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ARTIGOS

Vol. 14 (2026): Percepta - Revista de Cognição Musical

Embodied Ecology of Stage anxiety: Lived Body and Embodied Cognition in Music Performance

DOI
https://doi.org/10.34018/2318-891X.15e026005
Submitted
July 14, 2026
Published
2026-10-02

Abstract

Stage fright constitutes a complex phenomenon of musical experience, resulting from the interaction between bodily, perceptual, affective, and cognitive processes. This article proposes the model of the Ecology of Musical Performance and Stage Fright, grounded in phenomenology, embodied cognition, ecological psychology of perception, somatic markers, and the theory of musical expectation. It is argued that anxiety emerges from instabilities in the body–environment–consciousness coupling, understood as a relational and situated system of action, generated by the reconfiguration of stage affordances, affecting the flow of musical action and the retrieval of performance memory. It is concluded that stage fright should be understood as a systemic and situated phenomenon, guiding pedagogical practices aimed at enhancing the performer's adaptive flexibility.

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