Relationships between performers’ daily social skills, social behaviors in ensemble practice, and evaluations of ensemble performance

Prior studies have demonstrated that appropriate social behaviors during ensemble practice enhance performance quality. Thus, do social behaviors during ensemble practice reflect performers’ daily (i.e., non-musical) social skills? The purpose of the present study was to investigate correlations among daily social skills, social behaviors during ensemble practice, and the evaluation of ensemble music performance. A total of 68 female music majors responded to performance questionnaires created for this study and to five scales measuring daily social skills: two scales for social skills, one for the style of handling interpersonal conflict, one for nonverbal behavior, and one for leadership. To assess the causal model of the relationship among social skills, social behaviors during ensemble practice, and the evaluation of ensemble performance, this work employed structural equation modeling. With respect to the scores for social skills, styles of handling interpersonal conflicts, and leadership, the scores and social behaviors during ensemble practice revealed significant positive correlations. An analysis of the causal model suggested that a performer’s daily social skills, an integrating style of handling interpersonal conflict (namely, the win–win style), and leadership in daily communication affect the evaluation of ensemble performance via social behaviors during ensemble practice. Overall, the main findings are as follows: (1) daily social skills are correlated with behaviors during ensemble practice; (2) performers with a high evaluation of their ensemble performance might employ two types of social behaviors during performance; (3) the causal sequence in which daily social skills influence the evaluation of ensemble performance via social behaviors during ensemble practice is likely to be valid; and (4) no correlation was observed between nonverbal skills in daily communication and the evaluation of ensemble performance.