Musical and sports groups face many challenges on their way of performing successfully. At first glance, it may seem that music and sport do not have much in common. However, the aim of our research was to become aware of the similarities between the preparation and performance stages needed for a successful small group musical performance and the preparation and implementation of a team sport contest. Three renowned sports psychologists and three renowned musical psychotherapists, known also as “performance coaches”, participated in the qualitative part of our research while the quantitative part involved 51 musicians and 54 athletes, studying either at the Academy of Music or at the Faculty of Sport, who are members of musical or sports teams consisting of up to 12 members. As seen in the findings, the similarities between the groups of musicians and sportspeople are predominantly found in the factors affecting the small group’s operations, the success of the performance, and the mental preparation of both groups. Some differences were found in the perception of the advantages and the disadvantages of group over individual performances. Our findings confirm that situational performances in smaller music groups are more diverse than those in smaller sports teams.
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