Page 131 - How to Shine on Stage

have found that music students should be directly encouraged to take
care of their health and that an emphasis on the value of physical and
psychological well-being at all levels is needed. Just like athletes, musi-
cians need to focus more on building physical and psychological well-be-
ing from the very beginning of their education (Williamon et al., 2017).
The PERMA model, which reconciles hedonic and eudaimonic
well-being and builds on positive emotions, engagement, relationships,
meaning, and achievements, has also been tested in music performance
psychology (Ascenso et al., 2018). It has been observed that all five di- 129
mensions of the model have a strong presence in professional musicians,
the most prominent dimension being meaning.
A number of practically oriented research projects are currently un-
derway, investigating pre- performance routines and efficient methods of
acute stress recovery, with the primary aim of developing a programme
to boost psychological skills for successful musical performance (Wil-
liamon & Antonini Philippe, 2020). The aim of such a programme is
reportedly to improve musical performance as well as to increase the
internal satisfaction and enjoyment of performing (Weinberg & Gould, Psychological Well-Being in Musicians
2007).
Some research studies on mental well-being have also been con-
ducted on the Slovenian population of musicians. The three Sloveni-
an studies focused on flow. According to the results, several dimensions
of flow are positively correlated with measures of subjective well-being.
(Smolej Fritz & Avsec, 2007). Two surveys were conducted compara-
tively among Slovenian athletes and musicians. In a study among top
musicians and athletes, positive correlations were found between life sat-
isfaction and all nine dimensions of flow, but only the balance between
abilities and challenges predicted life satisfaction (Habe et al., 2019). Re-
sults of a research study conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic in-
dicated that, in musicians and athletes alike, life satisfaction and study
satisfaction, as well as positive and negative affect, can be predicted us-
ing the flow dimensions (Habe et al., 2021).