Instrument Players Research Articles

Estudo de prevalência das disfunções temporomandibulares articulares em estudantes de instrumentos de sopro

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of temporomandibular joint disorders in wind instrument players and to establish the relationship between the practice of a wind instrument and the development of temporomandibular disorders. Materials and MethodsA cross‐sectional observational descriptive study, was conducted to determine the prevalence of temporomandibular joint disorders in students of winds instruments, at Escola Profissional de Artes da Beira Interior (Covilhã ‐ Portugal), using the Portuguese version of the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders and to evaluate possible risk factors associated with it. Analysis was performed using IBM© SPSS© Statistics vs.20.0 (α=0.05). ResultsIt was found a prevalence of 68.3% of individuals with temporomandibular joint pathology, of which 29.3% were diagnosed with disc displacement (DD) with reduction, 14.6% DD without reduction without limited opening, 17.1% with arthralgia, 24.4% with osteoarthritis and 19.5% with osteoarthrosis. None of the observed students had a diagnosis of DD without reduction with limited opening. A significant age difference of the wind instrument players was detected for the intra‐articular temporomandibular disorders (ANOVA, p=0.014), being the ones without diagnosis significantly younger than the ones with DD with reduction (T.Scheffé, p=0.021), but no difference was detected between the ones with DD without reduction/without limitation and the others. There was not an association between diagnosis and the type of instrument played (p>0.05). ConclusionIn multivariable analysis, risk factors associated with the development of temporomandibular disorder were, age and the interaction age and years of instrument practice.

Use-Dependent Cortical Processing from Fingertips in Touchscreen Phone Users

Cortical activity allotted to the tactile receptors on fingertips conforms to skilful use of the hand. For instance, in string instrument players, the somatosensory cortical activity in response to touch on the little fingertip is larger than that in control subjects. Such plasticity of the fingertip sensory representation is not limited to extraordinary skills and occurs in monkeys trained to repetitively grasp and release a handle as well. Touchscreen phones also require repetitive finger movements, but whether and how the cortex conforms to this is unknown. By using electroencephalography (EEG), we measured the cortical potentials in response to mechanical touch on the thumb, index, and middle fingertips of touchscreen phone users and nonusers (owning only old-technology mobile phones). Although the thumb interacted predominantly with the screen, the potentials associated with the three fingertips were enhanced in touchscreen users compared to nonusers. Within the touchscreen users, the cortical potentials from the thumb and index fingertips were directly proportional to the intensity of use quantified with built-in battery logs. Remarkably, the thumb tip was sensitive to the day-to-day fluctuations in phone use: the shorter the time elapsed from an episode of intense phone use, the larger the cortical potential associated with it. Our results suggest that repetitive movements on the smooth touchscreen reshaped sensory processing from the hand and that the thumb representation was updated daily depending on its use. We propose that cortical sensory processing in the contemporary brain is continuously shaped by the use of personal digital technology.

Atypical chemokine receptor 2: a brake against Kaposi's sarcoma aggressiveness

Inflammatory chemokines are instrumental players in cancer-related inflammation contributing to numerous steps during tumor progression. In Kaposi's sarcoma, we have found that downregulation of the atypical chemokine receptor 2 (ACKR2) by the KRAS/BRAF/ERK pathway profoundly affects the tumor microenvironment, unleashing accumulation of tumor-associated macrophages that sustains tumor growth. This discovery extends our understanding on the role of inflammatory chemokines in tumor biology and provides rationale for their therapeutic targeting.

New learning of music after bilateral medial temporal lobe damage: evidence from an amnesic patient.

Damage to the hippocampus impairs the ability to acquire new declarative memories, but not the ability to learn simple motor tasks. An unresolved question is whether hippocampal damage affects learning for music performance, which requires motor processes, but in a cognitively complex context. We studied learning of novel musical pieces by sight-reading in a newly identified amnesic, LSJ, who was a skilled amateur violist prior to contracting herpes simplex encephalitis. LSJ has suffered virtually complete destruction of the hippocampus bilaterally, as well as extensive damage to other medial temporal lobe structures and the left anterior temporal lobe. Because of LSJ’s rare combination of musical training and near-complete hippocampal destruction, her case provides a unique opportunity to investigate the role of the hippocampus for complex motor learning processes specifically related to music performance. Three novel pieces of viola music were composed and closely matched for factors contributing to a piece’s musical complexity. LSJ practiced playing two of the pieces, one in each of the two sessions during the same day. Relative to a third unpracticed control piece, LSJ showed significant pre- to post-training improvement for the two practiced pieces. Learning effects were observed both with detailed analyses of correctly played notes, and with subjective whole-piece performance evaluations by string instrument players. The learning effects were evident immediately after practice and 14 days later. The observed learning stands in sharp contrast to LSJ’s complete lack of awareness that the same pieces were being presented repeatedly, and to the profound impairments she exhibits in other learning tasks. Although learning in simple motor tasks has been previously observed in amnesic patients, our results demonstrate that non-hippocampal structures can support complex learning of novel musical sequences for music performance.

