Instrument Players Research Articles

Research on the Psychological State of Brass Instrument Performers from the Perspective of Emotion Regulation

This article explores the psychological state of brass instrument performers from the perspective of emotion regulation, focusing on the positive impacts of emotional regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal, breathing control, and mindfulness training on performers’ psychological well-being. Specific applications of these strategies are proposed for performance preparation, stage performances, and daily practice. Research results indicate that the effective use of emotion regulation strategies can alleviate performers’ anxiety, enhance psychological stability, and improve performance quality, providing practical psychological intervention pathways for brass instrument players.

Screening of voice and vocal tract changes in professional wind instrument players

PurposePlaying wind instruments is a strenuous task on the larynx, predisposing players to voice disorders. This study aims to evaluate potential vocal symptoms and vocal tract alterations in professional wind instrumentalists.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 26 male military subjects were interviewed, completed the voice handicap index (VHI) -10 questionnaire, and subjected to auditory-perceptual assessment, neck examination, rigid laryngostroboscopy and flexible nasofiberoscopy both before and during instrument playing.ResultsAll participants had vocal fatigue symptoms, around one-quarter complained of voice change, one-quarter complained of shortness of breath while or after performing, and one-third complained of neck symptoms. The average score of VHI-10 was 16.2 ± 6.5, and approximately three-quarters of participants scored above the cut-off point. There were no significant correlations between age, years of instrument playing, average hours of daily practice, and VHI-10. Participants with neck symptoms had significantly higher VHI-10 scores. Those (around one-fifth) with an external neck swelling during Valsalva maneuver had a significantly higher VHI-10 score. Dysphonia, mainly mild and of strained, leaky quality, was detected in almost one-third of participants. While the instrument was being played, the vocal folds were somewhat adducted, and the vocal tract became more compressed as the task became more demanding. The most frequent observations in the vocal tract examination were hyperemia of the vocal folds or all over the laryngeal and pharyngeal mucosa, excessive secretions over the vocal folds, signs of hyperadduction, arytenoid edema, and phonatory waste.ConclusionWind instrumentalists frequently experience voice disorders, which necessitate further care and investigation.

Addressing the Issue of Musical Education through Gamified Tuning Analysis

Technologies are rapidly evolving, and they are impacting human lives profoundly. And this also applies to the music industry, especially musical instrument training. There is the traditional option of receiving private expensive lessons including how to accurately tune your own instrument from a music teacher. However, it is not always viable for a teacher to be present, let alone the high cost. Furthermore, musical instrument training could overall be enhanced through a more technical approach without being constrained by the cost and human resources. With this goal in mind, we Noteblasters decided to investigate whether technology can address and resolve this common problem facing any musically inclined instrument players. Our Noteblast app is designed to detect pitches and give real-time feedback to the musicians on whether the correct note is being played or not. Through our multiple versions of prototypes, we were able to test our Noteblast app’s functionalities such as the tuner, providing real-time accurate feedback on the user’s playing, creating an easy and convenient tuning experience. The data shows aforementioned musical tuning problems can be resolved significantly more with a technology integrated device, which is our app.

Intraocular pressure fluctuations assessment in professional wind instrument players.

Due to the long-time that wind musicians spend playing their instruments, it is important to investigate if intraocular pressure could be affected by this activity. To assess the intraocular pressure fluctuations and fluctuations affecting factors in professional wind musicians while playing different tones. Thirty professional wind musicians (23.0 ± 3.20 years) were recruited from the Professional Music College of A Coruña. A questionnaire about environmental/demographic factors was given to participants. Intraocular pressure was measured four times by ICare IC100 tonometer: before, during low and high-pitched tones, and immediately after stopping playing the wind instrument. Pairwise comparison revealed statistical differences between measurement points (Sidak, all p ≤ 0.019), except between before playing and while playing low-pitched tones (Sidak, p = 1.000). Intraocular pressure increases during high pitch playing and decreases after stopping playing. No significant differences in intraocular pressure fluctuation were reported between physically active (>2 days/week) and non-physically active participants (Unpaired t-test, p = 0.680). All intraocular pressure values were positively correlated (Pearson's correlation, all r ≥ 0.505, p ≤ 0.004). Intraocular pressure fluctuations were negatively correlated with musical playing years (Pearson's correlation, r = - 0.396, p = 0.030). There were no significant correlations among intraocular pressure fluctuation and gender, age, weight, height, or daily time playing (Pearson's correlation, all p ≥ 0.058). Professional wind musicians suffer intraocular pressure peaks while playing high-pitched tones; therefore, ocular fundus evaluation and visual campimetry should be performed as routine tests in the visual exam of this population.

