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Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill

Musical performance requires motor skills to coordinate the movements of multiple joints in the hand and arm over a wide range of tempi. However, it is unclear whether the coordination of movement across joints would differ for musicians with different skill levels and how inter-joint coordination w...

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Autores principales: Furuya, Shinichi, Goda, Tatsushi, Katayose, Haruhiro, Miwa, Hiroyoshi, Nagata, Noriko
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Research Foundation 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3107480/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21660290
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00050
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author Furuya, Shinichi
Goda, Tatsushi
Katayose, Haruhiro
Miwa, Hiroyoshi
Nagata, Noriko
author_facet Furuya, Shinichi
Goda, Tatsushi
Katayose, Haruhiro
Miwa, Hiroyoshi
Nagata, Noriko
author_sort Furuya, Shinichi
collection PubMed
description Musical performance requires motor skills to coordinate the movements of multiple joints in the hand and arm over a wide range of tempi. However, it is unclear whether the coordination of movement across joints would differ for musicians with different skill levels and how inter-joint coordination would vary in relation to music tempo. The present study addresses these issues by examining the kinematics and muscular activity of the hand and arm movements of professional and amateur pianists who strike two keys alternately with the thumb and little finger at various tempi. The professionals produced a smaller flexion velocity at the thumb and little finger and greater elbow pronation and supination velocity than did the amateurs. The experts also showed smaller extension angles at the metacarpo-phalangeal joint of the index and middle fingers, which were not being used to strike the keys. Furthermore, muscular activity in the extrinsic finger muscles was smaller for the experts than for the amateurs. These findings indicate that pianists with superior skill reduce the finger muscle load during keystrokes by taking advantage of differences in proximal joint motion and hand postural configuration. With an increase in tempo, the experts showed larger and smaller increases in elbow velocity and finger muscle co-activation, respectively, compared to the amateurs, highlighting skill level-dependent differences in movement strategies for tempo adjustment. Finally, when striking as fast as possible, individual differences in the striking tempo among players were explained by their elbow velocities but not by their digit velocities. These findings suggest that pianists who are capable of faster keystrokes benefit more from proximal joint motion than do pianists who are not capable of faster keystrokes. The distinct movement strategy for tempo adjustment in pianists with superior skill would therefore ensure a wider range of musical expression.
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spelling pubmed-31074802011-06-09 Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill Furuya, Shinichi Goda, Tatsushi Katayose, Haruhiro Miwa, Hiroyoshi Nagata, Noriko Front Hum Neurosci Neuroscience Musical performance requires motor skills to coordinate the movements of multiple joints in the hand and arm over a wide range of tempi. However, it is unclear whether the coordination of movement across joints would differ for musicians with different skill levels and how inter-joint coordination would vary in relation to music tempo. The present study addresses these issues by examining the kinematics and muscular activity of the hand and arm movements of professional and amateur pianists who strike two keys alternately with the thumb and little finger at various tempi. The professionals produced a smaller flexion velocity at the thumb and little finger and greater elbow pronation and supination velocity than did the amateurs. The experts also showed smaller extension angles at the metacarpo-phalangeal joint of the index and middle fingers, which were not being used to strike the keys. Furthermore, muscular activity in the extrinsic finger muscles was smaller for the experts than for the amateurs. These findings indicate that pianists with superior skill reduce the finger muscle load during keystrokes by taking advantage of differences in proximal joint motion and hand postural configuration. With an increase in tempo, the experts showed larger and smaller increases in elbow velocity and finger muscle co-activation, respectively, compared to the amateurs, highlighting skill level-dependent differences in movement strategies for tempo adjustment. Finally, when striking as fast as possible, individual differences in the striking tempo among players were explained by their elbow velocities but not by their digit velocities. These findings suggest that pianists who are capable of faster keystrokes benefit more from proximal joint motion than do pianists who are not capable of faster keystrokes. The distinct movement strategy for tempo adjustment in pianists with superior skill would therefore ensure a wider range of musical expression. Frontiers Research Foundation 2011-05-27 /pmc/articles/PMC3107480/ /pubmed/21660290 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00050 Text en Copyright © 2011 Furuya, Goda, Katayose, Miwa and Nagata. http://www.frontiersin.org/licenseagreement This is an open-access article subject to a non-exclusive license between the authors and Frontiers Media SA, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and other Frontiers conditions are complied with.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Furuya, Shinichi
Goda, Tatsushi
Katayose, Haruhiro
Miwa, Hiroyoshi
Nagata, Noriko
Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill
title Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill
title_full Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill
title_fullStr Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill
title_full_unstemmed Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill
title_short Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill
title_sort distinct inter-joint coordination during fast alternate keystrokes in pianists with superior skill
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3107480/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21660290
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00050
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