Characteristics of Task-specific Tremor in String Instrument Players.

BackgroundIn recent studies primary bowing tremor has been described; however, tremor frequency has never been quantitatively assessed. In addition to describing phenomenological aspects of tremor we thus aimed at assessing tremor frequency. Our hypothesis was that primary bowing tremor is similar to the phenomenological aspects and frequency of primary writing tremor.MethodsWe quantified primary bowing tremor in four violinists under two conditions: open strings and a G major scale. Data were analyzed using empirical mode decomposition because it takes into account non-stationarity and non-linearity of signals. For each patient we further described tremor phenomenology and assessed symptom onset, risk factors, medication, and family history with a structured anamnesis. We compare the findings to previous findings for primary bowing tremor and primary writing tremor.ResultsWe mainly found a flexion–extension tremor of the wrist with a frequency range of 4.7–6.7 Hz. There was no significant difference between the conditions. Mean onset age was 43±2.4 years. Medication included trihexyphenidyl, propranolol, primidone, and botulinum toxin. We found a positive family history in two patients and an injury prior to symptom onset in another two patients. Comparison of onset age, frequency range, family history, and injuries prior to onset revealed that our findings are very similar to previous findings on primary bowing tremor and primary writing tremor.DiscussionOur findings confirmed our hypothesis that primary bowing tremor is similar to primary writing tremor, with regard to phenomenology and epidemiology as well as tremor frequency. There was no difference in tremor frequency between conditions, suggesting that tremor is not influenced by bimanual coordination or bowing speed. Our findings thus provide new phenomenological aspects and may contribute to a better understanding of primary bowing tremor.

Natural human–robot musical interaction: understanding the music conductor gestures by using the WB-4 inertial measurement system

This paper presents an inertial measurement unit-based human gesture recognition system for a robot instrument player to understand the instructions dictated by an orchestra conductor and accordingly adapt its musical performance. It is an extension of our previous publications on natural human–robot musical interaction. With this system, the robot can understand the real-time variations in musical parameters dictated by the conductor’s movements, adding expression to its performance while being synchronized with all the other human partner musicians. The enhanced interaction ability would obviously lead to an improvement of the overall live performance, but also allow the partner musicians, as well as the conductor, to better appreciate a joint musical performance, thanks to the complete naturalness of the interaction.

ЕТНОРЕГІОНАЛЬНІ ВИМІРИ СУЧАСНОГО УКРАЇНСЬКОГО МУЗИКОЗНАВСТВА

ЕТНОРЕГІОНАЛЬНІ ВИМІРИ СУЧАСНОГО УКРАЇНСЬКОГО МУЗИКОЗНАВСТВА

Influence of changes in the oral cavity on the performance of recorder players: A pilot study

Wind instrument players may dread dental treatment because changes in the oral cavity can affect their performance. However, few studies have investigated the influence of such changes, particularly prosthesis-induced morphologic changes, on the performance of wind instrument players. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of prosthesis-induced morphologic changes in the oral cavity on the performance of wind instrument players. Seven women were asked to play a recorder with and without an experimental palatal appliance. Their performances were analyzed by psychoacoustic analysis, with loudness as a parameter, and by performable range analyses with Voice Range Profile software. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for the statistical analyses. Differences between moderately loud and very soft sounds (P=.043) and between very loud and very soft sounds (P=.027), as well as the performable range of frequency and intensity (P=.028), all decreased significantly in the presence of the palatal prosthesis. The results of this study suggest that changes in the oral cavity caused by the presence of a prosthesis affect thepsychoacoustic features and the performable range of frequency and intensity during the playing of wind instruments.

