Expertise-Related Differences in Cyclic Motion Patterns in Drummers: A Kinematic Analysis

Abstract

Background At present only little information is available concerning the acquisition of skilled movements in musicians. Although optimally a longitudinal study of changing movement patterns during the process of increasing expertise is required, long-term follow up over several years is difficult to manage. Therefore, in the present cross-sectional study a comparative kinematic analysis of skilled movements in drummers with different levels of expertise was carried out. Aims The aim of the investigation was (1) to analyze the kinematic differences between beginners, students and expert drummers, and (2) to deduce from the results general rules related to the acquisition of drumming expertise and (3) to discuss the implications for drum teaching. Method Two highly skilled experts, eight professional drumming students and five beginners participated in the experiment. Fast repetitive drumming movements were assessed using an active infrared measurement setup (SELSPOT-System). Recording was obtained from LEDs positioned over the shoulder-, elbow-, wrist- and MCP-joints and close to the tip of the stick at a sampling rate of 300 Hz. Kinematic analysis included calculation of angles, velocities and accelerations and assessment of the relation between velocity and acceleration as phase diagrams. Results Temporal accuracy of the drumming movements was related to expertise. In contrast to beginners, experts and students revealed a high degree of self-similarity of movements and a predominant use of low-mass distal joints, resulting in a whiplash-like movement when hitting the pad. Conclusion Intense training in students and experts results in economic utilization of forces. Percussion teachers can take advantage of the kinematic analysis and improve their instructions according to the student’s observed motor pattern.

Computational Approaches to Music Motor Performance: Clustering of Percussion Kinematics Underlying Performance Style

“…Marimba performance may be ideally suited to address how biomechanical constraints are interpreted and executed in a percussion context. Indeed, utilizing a marimba-based paradigm permits the investigation of execution mechanisms in music where the x (i.e., moving mediolaterally from left to right) and y (i.e., moving anteroposterior from front to back) cartesian planes are relevant, which compliments previous investigations focused on the z cartesian plane (i.e., moving vertically, see Dahl, 2011 ; Altenmüller et al, 2020 ). In addition, the qualitative interpretation of marimba performance movements (i.e., Broughton and Stevens, 2009 ; Broughton and Davidson, 2016 ) can be strengthened by objectively examining performance styles from a movement kinematics perspective.…”

“…For example, Dahl (2000) has previously shown that expressive gestures including greater vertical displacement of the drumstick coincided with playing accents and that such vertical displacement was reduced at fast vs. slow tempi (i.e., Dahl, 2004 ). Displacement of the upper limbs along the vertical z-axis has further been shown to differentiate expert vs. trainee drummers (e.g., Altenmüller et al, 2020 ), suggesting that upper limb movements are a critical and stable motion pattern in percussion. However, the novel contribution of the present study is the fact that multiple clusters (i.e., styles) were present which suggests that the stylistic properties of sound production reported in previous work may exists in parallel with alternate performance styles revealed here.…”

“…Recent work investigating experienced vs. inexperienced drummers has shown that expert performance was more fluent, efficient, and accurate compared to lesser skilled counterparts. For example, expert drummers were more temporally accurate in drumming strokes than trainees and non-musicians, a finding driven by whiplash-like movements of the wrists and hands along the vertical z -axis (i.e., Altenmüller et al, 2020 ). Beveridge et al (2020) reported that expert drummers engaged wrist flexor muscles more so than the extensor muscles, while amateurs tended to engage flexor and extensor muscles equally.…”

Temporospatial Alterations in Upper-Limb and Mallet Control Underlie Motor Learning in Marimba Performance

“…The results also indicated that the greatest reduction in spatial variability occurred between S1 and S2 in both elbows along the mediolateral movement axis. Reduced spatial variability of elbow movements has previously been shown to delineate experienced vs. inexperienced drummers, with the former showing lower variability overall (e.g., Altenmüller et al, 2020 ). The novel contribution of this investigation is that reductions in elbow spatial variability coincided with increases in the relative peak power (i.e., the predominant performance frequency) of mallet movements.…”

“…Studies examining the limb kinematics of percussionists at various skill levels have only recently begun to uncover how performance experience refines movement patterns. When performing fast repetitive drumming movements, expert drummers demonstrated greater temporal accuracy which occurred via utilizing low-mass distal joints, resulting in whiplash-like movement of the stick towards the drumming surface compared to novices (i.e., Altenmüller et al, 2020 ; see also Dahl, 2004 ). Movement smoothness in drummers’ strokes has also been shown to increase at faster tempi while muscular co-articulation linearly decreased in line with slower performance tempo (i.e., Gonzalez-Sanchez et al, 2019 , see also Furuya et al, 2012 ).…”