Professor Margaret Osborne
Part of the Music Studies Distinguished Speaker Series
Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 4:00pm CST
McClintock Choral and Recital Room
Starting young to protect the mental health of highly gifted music students
Gifted young musicians grow up in environments that promise excellence but can quietly undermine their mental health. Research shows that musicians face markedly higher rates of anxiety, depression, and distress than the general population, with performance anxiety emerging early and intensifying in mid-adolescence. In this talk, Osborne examines how perfectionism, high-stakes auditions, non-autonomous teaching, and competitive institutional cultures interact to create psychological risk—and why these pressures are especially acute for “gifted and talented” students. Drawing on an illustrative case study and parallels with elite youth sport, she introduces the concepts of psychological safety and ecological systems as practical frameworks for change. Her discussion examines how teachers, parents, peers, and institutions can reshape studio, rehearsal, and performance practices to protect mental health while still supporting artistic ambition, so that the next generation of musicians can flourish both on stage and as human beings, in lives beyond music.
Free EventAbout the Presenter
Margaret Osborne holds an interdisciplinary appointment with both the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. She proudly co-developed, and is inaugural convenor of, the Master of Professional Psychology, the University of Melbourne's 5+1 professional psychology training pathway.
Her desire to support the mental and physical health needs of artists to achieve optimal performance and sustainable careers has seen her develop new curricula in performance psychology, serve as an associate editor for Frontiers in Psychology Performance Science and past president of the Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare, and maintain a consulting psychology practice. She is notable for research in music performance anxiety. Osborne seeks to understand how learning and performance can be improved using self-regulated learning and emotion regulation skills, elucidating best-practice methods to build confidence, health, and resilience in order to maximize performance potential in music and other performing arts, sports, public speaking, and academic disciplines.
David and Carol McClintock Choral and Recital Room
Address
70 Arts Circle Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
United States
About
Located in the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, this rooms seats 120 and offers a flexible space for choral rehearsals, small ensemble performances, and student recitals.