Connection with other musicians increases motivation
for learning, performance and well-being.
When my son entered high school, he joined the cross-country running team. This came somewhat as a surprise to me as he had only ever gone on a run a few times in his life (although he had played soccer) and training required discipline and physical exertion that was not his natural inclination. But he had joined because his friend had. The closeness that my son experienced with that group of young men sharing a regular activity motivated him to persist in it for 3 years.
When his high school cross-country career ended, so did his running. In college, his recreational pusuits shifted to downhill skiing, an activity he loves and finds more intrinsically motivating, and he built a new circle of friends around it. That group even got him interested in hiking, which he previously thought of as little more than pointless effort just to get up a hill.
The Need to Belong
In the last post, I talked about how our need for autonomy (i.e., the ability to act according to our interests and values) - the "A" in the ABCs of motivation - is a powerful motivator. The need for belonging is an even stronger source of motivation because it is rooted in our most basic, primal survival instincts.
If a baby does not have a stable connection to a caregiver, it fails to thrive and can even die. Throughout history, people who have been cut off from their tribes or communities were made vulnerable to predators and other threats. So belonging to a group for protection and access to resources was a matter of life and death.
Satisfaction of the psychological need to belong (or relatedness) is satisfied by the connection one experiences to another individual and as a member of a group. (1) This need to belong is considered to be the fundamental driver of human motivation by the most influential and robustly researched theories of motivation - Self Determination Theory (SDT).
So how does the need to belong relate to the musical and personal lives of musicians?
The need for social relatedness throughout the lifespan of the musician
Research shows us that high performers are much more likely to flourish both personally and in their performance development when they have a guide or mentor that fosters a supportive relationship at any stage. (4)
A caring relationship is especially critical in a musician's earlier development. A teacher who fails to develop a positive bond with their proteges can create conditions that lead to burnout. Even students who achieve high musical success can give up their instrument altogether because of the relationship quality with their teacher. (11)
Not only is connection with the significant mentor important, but the feeling of belonging to a group matters. The decision to join an orchestra, band, choir, theater production, or sports team has a lot to do with wanting to be a part of a community. Feeling connected to a group can also determine whether a student chooses to continue with their instrument; feeling disconnected from a group can cause a student to give up their instrument altogether. (3)
The need for social connection doesn't end for musicians entering a more mature stage, though connection with musical colleagues may become more important than with a mentor. A professional cellist studied her own two-year preparation for a big recital and recording project as an academic. She wrote that she had not expected how important a supportive socio-emotional connection with her peers was to her success and to her feelings of competence and well-being. (8)
One insightful study looked at the factors that were influential throughout the lifespan of professional musicians. (9) It found that those who were successful and thriving, not only in their careers but in their personal lives had someone who:
believed in them
understood and accepted their musical ideas
supported them emotionally, and
helped them meet challenges
People who did not have such support were either impaired in their functioning and musical development in some way or ended their careers prematurely.
Connection to a group fosters motivation
It has also been found that people who pursue their activity as part of a group report higher levels of social relatedness than those who engage in primarily solo practice. Top performers and athletes who had reached the pinnacles of success and then gave up their careers cited a lack of feeling connected to others - both to colleagues/fellow teammates or teachers/coaches - to be a factor in their decision. (6) In contrast to those who found friendship, healthy competitiveness, and support with their colleagues, these individuals described an “us vs. them” mindset and an unhealthy competitiveness arising from a zero-sum mentality.
For those who spend the bulk of their time in their performance domain in solo practice, the isolation combined with intense practice can easily lead to burnout. It makes sense and has been shown in research that belonging to a group can motivate musicians to practice diligently because of wanting to make a valuable contribution to something shared with others. (7)
Connection to a group increases well-being
Building more social connections in an activity that is central to a performer’s life has benefits that extend far beyond improving motivation. Social connection can help people deal with challenges and sustain habits that contribute to healthy living. It helps prevent physical diseases (eg., heart disease, dementia, stroke), and mental illness (eg., depression and anxiety), and reduces the negative effects of chronic illness. (2) It even predicts how long you live.
The growing interest in learning how to improve the performer’s quality of life - not just how well they perform - is reassuring. There’s no point devoting your entire life to something if it does not contribute to your well-being, making it potentially unsustainable.
