felt like an invisible wall stood between you and the musicians on stage? Or have you been the musician on the other side of that wall? I have attended countless recitals and concerts where no words were spoken. Occasionally, the names of works and composers are voiced, and sometimes background information on the meaning for a particular work might also be shared. Generally, however, the music is thought to speak for itself, the audience is expected to quietly listen with appreciation, and applause is to occur at appropriate times.
A high school science teacher and member of one of my adult concert bands once shared with me that he was disappointed in their high school band director because she had not even once spoken to the audience at their concerts. I knew of her and considered her to be a little shy, quiet, and somewhat introverted, however, quite competent. Oh my, I thought. This sounds a little too familiar… I used to speak as little as possible to audiences. Partly because I am shy, quiet, and introverted, but mostly because I was doing what my role models did. In the groups that I played in throughout public school and many music degrees, there was very limited personal communication from the stage to audiences.
I did recognize early in my career a need to engage with audiences and began to purposely add concert elements such as video, choreography, and listener participation to help grab the audience’s attention, however, these elements were designed more to entertain rather than to engage. To engage implies some level of active participation. The audience engagement approaches that I began to implement came from my past experiences (things that I watched and from which I could model, imitate, and improvise) such as from drum and bugle corps, speech and theater, and art in addition to my desire to create meaningful experiences.
Through all of the hours and work that my students and I invested in designing ways to entertain audiences, we were all still just performing for, and not engaging with, the audiences. It would have taken less work, and possibly have been more meaningful, to take a moment to look the audience in the eye and say just a little more than, “Thank you for coming.” With all of my intentional work on reaching out to audiences, how did I not consider developing a practice of speaking to my audiences?
It is simple. We teach how we were taught, we learn from watching others, and nowhere in any of my degrees or programs did I have any models, instruction, guidance, or practice in purposefully addressing and engaging an audience.
If it isn’t being taught, then why are there some who seem to naturally engage audiences so well? There may be programs that include such content in their curriculum. Please share a comment below if you are familiar with such a program so that we can cheer them on. Another consideration is that it is taught at home for those who happen to have this opportunity.
The 7th Grade Chairman of the Board
A few years ago I developed and taught a music technology program for a middle school that had a particular need for students to connect with each other across socioeconomic and racial divisions. I vividly remember one 7th grade student during a socializing activity walking up to other students, each time straightening his posture, putting his hand out for a firm handshake, lifting his chin a bit followed by a slight lift of the eyebrows, and then smiling while offering a pleasant greeting and completing the handshake. If you replaced his kid attire with a suit he could have walked into any executive meeting ready to work.
This was not a display of any special talent or giftedness. The student had learned this skill from watching and modeling a family member, and probably from practicing with family as well. Others can learn the same skill, just as I watched his friends practice by imitating his confident approach and handshake, and just as we can all learn to engage with audiences if we are taught the skills, exposed to models from which to learn, and provided opportunities to practice. Yes, even us introverts.
When I began my study of positive psychology for a research project many years ago, the different perspective revealed new ways to frame teaching, creating, performing, and advocating in music. In particular, positive psychology has much to offer for managing performance anxiety, but performance anxiety is connected to performance design and how we view ourselves in relation to our audience. Using positive psychology for designing engaging musical performances has the potential to heighten the experiences of both the musicians and listeners while reducing performance anxiety.
What is Positive Psychology?
Positive psychology is a relatively new area of psychology that focuses on the future and possibilities for creating a meaningful and thriving life. In contrast, traditional psychology focuses more on past experiences, problems, and mental illness. We can view approaches to music teaching, learning, creating, listening, and performing in a similar way, as having two contrasting approaches. The traditional approach focuses primarily on identifying problems and suggesting fixes. A contrasting, positive psychology approach not only focuses on what is working and meaningful, but also includes a perspective that the individual musician or listener, in being a unique and creative human being, has a valid and valued contribution to what is considered “right”.
A traditional approach is particularly problematic and anxiety inducing in subjective fields such as music because of the multiple existing perspectives on what is “right” or “good”. I dare say that most of us have experienced learning something the “right” way in music only to be told by someone else later that we “learned it all wrong.” A positive psychology perspective allows for flexibility and individual differences and understandings. In approaching both life and music, there is a balance between a traditional fixing approach and pursuing individual goals and interests for achieving a flourishing life or a transcending musical experience.
PERMA and Flow as Concepts of Positive Psychology
Martin Seligman (creator of the PERMA model) and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (creator of the concept of Flow) together with Christopher Peterson are considered co-founders of the positive psychology movement which is based on the pursuance of a thriving life full of meaning and purpose.
PERMA
Seligman describes a research based theory in his 2011 book Flourish: The New Positive Psychology and the Search for Well-being that describes five areas shown to contribute to a flourishing life. Seligman’s five pillars include 1) Positive emotions, 2) Engagement, 3) Relationships, 4) Meaning, and 5) Achievement, and collectively are referred to as PERMA. Each of these five pillars can be considerations for designing audience engagement in music performance (See here for a review of PERMA concepts in music performance through performance design by the band U2).
