Cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior

Abstract During the last 20 years, the role of musicians’ body movements has emerged as a central question in instrument practice: Why do musicians make so many postural movements, for instance, with their torsos and heads, while playing musical instruments? The musical significance of such ancillar...

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Autores principales:	Jocelyn Rozé, Mitsuko Aramaki, Richard Kronland-Martinet, Sølvi Ystad
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/02c8b7da0f794f17a7e5b826406c5fc9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:02c8b7da0f794f17a7e5b826406c5fc92021-12-02T16:45:40ZCellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior10.1038/s41598-020-70705-82045-2322https://doaj.org/article/02c8b7da0f794f17a7e5b826406c5fc92020-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70705-8https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract During the last 20 years, the role of musicians’ body movements has emerged as a central question in instrument practice: Why do musicians make so many postural movements, for instance, with their torsos and heads, while playing musical instruments? The musical significance of such ancillary gestures is still an enigma and therefore remains a major pedagogical challenge, since one does not know if these movements should be considered essential embodied skills that improve musical expressivity. Although previous studies established clear connections between musicians’ body movements and musical structures (particularly for clarinet, piano or violin performances), no evidence of direct relationships between body movements and the quality of the produced timbre has ever been found. In this study, focusing on the area of bowed-string instruments, we address the problem by showing that cellists use a set of primary postural directions to develop fluid kinematic bow features (velocity, acceleration) that prevent the production of poor quality (i.e., harsh, shrill, whistling) sounds. By comparing the body-related angles between normal and posturally constrained playing situations, our results reveal that the chest rotation and vertical inclination made by cellists act as coordinative support for the kinematics of the bowing gesture. These findings support the experimental works of Alexander, especially those that showed the role of head movements with respect to the upper torso (the so-called primary control) in ensuring the smooth transmission of fine motor control in musicians all the way to the produced sound. More generally, our research highlights the importance of focusing on this fundamental postural sense to improve the quality of human activities across different domains (music, dance, sports, rehabilitation, working positions, etc.).Jocelyn RozéMitsuko AramakiRichard Kronland-MartinetSølvi YstadNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-17 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Jocelyn Rozé Mitsuko Aramaki Richard Kronland-Martinet Sølvi Ystad Cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior
description	Abstract During the last 20 years, the role of musicians’ body movements has emerged as a central question in instrument practice: Why do musicians make so many postural movements, for instance, with their torsos and heads, while playing musical instruments? The musical significance of such ancillary gestures is still an enigma and therefore remains a major pedagogical challenge, since one does not know if these movements should be considered essential embodied skills that improve musical expressivity. Although previous studies established clear connections between musicians’ body movements and musical structures (particularly for clarinet, piano or violin performances), no evidence of direct relationships between body movements and the quality of the produced timbre has ever been found. In this study, focusing on the area of bowed-string instruments, we address the problem by showing that cellists use a set of primary postural directions to develop fluid kinematic bow features (velocity, acceleration) that prevent the production of poor quality (i.e., harsh, shrill, whistling) sounds. By comparing the body-related angles between normal and posturally constrained playing situations, our results reveal that the chest rotation and vertical inclination made by cellists act as coordinative support for the kinematics of the bowing gesture. These findings support the experimental works of Alexander, especially those that showed the role of head movements with respect to the upper torso (the so-called primary control) in ensuring the smooth transmission of fine motor control in musicians all the way to the produced sound. More generally, our research highlights the importance of focusing on this fundamental postural sense to improve the quality of human activities across different domains (music, dance, sports, rehabilitation, working positions, etc.).
format	article
author	Jocelyn Rozé Mitsuko Aramaki Richard Kronland-Martinet Sølvi Ystad
author_facet	Jocelyn Rozé Mitsuko Aramaki Richard Kronland-Martinet Sølvi Ystad
author_sort	Jocelyn Rozé
title	Cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior
title_short	Cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior
title_full	Cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior
title_fullStr	Cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior
title_full_unstemmed	Cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior
title_sort	cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/02c8b7da0f794f17a7e5b826406c5fc9
work_keys_str_mv	AT jocelynroze cellistssoundqualityisshapedbytheirprimaryposturalbehavior AT mitsukoaramaki cellistssoundqualityisshapedbytheirprimaryposturalbehavior AT richardkronlandmartinet cellistssoundqualityisshapedbytheirprimaryposturalbehavior AT sølviystad cellistssoundqualityisshapedbytheirprimaryposturalbehavior
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Cellists’ sound quality is shaped by their primary postural behavior

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