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AIMS: For violinists, the shoulder rest is an ergonomic adaptation to reduce musculoskeletal load. In this study, we aimed to evaluate how the height of the shoulder rest affects the violin fixation force and electromyographic (EMG) activity of the superficial neck and shoulder muscles. METHODS: In professional violinists, four different shoulder rest heights during five playing conditions were evaluated. Outcome variables included the jaw-shoulder violin fixation force and bilateral surface EMG of the upper trapezius (mTP), sternocleidomastoid (mSCM), and left anterior part of the left deltoid muscle (mDTA). Playing comfort was subjectively rated on a visual analogic scale (VAS). Linear regression models were estimated to investigate the influence of the shoulder rest height on muscle activity and violin fixation force as well as the muscle activity of the five evaluated muscles on violin fixation force. RESULTS: 20 professional violinists (4 males, 16 females, mean age 29.4 yrs) participated in this study. The shoulder rest condition had a significant effect on playing comfort (p

This systematic review aimed to evaluate whether muscle activity and playing-related musculoskeletal disorders are associated with musicians' anthropometrics and their instrument size or set-up during violin and piano performance. Studies were retrieved systematically from six databases on 1 April 2019 combined with hand searching results. The Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS tool) was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included papers. A total of twenty articles were identified. Most included studies focussed on either the adjustment of the shoulder rest in violinists, or the hand size in pianists. However, methodological quality was inconsistent. The electromyography data reported by the included studies were not appropriately processed and interpreted. Studies generally reported the use of a shoulder rest changes muscle activity and smaller hand size is correlated to increased playing-related musculoskeletal disorders incidence. However, no conclusions can be drawn due to heterogeneity and low quality of methodology in the available literature.

The purpose of this research was to identify possible traces of shoulder rest use on the sound of the violin. Shoulder rests have become very popular among violinists and their use has brought up debates and discussions about its possible effects on tone production. This research was done by analyzing Fourier sound spectra produced by three different violins while using different shoulder rests. The study found that the addition of a shoulder rest affected the balance and amplitude of the overtones that compose sustained tones on the studied violins, thus altering the timbre of the instrument.

Relatório de estágio - Mestrado em Ensino da Música Submitted by Luísa Marques (lmarques@esml.ipl.pt) on 2019-06-07T15:49:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Trabalho Final - Versão Definitiva.pdf: 3707359 bytes, checksum: 17367256bd6ac6b92f99fc180019fa92 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2019-06-07T15:49:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Trabalho Final - Versão Definitiva.pdf: 3707359 bytes, checksum: 17367256bd6ac6b92f99fc180019fa92 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09 N/A

Violin is an important role in music history. Comfort of holding violin also becomes a concern since this affects the ability and quality of performance. Literature review pointed out that upper trapezius is the related muscle when playing violin and proved that the performance of playing with a shoulder rest is greater than without it. However, the height of shoulder rest's two feet was only stated that all ‘high’ is better then all ‘low’, none of any researches study the different combination of height variation of the two feet. In this study, eight subjects were invited to participate the experiment and twelve shoulder rests were provided to test by applying human factors. Surface electromyography was used to collect the left and right upper trapezius muscle activities. The results showed there were significant differences and it indicated that the variation height of shoulder rest's feet could affect the upper trapezius.

ResumoOs atributos necessários para o desenvolvimento de produtos podem ser avaliados e verificados por meio da usabilidade. No caso dos músicos de violino e viola, acessórios como a espaleira são necessários para melhorar o posicionamento, minimizar a tensão muscular na região do pescoço e liberar a mão esquerda para a digitação das notas. Mesmo assim, problemas como queixas musculoesqueléticas são indicados na literatura. Este estudo avaliou as espaleiras utilizadas por 10 músicos de uma orquestra, por meio dos princípios de usabilidade, e investigar a percepção dos músicos relacionada à satisfação, eficácia e eficiência das espaleiras, por meio de questionários com perguntas abertas. As problemáticas estão relacionadas à usabilidade, sendo as espaleiras consideradas eficazes para as práticas instrumentais, precisando ser mais eficientes, fazendo com que a correta postura seja mantida e que menores ocorrências musculoesqueléticas sejam geradas em função dos ajustes inadequados dos acessórios. Abstract:The attributes required for product development can be assessed and verified by usability. For musicians of violin and viola, accessories as shoulder rest are needed to improve the position, to minimize muscle tension in the neck and release the left hand for typing the notes. Even so problems such as musculoskeletal complaints are reported in the literature. Therefore, this study evaluated the shoulder rest used by 10 musicians from an orchestra using the principles of usability, and investigates the musicians perception related to satisfaction, effectiveness and efficiency of them, using questionnaires with open questions. The problems are related to usability being the shoulder rests considered effective to instrumental practice and they need to be more efficient, making the correct posture maintained and minor musculoskeletal events are generated due to the inadequate settings of accessories.