Stage Anxiety of the Pianist as an Art Studies Phenomenon

The pianist's stage excitement in concert and stage activities is considered from the standpoint of art history. The expediency of studying the essence of this phenomenon by scientists in this particular field is justified, since only they possess the tools to study it thanks to their in-depth understanding of: the pianist's psychological reaction to stressors that cause stage excitement; the physiological reaction of the pianist's performing apparatus to the effect of the emotional conditions of his concert and stage activities; cognitive processes involved in designing artistic images of musical works in the pianist's imagination; the specifics of the pianist's transformation during concert and stage activities into projected, explicit artistic images of musical works; the logic of constructing melodic and rhythmic lines of musical works with the aim of "immersing" the pianist in the process as one of the leading methods of avoiding the appearance of negative types of stage excitement, etc. A comparative analysis of the functional impact of various types of stage excitement experienced by pianists ("excitement-elation", "excitement in image", "excitementpanic" and "excitement-apathy") on the process of their concert and stage activities was conducted. It has been established that the first two types of stage excitement stimulate pianist to discover new features in the interpretation of musical works, which he can "feel" only on stage thanks to synergistic interaction with listeners/spectators, while the last two types act as "destroyers" of the harmony of cognitive processes, which ensure the unerring reproduction of the learned material and the continuous implementation of performing abillities, even with high-quality preparation for a concert and stage performance. The main factors of creating emotional conditions in the concert and stage activities of a pianist are described, the intensity of which makes it possible to identify the specified type of activity with psychological stress — informational and emotional. It has been proven that excessive stage excitement of any negative kind in a pianist "blocks" the mechanisms of controlling one's own stage behaviour.