Theorizing and managing Music Performance Anxiety: A Symphony of Subtypes

This paper proposes a hybrid theoretical framework for music performance anxiety which incorporates dimensional and categorical conceptualizations. Five categories or subtypes of music performance anxiety - skill deficit, trait anxious, social-evaluative, somatic dominant, and trauma/shame-based aetiologies - are described. This framework incorporates all existing theories within each category, highlighting their core tenets and contributions to understanding this multifaceted condition. A review of treatment across four distinct domains - cognitive-behavioral, physiological/biofeedback/relaxation/mindfulness, virtual reality and attachment informed/psychodynamic - is presented, concluding with matchmaking causes (subtypes) with treatments. This paper serves as a foundational resource for further investigation and therapeutic development of the theory of music performance anxiety.