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OBJECTIVES: For violinists, it is common practice to play while the book of violin method by Szende,1 there are some sug-
standing or sitting. When playing in an orchestra, generally gestions for playing in standing or sitting positions. For sit-
two persons share one music stand, with one sitting to the ting, he recommends an equable weight balance by resting
right and the other to the left of the stand. The present study
investigated specific movement patterns while playing in the full body weight over the complete seating surface of
these different positions. METHODS: Using a posturographic the chair. The left foot should be wholly leveled on the
device and 3D motion capture, the body weight distributions floor, while the right foot is loosely positioned beside the
and specific body movements of 19 violinists were analyzed. chair. In the upright position, the player should have a
RESULTS: Results showed unbalanced weight distributions symmetric posture with the body weight evenly distributed
while sitting in front of or oriented to the right of the music
stand compared to the almost even distributions while stand- over both legs. The center of gravity can thereby easily be
ing or oriented to the left of the stand. Analyses of movement adjusted through the smallest body and muscle move-
patterns showed significant differences between standing and ments, even in apparent rest.
sitting, mainly in the upper body parts with less movability Specific sitting orientations in front of the music stand
while sitting. While sitting in front of or oriented to the right are not mentioned in any violin school that we know of. If
of the music stand, the right bowing arm showed more
restricted movements compared to other positions. CONCLU- it is mentioned, mostly the correct adjustment of the stand,
SION: The playing positions are discussed with regard to possi- such as the height and the position to the conductor, were
ble physiological stress and health risks. The study empha- advised.2,3
sizes the importance of different playing positions and offers In the scientific literature of the last decade, there has
starting points for discussion of postural influences and sensi- been an increasing interest in the systematic analysis of
ble handling of the instrument in performance and practice
for violinists. Med Probl Perform Art 2014; 29(2):86–93. movements of musicians, especially among violinists.4–7
Using modern 3D motion recording systems, several differ-
ent fields of music performances and movement skills of
I n concert situations, it is well established that solo per-
formances by violinists are played in the standing posi-
tion, while in orchestras or chamber music ensembles, the
musicians have been investigated. Visentin et al.5 empha-
sized that scientific research about courses of movements
string players are predominantly sitting. Practicing and gives important information for instrumental teaching
teaching situations are mostly performed standing upright. methods and for preventions of playing-related health
For this, if a music stand is used, it is placed in front of
each player. In orchestral arrangements, however, two
players generally share one music stand. This situation
results into two additional playing orientations, to the
right and to the left of the music stand (Fig. 1).
The instrumental literature for the violin does not
detail the relevance of these different playing positions. In
June 2014 87
FIGURE 2. Marker positions and angles, from the back (a) and side view (b).
Statistical Analysis
TABLE 1. Mean differences of angles between standing and sitting positions (n=16)
Difference,
Angle in degrees SD Significance
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TABLE 2. Mean differences of angles for sitting to the right and left of the music stand (n=16)
Difference,
Angle in degrees SD Significance
The maximum angles of the lumbar lordosis in the The angles of the neck lordosis were significantly differ-
standing position were slightly significantly lower than in ent between both orientations. The neck in the right-side
the sitting position. The hip angle is the angle between orientation (151.9°) was 4.8° more curved than in the left-
right iliac crest, lumbar lordosis, and left iliac crest, which side one (156.7°). Additionally, the thoracic kyphosis
is a recalculation of left and right side angles into a single showed a significantly smaller angle on the right-side
hip angle. Only the minimum values of the hip angle (154.0°) than on the left-side (157.3°). The conclusion of
reached marginal significant difference between standing these findings suggests that the upper spinal column has a
(78.6°) and sitting (106.8°) positions. stronger flexion when the player was oriented to the right
For the right bowing arm, the mean elbow angle in sit- of the music stand than to the left of it.
ting position (69.5°) was significantly different to the angle Mean elbow angles were 70.9° to the right-side and 74.2°
in standing position (73.8°). The maximum elbow angle in to the left-side of the stand. Therefore, the bowing arm was
the sitting position (109.2°) also showed a significantly on average about 3.3° more bent when the player was ori-
smaller angle than in standing position (124.7°). A compar- ented to the right of the music stand. Maximum values of
ison of range of motion for the right arm showed a signif- the elbow angle were statistically different, with a 107.9°
icant difference (t=2.535, p=0.023) in amplitude between angle right-side and a 125.2° angle left-side. A significant
standing (79.6°) and sitting (64.1°) positions. difference was also found between the minimum angles of
the elbow, where the angle right-side (49.3°) was larger than
Comparison Between Sitting to the Right and Left left-side (46.9°). From this it follows that elbow range of
of the Music Stand motion is generally smaller when a player is oriented to the
right of the stand than to the left. The calculation of the
The comparison between the sitting orientations to the range of the elbow angles yielded a significant difference
right (right-side) and to the left (left-side) of the music stand (t=2.236, p=0.042) between the motion amplitude of 58.6° in
showed significant differences only in the head angle, the the orientation right-side and 78.1° left-side of the stand. In
neck lordosis angle, thoracic kyphosis, and the elbow summary, these findings show that the orientation to the
angle (see Table 2). No significant differences were found right of the music stand results in more restricted mobility.
in lumbar lordosis, shoulder angle, and hip angle.
