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Sources of Self-efficacy
Reeve defines self-efficacy as "one's judgement of how well (or poorly) one will cope with a situation, given the skills one possesses and the circumstances one faces."1 Increasing the self-efficacy of the members within the ensemble could contribute to the improvement of performance. This can be done through four sources of self-efficacy, which include personal behavior history, vicarious experience (modeling), verbal persuasion (pep talk), and physiological experience.1
Personal behavior history
Personal behavior history is the most influential source of self-efficacy. This looks at a person's past performances of a certain task and uses them to assess how well a person can carry out a task in the moment. (p. 274)1
For people who are slacking or struggling within the ensemble, a helpful intervention may be to start by sitting down with them and discussing their past experiences that relate to the relevant skills needed for their success. This may be a helpful place to start for all of the members in the section, but depending on what time allows for, those who are struggling to find success should be approached first.
From what I have observed in the past, this conversation should be coming from a place of understanding and empathy and should exclude any judgement. Musical ability can be a very personal trait to individuals that can be sensitive at times. Those being intervened should explain what experiences they had in the past, both negative and positive. They should also explain why they believe those situations happened that way, and how they think those experiences affect them now.
Vicarious experience
Vicarious experience could have an especially important impact for those who need to raise their self-efficacy. I know this to be true from my past experiences of fear within an ensemble. This aspect includes an individual seeing others similar to them perform the same task, which can increase their own self-efficacy if the task is completed with success. The more similar the observer and the individual are, the more effective this intervention is. However, there should be one member that is slightly more experienced in the skill so that they have a positive impact on the novice. (p. 275)1
A person in a leadership position in the section will always want to serve as a peer for all of the members. However, this is not always possible for novice members to believe because there may be such a divide between the two. (The novice believing they are barely good enough to be there and the leader knows everything about everything.) I have been in both positions and I can confidently say that this is true on both sides of the spectrum. As a novice, I felt anxious and barely competent enough to perform with most of the members in my section, much less my section leaders. As a leader, I have wanted to relate to the novice members in the section so success is possible, but I had beliefs that they felt the same way I did when I was a novice. That being said, the best way to increase self-efficacy within those individuals who need it is to have those in the section that have similar levels of skills "pair up" with each other.
This intervention could manifest in a couple of different ways. Memorization checks are basically runthroughs of the music for a show in front of leadership members in the section to make sure everything is memorized. This would also involve a time concern, but if possible, it may be helpful to have a practice memorization check. By doing this, individuals could both assess where they are as well as assess their peers. This may decrease stress leading up to the real memorization check and give them assurance that success is possible when they see their peers with similar skill levels succeeding.
It may also be helpful to have a "seating chart". This is a component usually present in musical ensembles, but not always. By seating individuals by others similar in skill to them, they may not feel as anxious or incapable when they are struggling with some portion of the music if those next to them are too. This could lead to reaching out for help instead of staying quiet about the problem. They will also be more likely to believe that they can achieve success when they realize those next to them are succeeding.