Factors affecting the state of being in front of the audience

ENA majority of students have the opportunity to be the centre of attention (to present a speech, to read a report, to sing, to conduct, or to play) and to feel emotional strain. The latter touches us all but not in the same way. For some personalities emotional stress helps to mobilise their spiritual power, others change unrecognizably: a person becomes tense, confused, the colour of his/her skin changes, a person’s hands start trembling. The profession of the music teacher may also be regarded as a profession of increased emotional stress because one essential component - concert activity - naturally forms different degrees of psychic stress. The aim of this research is to explore the factors which encourage students to feel better in front of the audience. This is achieved of semi-structured interviews with students and observing them during different activities. All of them are studying in the university and are preparing to become music teachers in the future. The research has disclosed the factors promoting positive students’ state of being in front of the audience, those are: confidence, preparation, stage experience, musical skills, personal qualities and the emotions (they cannot be ignored – they must be carefully managed).