"Pelo telefone mandaram avisar que se questione essa tal história onde mulher não tá": a atuação de mulheres musicistas na constituição do samba da Pequena África do Rio de Janeiro no início do século XX

Esta investigação lança-se sobre o samba da Pequena África do Rio de Janeiro nas primeiras décadas do século XX de modo a analisar a atuação das mulheres na região que ficou conhecida como o berço do samba. A partir disso, identifiquei que as Tias Baianas da Pequena África foram mulheres atuantes e influentes no meio musical de sua época, compositoras, instrumentistas, cantoras, agentes transformadoras em um território tido como essencialmente masculino, como é o caso de Ciata, Perciliana, Carmem do Ximbuca, Maria Adamastor, Amélia Aragão, Mariquita, entre outras. Trata-se de um mundo musical feminino desvalorizado, obscurecido por uma construção histórica criada pelas classes superiores, focada nos grandes personagens, nos grandes eventos supostamente mais importantes, no domínio da vida pública, na tradição escrita, com escassos ou mesmo nenhum interesse na face doméstica, na tradição oral, no conhecimento das mulheres.

Sound exposure of professional orchestral musicians during solitary practice

It is broadly acknowledged that professional orchestral musicians risk noise-induced hearing pathologies due to sound exposure in rehearsal and performance. While much has been published regarding orchestral sound levels, little is known of the sound exposure these musicians experience during solitary practice, despite the many hours they spend engaged in this activity. This study aimed to determine sound exposure during solitary practice of 35 professional orchestral musicians, representing players of most orchestral instruments. To allow cross-comparison, participants were assessed playing similar repertoire in a controlled environment, recording simultaneously at each ear to determine sound exposure levels. Sound levels were recorded between 60 and 107 dB L(Aeq), with peak levels between 101 and 130 dB L(C,peak). For average reported practice durations (2.1 h per day, five days a week) 53% would exceed accepted permissible daily noise exposure in solitary practice, in addition to sound exposure during orchestral rehearsals and performances. Significant inter-aural differences were noted in violin, viola, flute/piccolo, horn, trombone, and tuba. Only 40% used hearing protection at any time while practicing. These findings indicate orchestral musicians at risk of noise-induced hearing loss in ensemble face significant additional risks during solitary practice. Data presented will enable more effective and targeted management strategies for this population.

Long-term plasticity may be manifested as reduction or expansion of cortical representations of actively used muscles in motor skill specialists

Our aim was to study long-term plasticity in the organization of cortical muscle representations due to extensive motor training for different skills. We were especially interested in whether skill-specific demands on independent hand muscle movements and synchronous leg muscle movements are reflected differently in the reorganization of muscle representations. We used navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation to estimate the size of cortical representations of opponens pollicis, abductor digiti minimi, and tibialis anterior muscles in five string instrument players, five figure skaters, and five controls. The extent of the representation area was presented as an amplitude-area curve showing the spatial distribution of motor evoked potentials. The size of representation areas was compared between the dominant and nondominant hemispheres and between the groups. The representation area of the left abductor digiti minimi (critical for reaching right tones) in the right, nondominant hemisphere was smaller in string players and the representation area of the tibialis anterior in the dominant hemisphere (critical for jumps) was larger in figure skaters when compared with controls. Reorganization in the motor cortex may differ depending upon the skill and an individual muscle's role in the skill. A smaller representation area of the independently used hand muscle in masters of fine motor skills may reflect long-term plasticity toward more focused representation, which may be beneficial in accurate and discrete cortical control of the muscle. Larger cortical representations are related to skill demanding coactivation of proximal and distal lower limb muscles.

Inflammatory chemokines and metastasis—tracing the accessory

The tumor microenvironment consists of stromal cells and leukocytes that contribute to cancer progression. Cross-talk between tumor cells and their microenvironment is facilitated by a variety of soluble factors, including growth factors and cytokines such as chemokines. Due to a wide expression of chemokine receptors on cells in the tumor microenvironment, including tumor cells, chemokines affect various processes such as leukocyte recruitment, angiogenesis, tumor cell survival, tumor cell adhesion, proliferation, vascular permeability, immune suppression, invasion and metastasis. Inflammatory chemokines are instrumental players in cancer-related inflammation and significantly contribute to numerous steps during metastasis. Recruitment of myeloid-derived cells to metastatic sites is mainly mediated by the inflammatory chemokines CCL2 and CCL5. Tumor cell homing and extravasation from the circulation to distant organs are also regulated by inflammatory chemokines. Recent experimental evidence demonstrated that besides leukocyte recruitment, tumor cell-derived CCL2 directly activated endothelial cells and together with monocytes facilitated tumor cell extravasation, in a CCL2- and CCL5-dependent manner. Furthermore, CX3CL1 expression in the bone facilitated metastasis of CX3CR1 expressing tumor cells to this site. Current findings in preclinical models strongly suggest that inflammatory chemokines have an important role during metastasis and targeting of the chemokine axis might have a therapeutic potential.

