Pianists, are you interested in taking part in research into arm tension and other painful conditions?
Medical doctor and pianist, Dr Hara Trouli, is looking for advanced students and professional pianists to take part in this project. Dr Trouli explains:
I am a medical doctor and a pianist, currently also a student of the first Masters Degree on Performing Arts Medicine at University College London that was developed by BAPAM (British Association of Performing Arts Medicine) in collaboration with the Royal College of Music and Trinity Laban. I am conducting research on pianists’ arm tension and other painful conditions under the supervision of Professor Howard Bird who is a UK specialist in performers’ health.
We need to see advanced students or professional pianists who have suffered at some point a medical or painful condition (either diagnosed or not) of the upper limb or the cervical spine (hands, wrist, arms or neck) and analyse their piano playing through a triple method of video/ MIDI/ Electromyography.
The idea is to see whether these conditions show signs on the graphs of muscle tension in the arms and neck (electromyography), velocity, force and articulation of piano playing (MIDI) and on postural images of the hand and arm (video). We are aiming to bridge the technical pianistic accomplishment with the clinical history and to measure parameters that would be reproducible and available to both the pianists and the doctors for evaluation. We are also trying to see whether these parameters can be used in monitoring the progress of the pianist during recovery from a painful condition or an injury, and to also enable the pianist to use this method as biofeedback when they re-train.
The assessment of each pianist lasts 2 hours, it takes place in a studio in North London and travel expenses are covered up to £10.00. Full information and consent sheets will be given to you before your assessment. We would need to see you in April or May and appointments can be made for any weekday or the weekends. We will also be pleased to share the results of your assessment with you and send you a full report of the recorded images. All information that we will receive from you is kept strictly confidential.
Please contact Dr Trouli directly if you’d like to get involved: haratrouli@googlemail.com
