An early oscillator model: studies on the biodynamics of the piano strike (Bernstein & Popova, 1930).

Abstract

In the following paper, published in 1930, Bernstein and Popova report an impressive study (even by modern standards) of a complex motor behavior: movements performed by concert pianists, specifically series of octave strikes made with one hand. As so pungently discussed in their introduction, Bernstein and Popova were trying to rectify the situation at the time, a situation in which “most studies in the area of piano methodology originate either from physiologists who are dilettantes in music or from musicians who know nothing about physiology” (present paper, p.5). According to many of the contemporary pedagogues, such octave strikes are produced by letting the hand fall passively onto the targeted keys, using the weight of the arm from the highest point attained in transit—the so-called “weight” technique. This “weight” idea had only intuitive and virtually no scientific support. Given the to-be-rectified situation, it must have seemed to Bernstein and Popova that they could actually submit this particular idea about piano methodology to experimental tests. Certainly Bernstein felt a strong impulse throughout his career to “objectify” notions and conjectures about movement, and this paper represents a great effort to do so. As seen in the paper, Bernstein and Popova discredited the weight notion, showing that active muscle forces are almost always at play in a piano strike, regardless of variations in strike force and/or tempo. Along the way, they analyzed the movements further to see how the active forces are produced. From our present vantage point, we are sorely tempted to see hints at coupled oscillator models, particularly with respect to changes in one control parameter, the tempo. Bernstein and Popovaʼs study is impressive in many respects, beginning with the methodology. Of first note, in line with Bernsteinʼs earlier work, is their choice of such a complex behavior, a bold move, to say the least. Even though they limited the motions under study to rhythmically produced octave strikes, their focus was still a complex movement. Second, they used an elegant experimental design, varying two key parameters: the tempo of the movement and the force Motor Control, 2003, 7, 1-45