THE IMAGE OF MUSA BAIZHANULY AND THEME OF ART IN THE NOVEL OF Z.AKYSHEV “ZHAYAU MUSA”

Abstract. The criterion for the spiritual worldview of any nation is not its material wealth, economic achievement, but its literature and art, which is passed on from generation to generation. Many historical examples and data can be cited to this. The legacy of the ancient Greek and Roman states, which became the cradle of human civilization, are the themes of art in the scientists’ and writers’ works. In the history of the nation, the sounds of kuyi perfomed on kobyz by Korkyt Baba and his covenants were not interrupted even at a time when the works of “sources from the world of art and literature”, enlightened writers J. Balasagun “Kutty Bilik”, A. Iugineki “Reward for Truth”, M. Khorezmi “Love” were written. There were many talented people though they were illiterate, they could present people wonderful songs and marvelous kui (genre of Kazakh national music). When famous performer of kui Ykylas played the kobyz (Kazakh musical instrument), the swans flew to the sound of the music, the dombyra (Kazakh musical instrument) player Bogda forced the production of milk from a camel whose baby camel had died. This is a testament to their great talent. Singers Aset, Estai, Zhayau Musa, Birzhan Sal, Akan Seri, performers of kui Kurmangazy, Dina, Turkesh, Tattimbet were all the best talents who came out of the common people. In this regard, the literary and cultural heritage, relics, artistic power, traditions, legends and truths, history and knowledge about the art of kui and kuishi (performer of kui), created by the Kazakh people over the centuries, have been raised to a high level in terms of the artistic genre. For the history of the nation, the life and work of Musa Baizhanuly is very important. He was a unique representative of Kazakh art, a singer, composer, who left his mark on the Kazakh steppe with his unique art, became a legend, mourned the grief of the common people and was sent into exile because of this. This article evaluates the significance of works of art that describe the life and natural talent of artists in the history of our people and their place in the spirituality of the nation. Key words: art, poet, artist, national values, poetry, continuity of tradition, internal monologue, dialogue, author's narration, content and idea.

A study on attention-based fine-grained image recognition: Towards musical instrument performing hand shape assessment

Automatic identification and professional evaluation makes musical instrument learning more intelligent. Since a proper hand shape is the basis of fingerings in playing instruments, this paper explores an integration of intelligent recognition technique into hand shape assessment of instrument players in an attempt of taking Chinese zither (Zheng) as an example. The fine-grained image recognition is novelly applied to automatically assessing basic hand shapes, as a tentative exploration of interdisciplinary research. First, this paper formulates an assessment scales by combining fine-grained image features with hand shape evaluation indicators in musical instrument learning. Then, an image dataset for hand shapes of Chinese zither performance (CZ-Dataset V2) is established based on free multi-view acquisition. Finally, we propose a fine-grained hand shape image recognition method using attention mechanism. Experimental results show that the basic instrumental hand shapes can be effectively recognized and reasonable suggestions for hand shape assessment can be provided.

