Bridging Realities

design possibilities for virtual music performance coaching

Abstract

The University of Melbourne's commitment to the ASE Strategy themes - Arts and Culture, Digital Sensibility, Curriculum of Quality and Relevance, Community in which students strive, Valuing excellence in education, and Environments and systems that enable innovation - serves as the foundation for our presentation. Our project aligns with these themes by extending learning into virtual spaces, fostering community through development of mental skills for performance, and nurturing innovation in educational practices. This initiative is grounded in research-based learning experiences (Cochrane et al., 2023; Osborne, Glasser & Loveridge, 2022) and aims to democratise access to performance venues and expert support, potentially reaching students from diverse backgrounds.

Performance anxiety is a prevalent issue among musicians in training. Our project utilises simulation training to facilitate the acquisition and rehearsal of performance routines for anxiety management. By creating semi-immersive simulations that replicate pre-performance and concert stage environments, complete with audience projections, we provide musicians with an authentic transitional space between imaginal and in-vivo exposure. This approach enables musicians to adapt to real-life stressors within a safe setting, both physically and psychologically.

In Phase 1, students (consenting n=7) learned and practiced a centering pre-performance routine to regulate anxiety. They then performed a 2-minute piece from memory in a virtual concert hall using the software OvationVR, complemented by live in-situ performance coaching. We measured heart rate, subjective units of distress, and confidence levels throughout the exposure task. Phase 2 involves the development of a bespoke virtual music simulation, co-designed with students through a user-centered methodology.

Phase 1 findings indicate that the virtual environment's avatar realism effectively elicited cognitive and affective responses associated with performance anxiety, such as the sensation of being judged. The centering routine's efficacy was demonstrated by decreased anxiety and increased confidence levels (subjective ratings out of 100) between two virtual performances before a simulated audience within a semester: Time 1 (weeks 4-5) anxiety M=40.5 (SD=24.4); confidence M=66.3 (SD=14.1); Time 2 (weeks 11-12) anxiety M=34.2 (SD=20.6); confidence M=77.0 (SD=6.6). Phase 2 is currently underway.

Our project contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning by offering insights into immersive reality applications for managing performance-related stress. The principles derived from our work can inform interventions across disciplines that involve high-stress scenarios, supporting the development of a design framework to enhance performance in higher education.

To engage the audience, we propose an interactive demonstration where a volunteer experiences our VR educational intervention in real-time. Assisted by our team, the participant will be invited to wear the VR headset and undergo a virtual coaching session. The audience will witness the intervention via projection, and the volunteer will share their experience, fostering a reflective conversation on the impact of immersive simulations in education.

References

Cochrane, T., Galvin, K., Buskes, G., Lam, L., Rajagopal, V., Glasser, S., Osborne, M. S., Loveridge, B., Davey, C., John, S., Townsin, L. & Moss, T. (2023). Design-Based Research: Enhancing pedagogical design. In T. Cochrane, V. Narayan, C. Brown, K. MacCallum, E. Bone, C. Deneen, R. Vanderburg, & B. Hurren (Eds.), People, partnerships and pedagogies. Proceedings ASCILITE 2023. Christchurch (pp. 351-356). https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2023.489

Osborne, M. S., Glasser, S., & Loveridge, B. (2022). ‘It’s not so scary anymore. It’s actually exhilarating’: A proof-of-concept study using virtual reality technology for music performance training under pressure. In S. Wilson, N. Arthars, D. Wardak, P. Yeoman, E. Kalman, & D. Y. T. Liu (Eds.), Reconnecting relationships through technology. Proceedings of the 39th International Conference on Innovation, Practice and Research in the Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education, ASCILITE 2022 in Sydney: e22116. https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2022.116