The relationship between personality type and instrument played in undergraduate music majors

Undergraduate music majors at the University of Miami completed the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator, Form M, as well as a brief musical instrument background questionnaire. The scores were analyzed to determine their correlation to instrument played. It was predicted that subjects who played instruments in the same family would have similar personality test results, that vocalists would score higher on the extraversion scale than instrumentalists, and that solo performers would score higher on the introversion scale when compared to teachers and ensemble members. It was concluded that there is no pattern of similarity within the different instrumental groups with regard to personality type, as measured by the MBTI. However, it was shown that musicians, when compared to the general population, had a common personality type. Vocalists did score higher on the extraversion scale than did instrumentalists, and the last hypothesis was not tested because of the small sample size.