An investigation on the effects of psychological traumas on instrument playing performance

In this study, it was aimed to examine the cognitive and physical effects of the traumatic events that the performers experienced during the conservatory education process, both family and trainer, on the instrument playing performance, as well as the coping methods that the performers developed in long and intense training processes or graduated without developing them in order to get rid of these effects. The research was planned as a case study, and a semi-structured interview form created with open-ended questions was used to collect data. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with nineteen performers who graduated from Izmir Dokuz Eylul State Conservatory, using online platform channels. The data obtained from these interviews were divided into codes and themes by content analysis method. As a result of the research, the traumatic events that the performers who received conservatory training from an early age have encountered both family and trainer-related traumatic events and dramatic regressions in the process of playing performance. In addition, while the performers did not experience high levels of excitement and anxiety during the stage or exams in the first years of starting the instrument, it was concluded that their stage performance anxiety levels increased with the destructive criticisms they faced both in their family and education processes over time. Another finding is that most of the performers encountered pain in the neck and back, as well as nerve compression disorders during the concert or exam preparation processes.