The mean values of both head angles differed signifi- Questionnaire
cantly between right-side and left-side. The values of the
right head angle on the right-side (94.1°) was 9.3° smaller The analysis of the questionnaire showed that the partici-
than that on the left-side (103.4°). Correspondingly, the left pants clearly preferred a standing posture to a sitting one
head angle from right-side orientation (126.1°) was larger (16 out of 19). They argued that they have a larger moving
than the one to the left-side (117.9°). The total head angle space for the bowing arm and for the whole body, feel
determined by adding the values measured on both left greater body stability, and have a better ability to concen-
and right sides was on average about 220° and did not trate in a standing position. Eleven participants practiced
differ between the two playing orientations. in standing positions. The others changed to a sitting posi-
June 2014 91
Right vs Left of the Music Stand motion range of the standing position, while the restricted
range of motion on the right-side of the stand corre-
Posturography sponded more to the frontal sitting position.
The more bent posture of the right arm and the
Pressure distributions of the posturographic measurements
restricted movability by playing right of the music stand
showed that when sitting in an orientation to right of the
could be provoked due to the rotated trunk. On this side
music stand, the body weight rests mainly on the left sit-
of the music stand, the player has to turn left to see the
ting bone (60.0%), while to the left of the stand the weight
score. The right arm seems to adapt to this rotation. On
is primarily on the right sitting bone (55.5%). Hence, rela-
the left-side of the music stand, the left body side turns
tive to the music stand, the contralateral body side is
slightly to the right, in which the movability of the right
slightly more loaded.
arm can stay unchanged.
In total, the body weight is distributed somewhat
These results provide many reasons for a more bal-
equally in the orientation left of the music stand: both sit-
anced sitting position left of the music stand. Interestingly,
ting bones are evenly loaded, whereas in the position to
these findings contrast with the subjective statements of
the right to the stand, the sitting bones were considerably
the participants: in addition to the standing position, the
unbalanced.
preferred sitting position was the orientation right of the
Considering that the human body is a closed system, a
music stand. Compared to the findings, they argue against
weight overload on one side results inevitably in an asym-
a larger range of motion and a better body posture. More-
metric body posture. As the sitting position implicates
over, performance on the right side of the music stand was
already an increased burden on the lumbar intervertebral
described as more familiar and therefore as more comfort-
discs,10 an asymmetric posture in this position leads to
able. It is possible that certain kinds of psychological fac-
additional physiological stress. Moreover, in the sitting
tors, such as the hierarchy in the orchestra or the visibility
position, the body weight rests nearly completely on both
to the audience, could cause the preference. More research
sitting bones.11 To adjust unilateral weight strains in this
is needed to address the influence of these factors.
position, the body can only use the upper body parts.
Apparently, this balancing is easier in the orientation to
Velocity of the Bow
the left of the music stand than to the right of the stand.
Possibly the trunk rotation to turn to the music stand pre-
To achieve consistent rhythmical and musical playing per-
vents some movement adjustments.
formances in the standing and sitting positions, in the sit-
Nevertheless, proper evidence for the reasons behind
ting positions the restricted elbow motion range should be
the different weight distributions in both sitting orienta-
compensated for elsewhere. This could be accomplished
tions cannot be found using the posturography alone.
through movements of other joints of the right arm, such
With this method, however, it became clear that a differ-
as the shoulder or wrist. Movement analysis data, how-
ence in the weight distribution due to the sitting orienta-
ever, showed that neither the shoulder nor wrist per-
tion relative to the music stand exists.
formed different activities in both positions.
Motion Analysis Otherwise, smaller amplitudes of the elbow angle indi-
cate a sparing use of the bow length. This, however, leads
The detailed analysis of the body movements showed that to a reduction of the bowing velocity to maintain the given
the head angle is about 10° smaller in the orientation right tempo. The angle velocity of the right arm is given by the
of the music stand than to the left. Therefore, the head is elbow angle over time. For this, the mean angle range
more tilted when oriented right of the stand compared between up and down strokes was used. As the time was
with left of the stand and to the standing position. constant through the metronome and the stroke behavior
The spinal column in the area of the neck lordosis and was identical for every player, these angles represent the
the thoracic kyphosis is less bent in the orientation to the velocity. In the standing position, the value of the velocity
left of the music stand. Also, the range of motion of the (v=57.8°/s, SD 31.7, n=14) was significantly higher than in
spine is larger when sitting left-side. Both findings lead to the sitting position (v=35.3°/s, SD 17.4, n=14; t=3.351,
the assumption that a less curved body posture is assisted p=0.005). Therefore, it can be assumed that the player has
by larger movability. The violin performance on the left- to use more pressure for the bow in order to keep the same
side of the music stand is more physiological than on the dynamics of sound quality. This behavior, however, could
right of the stand. In addition, the symmetric head posi- affect directly the health of the shoulder and back muscles.
tion also indicates an ergonomic body posture in the ori-
entation to the left of the music stand. CONCLUSIONS
Furthermore, the elbow joint showed a larger range of
motion on the left-side than on the right-side. The arm The results of this study showed clear differences in the
was more extended, as shown by the higher mean values movement patterns and the body weight distribution to be
of the angle. The analysis also showed that the movement related to the position and orientation of the violinist rel-
amplitudes on the left-side of the music stand matched the ative to his or her music. Body movements in the standing
June 2014 93