Stress Velopharyngeal Incompetence in Collegiate Trombone Players

Objectives : Symptoms of stress velopharyngeal incompetence (SVPI) have been reported by many wind instrument players. The current study was designed to determine (1) if symptoms of SVPI were accompanied by aeromechanical signs of SVPI and (2) if signs of SVPI differed across musical tasks. Design : Participants were studied during a single recording session. Setting : The study was conducted in a university laboratory. Participants : Participants were 10 collegiate trombone players. They were separated into two groups: six who reported symptoms of SVPI and four who reported no symptoms. Main Outcome Measure : Nasal pressure recorded during trombone playing was used to determine velopharyngeal status (open or closed). Results : None of the participants exhibited an open velopharynx during trombone playing; however, all participants had positive nasal pressure (indicating an open velopharynx) immediately prior to sound onset on at least some of their breath groups. Two participants had positive nasal pressure prior to the vast majority of their productions and were given biofeedback and instruction to change this behavior. Conclusions : Symptoms of SVPI do not necessarily indicate the presence of a velopharyngeal-nasal leak during wind instrument playing but may reflect awareness of air leaks immediately prior to sound production. Pre-sound velopharyngeal-nasal air leaks may be amenable to behavioral modification by biofeedback and instruction. Nasal pressure measurement (using a nasal cannula) provides a simple, yet powerful, way to identify SVPI.

Brain injury prediction: assessing the combined probability of concussion using linear and rotational head acceleration.

Recent research has suggested possible long term effects due to repetitive concussions, highlighting the importance of developing methods to accurately quantify concussion risk. This study introduces a new injury metric, the combined probability of concussion, which computes the overall risk of concussion based on the peak linear and rotational accelerations experienced by the head during impact. The combined probability of concussion is unique in that it determines the likelihood of sustaining a concussion for a given impact, regardless of whether the injury would be reported or not. The risk curve was derived from data collected from instrumented football players (63,011 impacts including 37 concussions), which was adjusted to account for the underreporting of concussion. The predictive capability of this new metric is compared to that of single biomechanical parameters. The capabilities of these parameters to accurately predict concussion incidence were evaluated using two separate datasets: the Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS) data and National Football League (NFL) data collected from impact reconstructions using dummies (58 impacts including 25 concussions). Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated, and all parameters were significantly better at predicting injury than random guessing. The combined probability of concussion had the greatest area under the curve for all datasets. In the HITS dataset, the combined probability of concussion and linear acceleration were significantly better predictors of concussion than rotational acceleration alone, but not different from each other. In the NFL dataset, there were no significant differences between parameters. The combined probability of concussion is a valuable method to assess concussion risk in a laboratory setting for evaluating product safety.

The Prevalence of Playing-related Musculoskeletal Disorders of Traditional Korean Musical Instrument Player

Objective: This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders of traditional Korean instrument player using a variety of traditional classical instruments: Gayageum, Geomungo, Ajaeng, Haegeum, Daegeum, Piri and Samul instruments. Background: A large percentage of instrument players have suffered from the musculoskeletal pain of each body parts. However, there is no research on the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders of traditional Korean musical instrument players. Method: Through the focus group interview, a questionnaire to investigate musculoskeletal disorders was developed. The questionnaire consisted of four parts: demographic factors, performance factors, musculoskeletal disorders symptoms, musculoskeletal disorder experience. For the survey, 118 expert players participated. The data from the survey were analyzed by correlation analysis and chi-square analysis. Results: The symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders and the severe pain from musculoskeletal disorders were observed at neck, shoulder, back and knee. The musculoskeletal experience was statistically related to the factor of body height in Gayageum and Geomungo. In addition, the musculoskeletal experience in Geomungo was related to age and career. However, the musculoskeletal experience in Ajaeng and Haegeum was only related to the factor of hobby. The musculoskeletal experience in Daegeum and Piri was related to stretching. In addition, there was a statistical significance between the musculoskeletal experience and sex in Daegum. In Samul instruments, the statistical significance was observed at age, BMI, career and stretching. Conclusion: The symptoms of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders of traditional Korean musical players were prevalently observed at neck, shoulder, back and knee. In addition, these symptoms were related to the various demographic factors such as age, body height, BMI, career, sex, hobby and stretching. Application: The results of this study can be used as the preliminary data for preventing the musculoskeletal injuries of traditional Korean musical instrument players.