The “E” in PERMA is Flow
Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of “Flow” is the basis for the “E” or “Engagement” in Seligman’s PERMA model (apparently PFRMA wasn’t as easy to say). Flow was conceptualized earlier than PERMA and has been more widely referred to in arts and music. Consider these definitions and how Flow might look, sound and feel in music performance:
Flow is a state in which an individual is completely absorbed in activity without reflective self-consciousness but with a deep sense of control. (Engeser et. al., 2021)
Flow is associated with effortless attention and a sense of automaticity. (Harmat et. al., 2021)
Solitary Flow in Music
Flow experienced by an individual is referred to as solitary flow (Walker, 2021). Csikszentmihalyi (2009; Moneta, 2021) describes the flow state experience as including the following:
Complete concentration and focus on the task
Sense of control of self
Merging of action and awareness
Feeling autotelic (internally driven)
Loss of self-consciousness and focus outside of self
Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down)
Clear Goals
Availability of immediate and clear feedback
Balance between challenge and skill
When a musician experiences "flow" during a musical performance, it often represents a state of optimal engagement and creativity. Flow is characterized by a deep sense of immersion in an activity, a feeling of being in the zone, and a seamless connection between one's actions and their surroundings. Achieving a state of flow in a musical performance can be elusive and doesn't occur in every practice or performance session. However, when it does happen, it's a profoundly rewarding experience for the musician and can result in memorable and moving music for the audience. Musicians often strive to create the conditions that promote flow, such as practice, preparation, and a deep connection to their art. I suggest that employing elements of PERMA and positive psychology into musical practice and performance can also contribute to entering a flow state.
Consider this possibility: Less anxiety can be related to achieving flow in performance (Spahn et al., 2021). Focussing on others and less on self is an element of achieving flow. Working towards social flow promotes an awareness of others with less focus on self, perhaps decreasing anxiety, and increasing performance level and flow states.
Social Flow in Music
Social flow is defined as a flow experience shared by a group of people. Those experiencing social flow report it as enjoyable with a wish to repeat the experience. Musically, social flow is reported as occurring in both small and large music ensembles, though smaller groups and teams are reported as finding social flow more easily (Walker, 2021). Audiences mentioned in social flow research are described as witnesses to social flow rather than as being part of the flow experience. However, Walker (2021, p. 263) describes social flow as “both a cause and an effect of synchronized performance within a human group” which can be viewed in audiences entraining with a music performance.
Walker adds the following list of social flow conditions to the conditions list associated with solitary flow:
The performance must be made up of a functional human group
The competency of the group is able to meet the given challenges
The properties of the group, more so than the individuals, enable social flow
Then, Walker adds theories of group processes:
There is a shift from a self-centered to a group-centered focus
Individuals have an abiding attention to the behaviors of other group members
Group members tend to share their emotions during and after the event
Consider the previous listed conditions and processes while watching the Jacob Collier video. Do you believe that social flow is exemplified in this concert excerpt?
For those of you keeping up with previous Musician Coach articles, note the use of the word gratitude in the following comment made about the Collier concert (as well as comments related to social flow conditions and processes):
Walker theorizes the following outcomes of social flow:
A sense of connection with others
Social and personal identity merge
Individuals gain feelings of being powerful and invincible
Positive emotions such as happiness, joy, and elation are experienced
Positive mental health is experienced (related to elements of positive psychology)
Despair and dread are experienced when someone from the group is rejected
Grief is felt when the experience comes to an end or the group dissolves
Audiences synchronize with each other in social flow, and with performing musicians through entrainment (Clayton et. al., 2020), and through collective engagement. By including PERMA elements of positive psychology in the design of musical performance, we can potentially encourage social flow as part of the overall planned concert experience.
Upcoming: Social Flow as Audience Engagement
A following series of articles will look at specific examples of using PERMA in positive psychology to design elements of social flow as audience engagement.
Working through coaching activities with a friend or group can broaden your scope of awareness while building personal relationships.
Activities for comments, discussion, and/or personal journaling:
Think of a particularly memorable and engaging concert that you attended as an audience member (or attend a concert with intent to notice your engagement). Make a list of the physical and mental indicators of your engagement. What performance elements can you identify as contributing to the experience?
A concert engagement memory of mine is not of a concert that I attended, but rather of someone so moved at a band concert that they shared with me their audience experience. The band director was Gene Bechen at Hempstead High School, currently a professor at St. Ambrose University, where he asked his band students to write their parents a sealed note to open and read at a planned and particularly emotional time during their performance. The activity included promoting emotions of gratitude and awe as ways to engage the parents in the performance. Such an activity exemplifies the opportunity to engage audiences in music performance utilizing positive psychology. Has anyone shared a particularly memorable concert experience with you, and can you identify the meaningful or engaging elements?
One director that I played for had his concerts nicknamed the “death concerts” by my classmates because of his purposeful programing of all dark literature, performed without communication to the audience, and for the purpose of evoking strong emotion. People would walk out of the concerts depleted. Positive psychology is not about always being happy, but it is about positively experiencing and embracing all aspects of the human experience. What are your thoughts about programming to evoke emotion in contrast to programming to engage?
Share your activity answers, thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below to add to The Musician Coach community experience.