Introduction Becoming a music teacher in North America typically involves years of high-level music training and post-secondary degrees in music education. A key component of teacher training involves real-world experience over several months in school settings as a student-teacher. While many musicians are familiar with the experience of music performance anxiety (MPA), findings of a recent pilot study indicate that MPA may also be experienced by music student-teachers when leading a class or ensemble (Ryan et al., 2025). We designed the current study to investigate the feelings and experiences of student teachers both before and after a months-long student teaching semester, taking into account their perceptions of self-efficacy with regard to performing as a musician, teaching a class, and directing an ensemble. PurposeOur purpose is twofold: 1) to investigate anxiety and self-efficacy beliefs of music student-teachers in the contexts of music performance, teaching, and directing, and 2) to examine whether anxiety and self-efficacy might predict participants’ commitment to continue performing, teaching, and directing post-college. Theoretical Lens We will use two theoretical lenses: 1) Kenny (2009), who applied Barlow’s (2000) emotion-based theory of anxiety to the music performance context, and 2) Bandura (1997) who defined self-efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (p. 3). MethodParticipants will be 60 senior music education students enrolled in a culminating student-teaching semester in the southeastern United States, between January and May, 2026. Data will include a pre- and post-student teaching questionnaire, comprising adapted versions of the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory and the Richie & Williamon (2011) Self-Efficacy for Performance Questionnaire. Following Ryan et al. (2025), both measures will query students on their feelings across three contexts: performing, teaching, and directing. An additional question will examine participants’ commitment to performing, teaching, and directing in their post-college life. We will use a repeated-measures design to examine responses across time and with regard to demographic and specialization factors. Open-ended questions about their anxieties will be coded inductively and analyzed for emergent themes.Findings and ImplicationsFindings from this study will enhance our understanding of student teachers’ anxiety and self-efficacy for performing, teaching, and directing. The relationships among these constructs in the three settings across the same participants and over time have not previously been investigated. As such, we anticipate expanding current literature and providing insights for music teacher education that may benefit the mental health and self-efficacy of future students.