Musical interpretative practices as a way to improve the relationship between the flow theory and musical performance

Musical interpretations can develop one’s tendency to experience flow during musical performances. This pretest/posttest study casts light on the effect of musical interpretation on music students’ disposition to experience flow during the musical performance. Flow experiences were measured using a short version of the 36-item Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS-2). The study participants were 334 Chinese students enrolled in higher education institutions in the People’s Republic of China. Students first completed the DFS-2 questionnaire before the musical interpretation challenge and then the groups were post-tested. The mean total score of the DFS-2 in Group B suggests that the musical interpretation course had a positive impact on students’ disposition to experience flow during musical performances, with an average of 10% increase observed. The most notable surge was seen in action and awareness merging. The results of the study can be useful to integrate musical interpretation practices into the standard curriculum to guide music students into the flow experience.