Loyalty, Subjecthood, and Violence: Veracruz’s Afro-descendants in the Early Mexican War of Independence, 1812–1813

Abstract: This article is centered around the experiences of Afro-descendant men in the 1812–1813 period of the Mexican War of Independence as it occurred in the port-city of Veracruz and it Sotavento (Leeward) hinterland. It argues that Black men had complex, active, and essential roles in providing the backbone of regional royalist and insurgent armies. It pieces together the fragmented military and political agency of Veracruz’s Afro-descendant men as reflected in published and unknown archival sources of the colonial and national archive, such as military reports and correspondence, constitutions, decrees, 19th Century published accounts, and a lengthy court case. This article sheds light on how Afro-descendant men were pushed to participate by their individual and collective needs, reacting to localized, and transatlantic, conditions that promised, or excluded them from, social, economic, and political advancement. By centering Veracruz’s Afro-descendant men as instrumental players of the war, even in leadership roles, this article seeks to problematize traditional narratives of the struggle that negate and erase Black History in the Mexican struggle for liberation. This article also places their experiences within the backdrops of Atlantic World politics during the Age of Revolutions. It examines the ways by which they reacted to limiting frameworks of citizenship influenced by localized, and transatlantic, Anti-Black stereotypes and fears, along with the adoption of the 1812 Cádiz Charter. This article argues that these men found themselves amidst the paradox of being militarily wanted but politically rejected by nineteenth century Spanish colonialism. This led Afro-descendant men to seek new opportunities of belonging and empowerment, joining the insurgency to improve their sociopolitical status. This article seeks to humanize voiceless Afro-descendant historical actors placing them as essential players of Veracruz’s, and the Greater Caribbean’s, early-nineteenth century regional dynamics.

Lip-valve interactions with the resonant bore of a trombone

Players of brass instruments usually play at a pitch close to one of the strong resonances of the instrument bore, but can easily play either above or below a resonance. Simple one-degree-of freedom models having aperture in phase with longitudinal lip displacement do not readily explain auto-oscillationwith realistic values of lip losses and cannot explain oscillation at frequencies below resonance. Experimental measurements of lip motion, pressures and flows show that the lips’ longitudinal motion leads the transverse: the lips move downstream closed, then open, then retract while open. Because of the forward sweeping motion, flow starts before the lips open. The sweeping motion has two important effects: first, it allows a range of phases between pressure and flow. Second, it means that the DC pressure acts on a larger area in the forward motion than during retraction. Both have consequences for oscillation energetics. A simple calculation of the PdV work done on the longitudinal component of motion, using measured quantities, indicates that it could provide a substantial fraction of the energy necessary for auto-oscillation with lossy lips. These mechanisms might have implications for other auto-oscillatory systems such as the vocal folds.

Discerning Sound Ethnobiology in the realm of Ethnomusicology: A Study of Deori Folk Musical Instruments

Folk music has always been known to be the best source of connecting us to our culture and keeping our identity alive as an individual and as a group. The concept of melody and the artistic pursuit of musical composition were probably unknown to early players of musical instruments. A musical instrument is used to make musical sounds. Once humans moved from making sounds with their bodies-for example, by clapping-to using objects to create music from sounds, musical instruments were born. The purpose and meaning of musical instruments differs from region to region and from culture to another. Instruments have special significance in music. The Deoris belong to the Sino-Tibetan family of Mongoloid stock. They are considered to be one of the communities found in Assam and some parts of Arunachal Pradesh in North- East India. The word ‘Deori’ means the offspring of Gods and Goddesses. The Indian Constitution has regarded the Deoris as a scheduled tribe of Assam and they are considered to be a small plains tribe. The Deoris have their own language which is the Deori language. Customarily the Deoris are divided into four clans namely ‘Dibongiya, Tengaponiya, Bongiya, Patorgoyan’ which are present till date. This paper studies the vitality of sound ethnobiology, ethics of instruments, crafting and classification of musical instruments in the field of Ethnomusicology. Musical instruments are constructed in a broad array of styles and shapes, using many different materials. It mainly explores and discerns the variety of Deori traditional musical instruments from a closer proximity in the realm of material culture under the broader context of folklore. The crafting processes and the materials used for the making of the musical instruments of the Deoris is discussed in a detailed manner.

Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorder and Correlation with Core Endurance, Body Mass Index among Indian Classical Musical Instrument Players

Background and need of study: Commonly all classical musical instruments are played in cross leg position and without back support for prolonged periods. Core is the central part of the body, core muscles have to spare the spine from excessive load, to transfer force from the lower body to the upper body and vice versa. Strong, stable core and normal body mass index helps us to prevent musculoskeletal injuries. Therefore; the present study was conducted to find the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) and correlation with core endurance and body mass index (BMI) in Indian classical musical instrument players. Methodology: Observational, analytical study was conducted on 35 Indian classical musical instrument players. Male and female, age 20-60 years old, with ≥2 years of experience as a classical musical instrument player, practicing instrument for minimum 2 hours/day were included. Participation was voluntary and informed consent was taken. Nordic questionnaire was assessed for the prevalence of MSD. Weight and height assessed by BMI. Core endurance was assessed by McGill’s core endurance test. Each subject was given appropriate rest period between all tests. Outcomes were correlated using Spearman’s correlation of coefficient. Results: The common painful sites of the body were as follows: wrist/hand(91%),low back (89%),neck(71%),upperback(49%),shoulders(49%),knees(31%),elbows(29%),ankles(20%),hips(11%) among musical instrument players. Correlation was found between BMI and trunk flexor test (r=-0.696, p≤0.001), BMI and trunk extensor test (r=-0.658, p≤0.001), BMI and right side bridge test (r=-0.649,p≤0.001,)left side bridge test (r=-0.675,p≤0.001). Conclusion: A relatively high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain amongst Indian classical musical instrument players. There is moderate negative correlation between BMI and core endurance in Indian classical musical instrument players. Ergonomic advices, adapting healthy lifestyle along with overall improvement in their working efficiency, prevent MSD and thus indirectly improve their Quality of Life.

Musculoskeletal problems, attitudes and behaviors related to physical activity, and social media addiction in musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Musculoskeletal problems are common in musicians. Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has brought with it lockdowns and quarantine periods, and as a result, caused physical and psychological problems. To evaluate musculoskeletal problems, attitudes and behaviors related to physical activity, and social media addiction in musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 137 musicians (string, keyboard, wind, percussion instrument players, and vocalists) online. Musculoskeletal problems with Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ), attitudes and behaviors related to physical activity with Cognitive Behavioral Physical Activity Questionnaire (CBPAQ), social media addiction with Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) were evaluated. In CMDQ, it was found that upper back, lower back, and neck problems were more common in all musicians. There were no differences between instrument groups in terms of CBPAQ sub-dimensions, total CBPAQ, and total BSMAS (p > 0.05). Considering the dramatic effects of COVID-19, it may be important not to ignore musicians' musculoskeletal problems. It is recommended to design future studies investigating the effects of social media platforms on physical activity awareness by turning the opportunities of COVID-19 into advantages for challenges in musicians.

Pelatihan Instrumen Tiup Brass pada Unit Marching Band GNPM Kabupaten Mandailing Natal

The research at this writing is to determine the brass instrument training system in the Marching Band Gita Nada Pratama Mandailing Natal unit. The purpose of this study was to see how to find out the procedures for training the Brass Instrument in the Marching Band Gita Nada Pratama Mandailing Natal unit. This research was conducted in December-February 2021. It is a qualitative descriptive study that reveals the current phenomenon. The group of brass instrument players in the Marching Band Gita Nada Pratama Mandailing Natal Unit is the object of research. The research location is the Youth and Sports Office of Mandailing Natal Regency. Techniques in collecting data using observation techniques, interview techniques, and documentation techniques.At the stage of the training process on the brass unit of the Marching Band Gita Nada Pratama Mandailing Natal, the initial preparation includes the recruitment process, introduction of tools, understanding of body position, blowing technique, lip position, and the technique of finding the schedule and place of practice. The last is the preparation of exercises which include apple activities, warming up, and giving song material. In the training process, the Marching Band unit did not apply a written evaluation system and did not give strict sanctions to members of the brass instrument training process for the Marching Band Gita Nada Pratama Mandailing Natal using training methods, lectures and demonstrations.

