The effect of mindfulness meditation on the vocal proficiencies of music education students

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation (MM) has been found to positively affect various aspects related to music performance, yet very few studies have investigated its impact on music performance quality. This study examined whether short-term MM activity would improve vocal skills in regard to pitch intonation, dynamics transmission, and vocal resonation. Experiment and control groups comprising music education students ( N = 55) made pre- and post-intervention recordings of a specially designed solo vocal music excerpt. Intervention consisted of a short-term online MM course covering the main elements exercised in mindfulness practice. Performance evaluation employed novel methods based on both automatic assessment strategies and expert judgments. Statistical analysis failed to indicate a significant effect. However, trends were detected for improvement in dynamics transmission and vocal resonation. Results might attest to MM praxis’ limited influence on music performance quality. The observed trends could, however, evince to the shortcomings of the treatment design. The implications regarding MM’s effect on music performance quality are discussed.