Performance problems are often very subtle – they often go unnoticed at first and can have several different starting points which, oddly enough, are not in the fingers. We know that stressors such as overuse and incorrect technique can create problems, but often times the starting point is much more elusive, residing in the emotional or mental realm. The music world itself contains stressors such as the amount of self-generated pressure and the culture of silence surrounding technical problems both of which often result in pianists playing with pain and discomfort. In cases such as focal dystonia, the contributing factor can have a neurological basis. Regardless of the starting point, the “problem” becomes addressed by our entire being, physical, mental and emotional.

Many musicians are not aware of body and hand alignment as well as their levels of tension. In building technique, it is very important to incorporate exercises that strengthen the intrinsic muscles in order to develop finger independence.  But perhaps even more important in the development of the hand, is the identification of and stripping away of compensatory movements.

What are compensatory movements?  Let’s consider how our body “compensates” when we sprain an ankle.  Since the sprain has strained a muscle or group of muscles, it has weakened those muscles, affecting their ability to engage properly to support the leg while walking.  We immediately develop a limp so that the unaffected ankle and leg can do more of the work.  This is a compensatory movement.  We usually step gingerly on the affected foot, bracing our leg as we place the foot on the ground, and quickly land on the good foot with our full body weight.  So, a single sprain has caused a lot of other muscles to engage differently in order to help out.  The more these muscles assist, the less the injured, weakened ones work.  When a muscle is healed from a strain, it is weaker from non-use and needs to be rebuilt.  In fact, often it needs to be retrained to perform correctly on its own, without the help of the compensatory muscles assisting or taking over.  Patience and slow work are essential in order for this to be achieved.  With the proper input, the body can relearn and rebuild relatively quickly.

Dynamic surface electromyography (sEMG) provides feedback on muscle activity.  Surface electromyography (sEMG) measures the electrical impulses generated when a muscle contracts.  The signal recorded is the summation of all of the electrical activity present between the active electrodes.  The signal may include the activity of a number of different muscles.  The combination of dynamic surface electromyography (sEMG), and two separate video angles of the musician’s movement, allows measurements of muscle tension and body alignment to be viewed simultaneously.  Dynamic sEMG allows us to see the muscle tension with indicator lines that scroll across the screen measuring the amount of electrical activity your muscles are contracting and releasing.  

It is an excellent diagnostic aid to see if the targeted muscle is working properly; this can be determined by checking to see that the targeted muscle at work is not exceeding what would be a normal range of microvolts for a given activity.  While there are no set numbers that will apply to all individuals, there are ranges that indicate a normal amount of muscle activity, where higher ranges indicated an overuse and/or static tension without release.  In the case of retraining injured muscles, the goal is to see increased activity in the weakened muscle and decreased activity in the area of compensation.

SEMG and video feedback and analysis provides a tool for teachers and therapists to discover compensatory relationships between fingers and muscles that, to the naked eye, might otherwise go undiscovered. This process takes time and patience on the part of the pianist and instructor/therapist. Gene has been pleased with the results. He states: "I have much more awareness of what is going on between my fingers and I feel more in control of each movement. The sEMG graphs have helped me become aware of the amount of tension I was holding in my arms, hands and fingers at all times. Sometimes I was not aware of it until I started working with the EMG. The video of my hand from different angles than I can see while playing has been extremely helpful, especially when taken frame by frame in playback. By looking at my hand on the computer screen, it’s easier for my brain to get 'inside my hand.' Disklavier playback is always helpful as to the evenness of the sounds I am playing. I am able to do more technically at the instrument than I was able to do for 30 years."