Getting into the musical zone: Trait emotional intelligence and amount of practice predict flow in pianists
Frontiers in Psychology May 22, 2014 Manuela Maria Marin, Joydeep eBhattacharya
Flow, an extremely focused state of consciousness linked to peak performance and pleasure, was studied in 76 piano performance students. Daily practice and trait emotional intelligence predicted flow experience, while gender, age, duration of training, and age of first training did not. Winning a prize in a piano competition was predicted by daily practice and age training began, but a positive relationship between flow and high achievement was not supported. A self-developed questionnaire suggested that structural and compositional features of musical pieces and related emotional expressions may facilitate flow. The findings highlight the role of emotion in flow during music performance.