No Differences Between Instrument-Independent Manual Dexterity and Finger Dexterity of Musicians and Nonmusicians

Dexterity is one of the abilities required for different types of work and is divided into manual and finger dexterity. The aim of this study was to examine whether there was a difference in manual and finger dexterity between musicians and nonmusicians, and between musicians divided by instrument groups and nonmusicians. The study included 128 participants (96 musicians, 32 nonmusicians). Musicians were divided into three groups as wind, string, and keyboard instrument players. The Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test (MMDT) for manual dexterity and Purdue Pegboard Test (PPT) for finger dexterity were used. Independent samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for MMDT, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for PPT between musicians and nonmusicians. The Kruskal-Wallis H test and one-way ANOVA were used for comparisons of the MMDT and PPT between nonmusicians and musicians divided by instrument groups. There were no differences between musicians and nonmusicians in terms of MMDT and PPT (p>0.05). When musicians were divided by instrument groups, there was a statistically significant difference in only the left-hand subtest of PPT (p=0.038). In pairwise comparisons, significant differences were found between wind and string instrument players (p=0.036), keyboard and string players (p=0.012), and nonmusicians and string players (p=0.015). Wind and keyboard players and nonmusicians were more successful than string players in terms of left-hand finger dexterity. Future studies can be designed that investigate the effects of bilateral asymmetrical-symmetrical training on finger dexterity of the left hand and evaluate the performances of musicians in areas other than music.

Louis Armstrong’s Lip Problems: Satchmo’s Syndrome Reviewed

This study is a biographical review and an analysis of the existing photographs of Armstrong's lip with the aim of better understanding the origin and progression of his disorder. A review was made of the most important biographies, newspapers, and magazines referring to Louis Armstrong and medical reports about Satchmo's syndrome. Major archives related to Louis Armstrong were searched for documents, photographs, articles, videos, letters, and other items, using the terms "lip," "embouchure," "mouth," and "problem." Information was sought on Armstrong's playing technique, playing schedule, lip changes, lip problems, and other related health issues. It was found that Louis Armstrong suffered dermatological lip problems due to his intense playing schedule and the way he played from the very beginning of his career. This first created swelling and superficial erosions that later became cracks and fissures. These lesions finally produced ulcers which evolved into scar tissue after healing. This made the mucosa thicker and stiffer, making it more difficult for the lip to vibrate and forcing him to increase the tension and pressure in the area in order to play the trumpet. This created a vicious cycle with the scar tissue leading to further problems. These injuries even bled several times while he was playing and, on some occasions, left his mouth and clothes bloodied in the middle of concerts. His biography does not make any reference to difficulties or symptoms that could indicate that he had orbicularis oris muscle rupture, except for the fact that he had trouble playing, a symptom common to any injury to the lips in a wind instrument player. Analysis of the existing data indicates that Louis Armstrong's lip problems were most likely due to mucosa fibromatous hyperplasia resulting from chronic microtrauma rather than a rupture of the orbicularis oris muscle. Therefore, we propose that this disorder should no longer be referred to as Satchmo's syndrome.

A case series of wind instrument players with cleft lip and/or palate.

It might be more difficult for patients with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) to generate sufficient muscle tension of the upper lip and intraoral air pressure to play a wind instrument. We aimed to explore and describe the key aspects of wind instrument playing with a repaired cleft. An in-depth interview was conducted among ten patients with CL/P and one with a functionally comparable problem and we found that: individuals with CL/P can achieve a professional level on a wind instrument; the oboe and trumpet may be less suitable for patients with CL/P because of the high lip muscle tension and intraoral air pressure that must be generated; air leakage through a fistula, unrepaired alveolus or velopharyngeal insufficiency can be troublesome; and for people with CL/P, a brass instrument with a large mouthpiece is easier than a small mouthpiece. While dentists, doctors and music teachers should discuss the probability that wind instrument playing might be more difficult for patients with CL/P, they should not discourage it.

