| Abstrakt: | The aim of the study is to learn the psychological mechanisms leading to health in a group of
musically gifted young people, whose learning is linked to many situations which involve the
musician’s psychophysical potential, leading to the experience of a specific type of stress - stage
fright.
In the literature, there is a lot of information indicating the healthy role of music and
music activity, which is reflected both in the somatic and psychic state of the individual
(Klimas-Kuchtowa, 2012, Sacher 2007, Wrona-Polański, Polańska and Polański, 2012). On the
other hand, empirical reports demonstrate that musicians already experience health problems at
the stage of music education (Brandfonbrener, 2009; Spencer and Śmieszchalska, 2013), which
become more serious each year of musical practice (Ramella, Fonte and Converti, 2014).Music
education imposes many requirements that engage the student's full potential - his physical and
mental capabilities (Gluska, 2010, Śmieszchalska, 2015). The system of music education is
recognized to be highly stressful due to the psychophysical requirements that must be met by
the learner (Jankowski, 2001, Sternbach 1995, for Kenny et al. 2004), and its character is related
to many situations in which a teenage musician experiences stage fright, also known as
performance anxiety (including hearings, end-of-term examinations, contests, performances,
music projects).
Understanding stage fright in terms of the biomedical model - as a phenomenon that
affects the musician’s health and functioning only adversely is reductionistic. Public
performance (including preparation and retrospection) is an element of young learners’ daily
activity - for some of them it is a situation in which they can present their skills and which leads
to their artistic and personal development (Raducanu, 2010, Wrona-Polańska, 2004, 2008;
2012; 2014). For this reason, in the discourse, stage fright and its consequences have been
discussed, placing health, not a disease, at the centre of attention. In the work, the Wrona-
Polańska’s (2004, 2008, 2014, 2016) systematic understanding of fright stage has been adopted.
According to which, it is a specific type of stress related to public performance (understood as
a stressful situation in which there is a relationship between the performer and the situation of
the performance - between the individual's abilities and the requirements of the situation), so it
can be favourable to health.
The theoretical basis of the research was the Functional Health Model developed by
Helena Wrona-Polańska (2003), in which health is a function of creative coping with stress,
dependent on subjective resources, which are key psychological mechanisms conducive to
health (Wrona-Polanska, 2003). Resources lead to health through three paths - the competence
path (through effective coping) and the emotional path (through positive emotions), which
balance the stress path, threatening health.
The study involved 132 students of state music school (2nd level). In accordance with
the Functional Health Model, in order to determine the level of health, a method of standardized
interview, based on Wrona-Polanska's Stressful Events Questionnaire (2003) and prepared for
the purposes of this work, as well as the questionnaire methods to measure anxiety level (which
is an indicator of stage fright level), styles of coping with stress and resources have been used.
The results have confirmed the Functional Health Model, indicating that the health of
talented young musicians is determined by the subjective resources that influence health
directly and indirectly (through experiencing the optimal level of stage fright and counteracting
stage fright management by focusing on emotions that threatens health).
The results obtained may be a guideline of how to create the health of talented
musicians. Having demonstrated the vital role of resources to the health of the students in
question, the importance of taking the systemic measures aimed at promoting a healthy family
and school, creating conditions conducive to education, and developing individual ways of
promoting health have been pointed out. |