Prevalence of Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Traditional Korean String Instrument Players

This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in players of a variety of traditional Korean classical instruments: gayageum, geomungo, ajaeng, and haegeum. A large percentage of these musicians suffer from musculoskeletal pain of various body parts. However, there has been no research regarding the extent of musculoskeletal disorders in players of these instruments. Through a focus group interview, a questionnaire was developed to investigate musculoskeletal disorders. The questionnaire consisted of four parts: demographic factors, performance factors, musculoskeletal disorder symptoms, and musculoskeletal disorder experiences. Eighty-six expert players participated in this survey. The data from the survey were analyzed by correlation analysis and chi-squared analysis. Musculoskeletal disorders symptoms and severe pain were reported in the neck, shoulder, back and knee. These problems were statistically related to height for players of the gayageum and geomungo. In addition, the musculoskeletal disorder experience of geomungo players was correlated with age and career length. The symptoms of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders in traditional Korean music players were reported as being mostly observed in the neck, shoulder, back, and knee. In addition, these symptoms were related to various demographic factors such as age, height, career length, and hobby styles. The results of this study can be used as preliminary data for developing guidelines to prevent traditional Korean musical instrument players from developing musculoskeletal injuries.

Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Iranian Instrumentalists

Musicians as an occupational group are exposed to various ergonomic exposures which may lead to musculoskeletal problems. In this study we assessed the frequency of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among Iranian instrumentalists (using traditional Iranian and western instruments). In a cross-sectional study we assessed the frequency of MSDs in 356 Iranian instrumentalists by standardized Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire according to age group, type of instrument, duration of playing, and playing/sitting position. Data were analyzed using chi-squared, t-test and ANOVA. Overall, 158 of 356 subjects (44.4%) experienced MSDs, mostly with mild or moderate symptoms. Frequency of MSDs was significantly higher in females but it was not significantly related to body mass index, duration of employment, and duration of playing or teaching. Our study showed a high frequency of MSDs among Iranian instrumentalists, so paying attention to the ergonomic exposures of instrumentalists as an occupational group is important. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on players of different Iranian instruments to have considered ergonomic risk factors.

Temporal Differences in String Bowing of Symphony Orchestra Players

A study on the temporal differences between the bowing of string instrument players in an orchestra is presented. A high quality video of a professional symphony orchestra was recorded high above the first rows of the audience area. The movement of the instrument bodies and the bow hands of the players were tracked with the video to resolve the time instants when the directions of the bow movements changed for individual players. The proposed tracking approach is evaluated extensively against several other methods. The temporal distributions of the bow direction changes were analysed from one longer and three shorter cases. The results indicate that one half of the bow strokes of a group of three players occur in an approximate 60 ms time-frame.

Pitch bending in the diatonic harmonica

Pitch bending by wind instrument players is standard practice in many genres of music, but it is considered essential in blues harmonica playing. Some simple pitch bends involve the coupling of a single reed to a resonator such as the vocal tract of the player, but a full description of pitch bending in the harmonica involves consideration of the coupling between the two reeds, one for each direction of airflow, that share a single reed chamber. The most common pitch bends are those for which the primary reed in the reed chamber sounds a note higher in frequency than that sounded by the secondary reed. In these cases notes can be bent downward to pitches between those sounded by the two reeds. In addition, some players use more advanced techniques to bend notes beyond the frequencies of the chamber reeds. This paper reviews experimental work and theoretical modeling done on pitch bending in the harmonica during the last thirty years. This includes measurements made while pitch bends are produced by players as well as experiments on harmonicas in more conventional laboratory settings.

Subjective experiment on preferable reverberation of a musical practice room by professional players

A musical practice room is very important space for players to improve their skills. However, no architectural design guideline of the musical practice room exists in Japan and the individual room is being designed based on architect's intuition and experiences. For a basic investigation aiming to establish the guideline, we are now investigating appropriate acoustic conditions of musical practice rooms for players by subjective experiments. In this study, we focused on reverberation time of the room and subjective experiments using a three dimensional sound field simulation were conducted for professional players including woodwind instrument players, string players and singers. In the experiment, a room having 6 conditions of reverberation time was virtually simulated in the sound field simulation system established in an anechoic chamber. As a result, a clear tendency of preferable reverberation time dependent on the difference of types of the instruments was found and a range of preferred reverberation time for a practice room was obtained.