Development of a Head Acceleration Event Classification Algorithm for Female Rugby Union

Instrumented mouthguards have been used to detect head accelerations and record kinematic data in numerous sports. Each recording requires validation through time-consuming video verification. Classification algorithms have been posed to automatically categorise head acceleration events and spurious events. However, classification algorithms must be designed and/or validated for each combination of sport, sex and mouthguard system. This study provides the first algorithm to classify head acceleration data from exclusively female rugby union players. Mouthguards instrumented with kinematic sensors were given to 25 participants for six competitive rugby union matches in an inter-university league. Across all instrumented players, 214 impacts were recorded from 460 match-minutes. Matches were video recorded to enable retrospective labelling of genuine and spurious events. Four machine learning algorithms were trained on five matches to predict these labels, then tested on the sixth match. Of the four classifiers, the support vector machine achieved the best results, with area under the receiver operator curve (AUROC) and area under the precision recall curve (AUPRC) scores of 0.92 and 0.85 respectively, on the test data. These findings represent an important development for head impact telemetry in female sport, contributing to the safer participation and improving the reliability of head impact data collection within female contact sport.

Musicking as a “Modus Movimiendi”

Drawing on fieldwork carried out in Athens in 2011 during the social movement of Syntagma Square — sometimes known as the Greek Indignados movement — I discuss the presence of music during the uprising. Due to the absence of any central organization (e.g. political party, trade union), horizontal procedures prevailed. This fact was clearly reflected in music. Songs associated with the left-wing parties in Greece were not welcome. Instead, a wide variety of musical genres were performed, reflecting people’s different socio-cultural and ideological identities. Surprisingly, a considerable amount of Cretan music was performed during the police attacks. Musical activities took the form of collective participation and improvisation, thus rejecting the habitual 'protagonists' (e.g. singer, song writer, instrument player) and creating an intersubjective world of everyday life. To underline the conjunction between everyday life and social uprising, I adapt the Latin phrase modus vivendi as modus movimiendi in which musicking became the heart of the movement.

Dystonia and pre/post-performance body maintenance among high-speed stringed instrument players: A pilot study

There are likely numerous professional musicians who have not been diagnosed with Focal task specific dystonia, but nonetheless experience hand and muscle tension accompanied by a loss of motor control during performance. As such, it is important to implement preventative measures before performance begins to suffer. The proportion of all musicians who fall into this category is unclear. This study aims to investigate the proportion of musicians who suffer from dystonia and/or have motor difficulties during performance. This study also aims to investigate the prevalence of maintenance efforts by professional musicians after rehearsal practice.76 professional high-speed stringed instrument players and 70 non-musicians with no performance experience were included in a study of dystonia and pre/post-performance body maintenance. Musicians experienced significantly more dystonia compared to non-musicians. Performers who implemented post-practice and post-performance body maintenance experienced less dystonia than those who did not. These results suggest that soft tissue maintenance of the hands and upper extremities following musical performance serve as a preventative measure for Focal Task-Specific Dystonia.

A Case of Self-induced Pneumoparotid Improved with Conservative Treatment

Pneumoparotid is a rare diagnosis to consider when faced with unexplained parotid swelling. It is caused by an excessive increase of intraoral pressure and reflux of air through the Stensen duct and its glandular branches. It is more likely to occur in persons who have regularly raised intraoral pressure, for example glass and balloon blowers and wind instrument players. It can also be self-induced by habitual tic. Herein, we report a rare case of pneumoparotid with initial presentation of painless swelling in left parotid region. It was caused by habitual cheek inflating and improved with conservative management.

A Study on the Pulmonary Functional Characteristics of Amateur Wind Instrument Players and Choir Members

A Study on the Pulmonary Functional Characteristics of Amateur Wind Instrument Players and Choir Members