This interdependence of well-being, motivation, and social connnection is especially interesting considering that operating as a team often involves sublimating individual interests to that of the group. This seems, at least on the surface level, paradoxical to the need for autonomy. However, a 2017 study that found that athletes who felt more connected with their teammates were less ego-driven, resulting in increased goal-oriented behaviors (motivation) and well-being than those who did not. (10)
Fulfilling the musicians' need to belong
Although it is important to have meaningful social connections outside our performance domains, it makes a lot of sense to foster this within our fields as well. This is particularly important for those who spend a lot of time practicing alone. Building social connections is a powerful way we can increase motivation to not only reach performance goals but also increase our sense of well-being, especially since it is where we invest so much of our time.
Building social connections for ourselves
So how do we go about building social connections as performers?
Play music with others
Probably the most obvious way is to make music with others. Hopefully, it is something that your are involved in regularly. For many performers, chamber music is the preferred performance mode because the intimate collaboration on a shared vision is so rewarding.
2. Bring music to the community
Getting involved in projects in which you are bringing music to community, school, or social events, creates valuable connections with other musicians and to the audience.
3. Make time to talk with colleagues.
Ask fellow musicians about what they are working on. Share the challenges, frustrations, and joys of current repertoire you are working on or a performance event you are preparing for and hear about theirs. Talking with someone who really gets it is a great way to foster connection and support.
Building social connections for our students
Be a teacher who is a safe and supportive person to come to.
The way you provide feedback for your students can demonstrate your belief in their ability and can either challenge them to be their best with belief in their ability or criticize what they are not yet able to do.
Expressing interest in their personal lives is another way to show your students that you care about them as a person, not just about what they can accomplish as a musician, and goes a long way to creating meaningful connection. Your relationship with your student is one of the most important influences on their musical development and their motivation to pursue music.
2. Create opportunities for students to share their music.
This can be done through scheduling regular studio classes where you deliberately foster a congenial, fun atmosphere. You can also encourage students to form short-term ensembles within your studio. Collaborating with other studios to create chamber opportunities (eg., students from a piano and a string studio) is another way to get valuable ensemble experience and spark motivation.
3. Connect to the larger musical community.
Students who go into performances and competitions with the mentality that another’s gain is their loss (or vice versa) are setting themselves up for big hits to their self-esteem when they don’t win. This can create unhealthy expectations and kill motivation. Instead, emphasis can be placed on competition as a learning opportunity - everyone wins! We can learn not only from our own experiences but from each other and be supportive of one another. This mindset can alleviate performance anxiety too!
1.Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497
2.CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, March 23). How does social connectedness affect health? https://www.cdc.gov/emotional-wellbeing/social-connectedness/affect-health.htm#:~:text=Our%20relationships%20with%20family%2C%20friends,mental%20and%20physical%20health%20outcomes. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
3.Evans, P., McPherson, G. E., & Davidson, J. W. (2013). The role of psychological needs in ceasing music and music learning activities. Psychology of Music, 41(5), 600–619. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735612441736
4.Evans, P., & Liu, M. Y. (2019). Psychological Needs and Motivational Outcomes in a High School Orchestra Program. Journal of Research in Music Education, 67(1), 83–105. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429418812769
5.Hallam, Susan, 'Motivation to Learn', in Susan Hallam, Ian Cross, and Michael H. Thaut (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology, 2nd edn (2016; online edn, Oxford Academic, 2 Oct. 2014), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198722946.013.2
6.Hatfield, J. L. (2023). Determinants of motivation in world-class musicians and Olympic athletes: Exploring the front and the back side of the medallion. Psychology of Music, 30573562311559-. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356231155973
7.Lonsdale, A. J., & Day, E. R. (2021). Are the psychological benefits of choral singing unique to choirs? A comparison of six activity groups. Psychology of Music, 49(5), 1179-1198. https://doi-org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/10.1177/0305735620940019
8.Lopez-Iniguez, G., & McPherson, G. E. (2020). Applying Self-Regulated Learning and Self-Determination Theory to Optimize the Performance of a Concert Cellist. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 385–385. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00385
9.Manturzewska, M. (1990). A Biographical Study of the Life-Span Development of Professional Musicians. Psychology of Music, 18(2), 112–139. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735690182002
10.Wayment, H. A., & Walters, A. S. (2017). Goal orientation and well-being in college athletes: The importance of athletic social connectedness. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(21), 2114–2120. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1257147
11.Woody, R. H. (2021). Music education students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: A quantitative analysis of personal narratives. Psychology of Music, 49(5), 1321–1343. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735620944224
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