Chinrest pressure in violin playing: Type of music, chin rest, and shoulder pad as possible mediators

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:: This study was conducted to determine if there are differences in pressure on a violin chin rest during performance due to changes in shoulder pads, chin rests, or pieces of music performed. It was also hypothesized that these differences would correlate with anthropometric measurements made of the subjects' necks and shoulders. METHODS::: A Novel EMED pad was used over the chin rest, containing 120 sensors, each one centimetre squared. The sampling rate was 50 Hz. A total of ten subjects, all professional violinists, performed excerpts from a Bruch violin concerto and a Handel sonata. Anthropometric measurements were made of the subjects' necks and shoulders. Each subject began by using his own violin with his usual shoulder pad and chin rest set-up, and then with the author's violin. Two different shoulder pads and three different chin rests were placed on the violin, in all possible combinations, for both pieces of music. This resulted in a total of fourteen conditions given in randomized order for each subject. Subjects were asked to give verbal feedback regarding the comfort and ease of playing of each shoulder pad and chin rest. Data was collected for three trials of each condition, and a mean for the three trials was obtained for each dependent variable. The five dependent variables were: peak pressure, maximum force, pressure/time integral and force/time integral, and total contact area. Intraclass coefficients of reliability were calculated for the dependent variables. Pearson's correlation coefficients were computed to determine if there were significant relationships between the five dependent variables and violin height, shoulder width, and neck length. RESULTS:: Pressure/time integral achieved the highest reliability with a coefficient of 0.9310, followed by peak pressure at 0.9152, force/time integral at 0.8817, maximum force at 0.8685, and total area at 0.8571. Multivariate analysis of variance detected significant differences in levels of pressure and force for the different conditions. Subsequent one-way ANOVAS andt -tests determined significantly less pressure on the Wolf chinrest as compared to the other chinrests. There were also reliable differences in pressure between the two pieces of music, with the Handel sonata excerpt showing significantly less pressure. There were no differences detected between the two shoulder pads. Significant relationships between neck length and shoulder width, and peak pressure, pressure/time integral, maximum force, force/time integral, and total contact area were found. A discussion of these results, and conclusions and implications for further study, are currently in progress.