Teacher charisma as a mechanism for transforming performance anxiety into creative energy: a case study in vocal education

Purpose This study explores the potential role of teacher charisma in transforming performance anxiety into constructive creative energy, and identifies strategies of charismatic pedagogical facilitation in vocal and performative arts education. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative pedagogical case-study design, combining conceptual analysis with in-depth, longitudinal observation of two contrasting cases in the vocal classroom of a Ukrainian university specialising in performative arts, over one academic year. The theoretical framework integrates humanistic pedagogy, charismatic leadership theory and the psychology of performance anxiety. Findings Two case-based patterns of performance anxiety were identified – physiological-panic and cognitive-perfectionism – each associated with a different facilitation strategy. In both cases, the teacher's charismatic presence appeared to be one salient factor, alongside other concurrent influences, in the students' movement from anxiety towards greater performance freedom. A preliminary four-mechanism model of this process is proposed as a hypothesis for further, independent empirical verification, rather than as an established finding. Originality/value This study contributes to a still limited body of work by offering an illustrative, case-based account of charismatic pedagogical facilitation as one plausible mechanism for addressing performance anxiety in vocal training, complementing existing systematic reviews of teacher-side approaches to performance anxiety management.