Analysis of the Frequency of Postural Flaws During Violin Performance

Abstract

There is much evidence to show postural flaws occurring in violin players during performance. The general objective of this study was to observe violinists during performance for the appearance of postural flaws and the frequency with which these flaws occurred. For this work, 20-minute video recordings were made of four student violinists from an orchestra; the violinists were recorded from a frontal viewpoint, and also anatomic markers were placed on them in order to separately analyze some of the arm and head movements through a computer program. After recording, we captured images in order to categorize some postures, verifying how often these flaws appeared from different points of view. We conclude that all violinists presented postural flaws which could be avoided because they are not part of the normal instrumental techniques.