SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON PIANISTS: results and products

FOR pianists and keyboard players WHO want to test their performance either to check training effects or after a prolonged inactivity,
eventually due to neuromuscular or bone patologies, OUR LABORATORY PROVIDES a software tool and a follow-up service THAT translates into numbers the piano technique and gives a physiologic and biomechanical
interpretation of its status and improvement. UNLIKE the subjective evaluating of the benefits of a particular training or rehabilitation protocol, ‘QPTT’ accurately shows the weak points in piano technique and provides customized
indication for a quick improvement.

Introduction Training duration and intensity frequently cause osteo-musculo-articular pathologies in musicians. Epicondylities, tenosinovities, compartimental syndroms, contractures, inflammation and muscular pain, particularly located in the upper limb and hand are symptoms often reported by piano and violin players (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The impairment in the activity of professional musicians, in particular, can be considered as a real occupational disease. So far the quantification of playing technique, which can be enhanced by training or jeopardized by overuse and traumatic or degenerative pathologies, only occasionally (6) received scientific attention, mainly because of the difficulties associated to the measurement methodology. The possibility to numerically assess different skill levels in playing technique is today available thanks to a couple of commercialized musical instruments equipped with sensors. Yamaha recently designed a grand piano capable of sending information about the velocity of key downstroke. While its purpose is mainly focused on the control of external tone generator, such an 'instrumented instrument' is the ideal device to study the biomechanics of piano playing. Our Laboratory is equipped with that grand piano and some software packages have been designed and used to measure the technical skill of musicians. The experimental protocol is to play 5-octave Cmajor scale, separately with the right and left hands, at 5 different intensity and at 3 different speed (tactus), as indicated shortly by a metronome just prior to execution. For each subject, the 30 scales are recorded by a computer and the files are successively post processed by the customly designed software programs. The summary table of the results shows numerical evaluation of the temporal and dynamical accuracy and precision, together with indexes of the right/left symmetry. Another experimental protocol is devoted to measure the fatigability of the flexor digitorum muscles. EMG surface electrodes capture the signal during a maximum speed/maximum dynamics 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1, repeated until exhaustion. The median frequency of the EMG signal is successively analysed and plotted as a function of time. By linking those results with the time course of the intensity during the test, an index of muscle performance can be obtained. The improvement/impairment of playing technical skills can therefore be assessed before and after a training period, a rehabilitation program, a given pathology or trauma. Hand surgery centres could be interested in monitoring the follow-up after the operation, and the sensitivity of the analysis allows to measure from amateurs to professional musicians It is our intent to firstly build up a database containing the data of very different categories of piano players, so that average values could be used to compare new subjects with some reference. This should be the basis for the inauguration of a biomechanical study of piano playing. The effects of age, of intensity, duration and typology of training on performance will also be studied.  The capability of the Yamaha Grand Piano to disconnect the hammers from the strings, and obtaining a mute Piano, encourages also to investigate the psychoacoustic of music, for example the skill to produce the same keystroke dynamics even in the absence of audio feedback.

Related bibliography 1. SAKAI N. Hand pain related to keyboard techniques in pianists. MEDical PROBLems of PERFORMING ARTISTS (US) 1992. Vol 7, no 2 p63-65. 2. MANCHESTER R. A., FLIEDER D. Further observations on the epidemiology of hand injuries in music students. MEDical PROBLems of PERFORMING ARTISTS (US) 1991. Vol 6, no 1 p11-14. 3. LEDERMAN R. J. Peripheral nerve disorders in instrumentalists. ANNals of NEUROLogy (US) 1989. Vol 26, no 5 p640-646. 4. DAWSON W. J. Upper extremity injuries in high-level instrumentalists an end-result study. MEDical PROBLems of PERFORMING ARTISTS (US) 1990. Vol 5, no 3 p109-112. 5. HOCHBERG F. H., LEFFERT R. D., HELLER M. D., MERRIMAN L. Hand difficulties among musicians. Journal of the AMerican MEDical ASSOCiation (US) 1983. Vol 249, no 14 p1869-1872. 6. LEE S-H. Pianists' hand ergonomics and touch control. MEDical PROBLems of PERFORMING ARTISTS (US) 1990. Vol 5, no 2 p72-78. 7. BAIRD C. M. A pianist's techniques of rehabilitation. MEDical PROBLems of PERFORMING ARTISTS (US) 1986. Vol 1, no 4 p128-130. 8. WAGNER C. Manual demands in instrumental playing. HANDCHIRurgie MIKROCHIRurgie PLASTische CHIRurgie (WEST GERMANY) 1987, Vol 19, no 1 p23-32. 9. KOZYATNYK M. V., MOLDAVS'KA S. I. Physiological substantiation of regime of self training in playing the piano for students of music institutes. FIZIOLohichnyi ZHurnal (KIEV) (USSR) 1975 Vol 21, no 4 p523-527. 10. ENGEL K.C., FLANDERS M., SOECHTING J. F. Anticipatory and sequential motor control in piano playing. EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH 1997. Vol 113 no 2 p189-199. 11. WAGNER C. The pianists' hand anthropometry and biomechanics. ERGONOMICS (ENGLAND) 1988. Vol 31, no 1 p97-132. 12. LARSSON L. G., BAUM J., MUDHOLKAR G. S., KOLLIA G. D. Benefits and disadvantages of joint hypermobility among musicians. NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE 1993. Vol 329 no 15 p1079-1082. 13. HARDING D. C., BRANDT K. D., HILLBERRY B. M. Finger joint force minimization in pianists using optimization techniques. JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS 1993. Vol 26, no 12 p1403-1412. 14. MC GREGOR I. A., GLOVER L. The E-flat hand. Journal of HAND SURGery (US) 1988. Vol 13A, no 5 p692-693. 15. MERRIMAN L., NEWMARK J., HOCHBERG F. H., SHAHANI B., LEFFERT R. A focal movement disorder of the hand in six pianists. MEDical PROBLems of PERFORMING ARTISTS (US) 1986. Vol 1, no 1 p17-19. 16. AMADUCCI L. A., MARINI A. The Ravel D-major piano concerto for the left hand or from the right brain. NEUROLOGY (US) 1985. Vol 35, no 4 SUPPL. 1 p262-263.

bibliographic reference:

Minetti A. E., Ardigò L. P., and T. McKee. Keystroke dynamics and timing: accuracy, precision and difference between hands in pianist’s performance. Journal of Biomechanics. 40: 3738-3743, 2007

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