Musculoskeletal Pain and Musical Performance in First and Second Violinists of Professional Youth Chamber Orchestras: A Comparative Study

OBJECTIVE: First and second violinists in orchestras use identical instruments, but the motor patterns used to execute the different notes may vary between the two groups and the biomechanical gestures may influence musculoskeletal complaints. The primary objective of this study was to compare the pain intensity and interference in musical performance of first and second violinists of professional youth chamber orchestras. Second, to investigate the correlation between pain and the musical practice profile in this population. METHODS: This cross-sectional study enrolled 74 violinists, aged 12 to 17 years, from three professional youth chamber orchestras in Brazil. Participants completed a validated self-administered questionnaire, the Musculoskeletal Pain Intensity and Interference Questionnaire for Musicians–Brazilian version (MPIIQM-Br). Variables related to musical practice profiles were also recorded. Data analysis applied t-tests for independent samples and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The sample of first violinists (n=39) presented 23 males and 16 females, and the second violinists (n=35) included 23 females and 12 males. The mean age was 13.9 yrs (SD 1.1) and 14.1 yrs (1.0) for the first and second violinist groups, respectively. Most participants (n=66, 89%) reported pain in at least one moment of their career, and 54 (76%) reported pain at the time of data collection. A higher pain prevalence was identified in the right shoulder (37.7%), in 28.2% of the second violinists and 9.4% of the first. The second violinists presented higher scores for most variables related to pain intensity and pain interference in performance (p < 0.05). A correlation was observed between time working at a professional level and the number of affected areas on the body pain map (r=0.30; 95% CI 0.23–0.42) and between the hours of daily practice and the number of affected areas on the body pain map (r=0.39; 95% CI 0.29–0.45). CONCLUSION: Second violinists had more complaints of pain and difficulty in playing their instrument compared to the first violinists. The study also found a correlation between the number of body areas with pain complaints and variables linked to the violinists’ practice profile.

Evaluation of the stylistic path of authors of concertos composed for double bass and orchestra in XVIII-XX centuries

The choice of the following subject is conditioned by the artistic practice itself. The double bass not only being today an indispensable element of symphony and chamber orchestras, of different instrumental ensembles (trio, quartets, quintets, etc.), but also as a soloistic instrument, whose expressive possibilities as a soloist and participant in the instrumental dialogue reveals the genre of concerto for this instrument. The concerto has been and remains an object widely explored both by musical practice, through the creation of composers and the work of performers, and by musicological science by examining the most diverse aspects of the genre in numerous studies conducted by researchers in different countries. The dialogic character of narrating, the highlighting of the solo interpretation, and the realization of the principal of the artistic act are most frequently called as specific features of the concerto. The genre of the instrumental concerto is a suitable field for the investigation and experiments of the composers, for the manifestation of the artistic potential of the performers, as well as for the application of the analytical abilities of the researchers.

Loyalties

This chapter studies Wilder's music in the 1960s. Continuing to follow trends he had begun at the end of the preceding decade, he wrote volumes of concert music for groups of all sizes in the 1960s, for wind ensembles and chamber orchestras and small groups and soloists with piano. He also wrote piano music, dramatic music of diverse kinds, and a handful of new songs, following traditional popular or art-song models. Also extending earlier trends, Wilder's loyalties to his artistic and ideological roots found musical expression through the efforts of loyal friends. As his travels and residencies and friendships multiplied, so did his catalog of original compositions perfectly suited for a faculty ensemble or senior recital or informal gathering in a college practice room or dormitory basement.

Redcliffe-Maud and its Implications

Apart from suggestions that such pioneering chamber orchestras as the Fires of London and the London Sinfonietta ought to receive regular grant-aid, and that ‘The Arts Council should initiate discussions between the four subsidised London orchestras and the BBC, in the light of recommendations made in the 1970 Peacock Report, of subsequent experience and of present and future shortage of funds available for music’, Lord Redcliffe-Maud's report on Support for the Arts in England and Wales contains few specific proposals calculated to have an immediate impact on the fortunes of contemporary music in Britain. It is not that sort of report. Properly enough, Maud has deployed his wide knowledge of and enthusiasm for particular arts fields not as a topic in itself, but as background and justification for a much broader consideration of how those arts are and ought to be supported in this country. So even if the immediate impact is limited, the longer-term effect of his views will be of vital interest for all of us who are concerned with the welfare of music today and of musicians today.