Driving point impedance measurements during piano playing

Abstract

D r iv in g P o in t Im p e d a n c e M e a su r e m e n ts D u r in g P ia n o P la y in g by C h ristian n e V ant A Thesis subm itted to the Faculty of G raduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M a ster o f A p p lied S cience Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering D epartm ent of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering A p p en d ix G C o d e L istin g 2-3: S y m m etry A lg o rtih m 158 viii R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.

EMG-based assessment of active muscle stiffness and co-contraction in muscles with primary and secondary actions at the wrist during piano playing

“…The overall goal was to investigate active muscle stiffness and co-contraction in the hands and wrists of participants who played several exercises on the piano. The results will be compared to the results of Vant [3], who found no statistically significant change in impedance at the wrist in participants who played a piece composed for her study.…”

“…Analysis of sEMG data will reveal the levels of contraction in muscles of the forearm, from which cocontraction will be computed. Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) 3 data will be recorded from the piano.…”

“…The chapter then goes on to describe co-contraction, various methods of quantifying it, and studies that have measured co-contraction. The last part of this chapter describes the work of Christy Vant [3], who measured driving point impedance in response to a perturbation administered to the wrist.…”

“…It then explores the topic of co-contraction, the various ways is has been computed, and highlights some of the findings of earlier studies that measured co-contraction in activities other than piano playing and their relevance. This chapter concludes with a summary of the approach used by Vant [3] in her 2007 study, where she used force perturbations applied to the wrist to observe changes in driving point impedance.…”

“…Furthermore, in teaching, biomechanical terms are often used to describe piano technique, even though these terms are used ambiguously and without the teacher or the student having complete understanding of their meaning [2]. Four interrelated biomechanical concepts that are used differently by pedagogues and scientists have been identified: stiffness, relaxation, co-contraction and multi-joint issues [3].…”