PECULIARITIES OF THE STATE OF “FLOW” IN MUSICAL ACTIVITY AND AGE ASPECTS OF ITS MANIFESTATION

Abstract

Creative activity creates an opportunity for a musically gifted person to express their mental states associated with both positive and negative experiences through music, and also provides an opportunity to experience a unique mental state – the state of ‘flow’ that arises when a high level of mastery is achieved and enables them to feel a high level of satisfaction with themselves as a subject of activity. Musical activity is an inexhaustible resource of life satisfaction for an individual, which is why the feeling of ‘flow’ is characteristic of the music profession. Using cluster analysis, the sample (182 people) was divided into 2 clusters. The first cluster included 85 people with high scores on the components of the ‘flow’ state: ‘excellence’ and “personal significance of activity”; the second cluster included 97 people with statistically lower scores on the above scales.The clusters were also divided into age subgroups. Professional musicians experience the state of ‘flow’ more often than amateur musicians, with higher scores on such components of the state of ‘flow’ as ‘excellence’ and ‘personal significance of activity’, which gives them a sense of selfrealisation in musical activity. Amateur musicians strive to feel this state and even have its signs, but to a lesser extent. We associate further research on the chosen problem with a special test of the role of the ‘flow’ state experiences caused by the subjective well-being of highly qualified professionals in various types of activity. The model of professional-amateur research chosen by us (which reveals personality differences) gives grounds to believe that the pattern established in this study may be universal not only for representatives of creative professions.