Wellbeing in Professional Chamber Music Performance Contexts

The factors influencing wellbeing for musicians, audience ­members, and concert venue staff in professional chamber music performance contexts are considered using exploratory data collected from a major Australian concert venue. Preliminary analysis of interview and survey data revealed a key topic of wellbeing, amongst other emergent themes. The wellbeing-relevant data were explored from a critical realist/contextualist approach using thematic analysis and directed qualitative content analysis. The data were also examined from the perspective of Martin Seligman’s PERMA model of wellbeing. Results indicate that in chamber music contexts, musician wellbeing was enhanced by a sense of meaningfulness and joy, and influenced by concerns about preparation, reputation, and environment. Audience data revealed nine key areas that influence wellbeing although the thematic profile was distinctly different between innovative and traditional ensembles. Venue staff revealed both eudaimonic attitudes of service and empathy and hedonic responses to the musical performances. The results provide useful frameworks for further study or when considering ways to develop new and existing forms of chamber musicking to enhance wellbeing. Further investigation of the ensemble–music–audience relationship that aims to understand the potential for interactions mediated by live music to influence wellbeing is likely to generate rich data of broad interest.

Musicology Australia

Musicology Australia

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1949-453X

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N/A

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