Personality of australian performing musicians by gender and by instrument

An empirical study examining the personality profile of musicians was conducted on an Australian sample of performers. Personality differences (a) between performing musicians and a nonmusician comparison group, (b) between male and female musicians, and (c) among musicians of five instrumental families were examined. Form A of the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire was administered to 255 musicians (70 males, 185 females) who auditioned for entry into a tertiary music course, and to 287 undergraduate psychology students (60 males, 227 females). Performing musicians were less intelligent, and more emotionally stable, sensitive and conservative compared with the nonmusician group. Male performing musicians were more sensitive and shrewd than female performing musicians. Finally, brass players were more suspicious, imaginative, apprehensive and radical compared with singers, and keyboard players were more warmhearted, emotionally stable, and shrewd than the other four groups. Brass players were also more extraverted, and less anxious and creative than string players. The results largely supported the findings of previous researchers.