Coordination and Control in the Bow Arm Movements of Highly Skilled Cellists
Titel:
Coordination and Control in the Bow Arm Movements of Highly Skilled Cellists
Auteur:
Winold, Helga Thelen, Esther
Verschenen in:
Ecological psychology
Paginering:
Jaargang 6 (1994) nr. 1 pagina's 1-31
Jaar:
1994-03-01
Inhoud:
Cello bowing requires precise coordination and control of the arm segments to meet exacting performance demands of timing, stroke amplitude, and bow pres- sure. In this article, we examine the kinematics of cello bowing as reflected in the relative timing and velocity patterns of the arm joints and the bow of skilled cellists as they performed two musical fragments with similar bowing sequences but at different speeds and from different musical compositions. We asked, given the performance constraints, what solutions of coordination and control were in- variant and what patterns the cellists adapted to meet their artistic intentions. In Experiment 1, five highly skilled cellists played fragments by Brahms and Schubert that shared similar bowing patterns, but with the Brahms at a moderate speed and the Schubert at five increasingly fast speeds. As expected, the elbow and wrist movements were more variable in stroke duration and amplitude than the output at the bow, and more constrained in fast playing than in slow. Articulation patterns, measured as the time lags between the reversals of the joints, appeared to be partially a function of the anatomical constraints of the arm and the need to keep the bow horizontal. The slower Brahms fragment showed the strongest articulation at the start of the long strokes. The fast Schubert fragment was played with greater articulation than the Brahms; this was especially apparent in the whiplike action of the elbow at the initiation of a three-note group. We speculated that the cellists used these pulsed bursts to provide or avoid musical accents.