VCU news

By Chad Meister

When an audience enters a concert hall or arena to watch a musician play, expectations tend to be high. For the performer, a regimen of practice, warm-ups and nerve-building lead to this moment. What the musician is about to play not only took hours of memorization and rehearsal, but also extensive physical conditioning and mental preparation.

The physical toll of playing an instrument is often overlooked. Last year, Hannah Rumsey, a trumpet player and music major studying in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, began to feel pain in her arms and hands more severe than the soreness familiar to many musicians. Unable to play her trumpet and pursue her degree, she felt upset and confused.

 “I wondered why I was having the pain I was having, and why weren’t others who played as much as me?” Rumsey said.

Rumsey discovered that up to 81 percent of professional musicians develop playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs), damage affecting muscle tissues and joints due to strain or overuse.

As musicians continuously use their hand, facial and other critical muscles, wear and tear can occur and weaken the muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons necessary for playing.  Rumsey’s condition proved so severe she was forced to alter her academic pursuits due to her inability to perform for extended periods of time.

“I had to switch majors from music performance to music, meaning I wouldn’t be able to get a B.M. (Bachelor of Music), which signifies hours of rehearsal and practice,” Rumsey said.

Now that Rumsey could no longer play how she wanted, she searched vigorously for answers. Surprisingly, she found little research on the condition’s causes and possible treatments. Rumsey decided to apply for a VCUarts undergraduate research grant.

“I figured I’d look into researching it on my own. This is a condition that affects so many people and yet, there is so little information, especially for trumpeters.” Rumsey said.

In order to get the grant, Rumsey was required to collaborate with students in other fields. Using VCU’s listserv – a large email list comprised of students interested in research – Rumsey began looking for her team. Hundreds of emails poured into Rumsey’s inbox when students learned of the project.

Rumsey interviewed candidates and eventually assembled a cross-disciplinary team with three other undergraduate students.

Rumsey, two VCU biology students – Sahil Aggarwal and Erin Hobson from the College of Humanities and Sciences – and VCU biomedical engineering student Jeeyun Park filled out the required paperwork needed to obtain the research grant. The group submitted 25 pages of information to the Institutional Review Board, the main body overseeing collegiate research involving human subjects.

The form — submitted last December — was approved in June, and the group received a research grant totaling $4,692.71.

Over the past year, the students developed tactics they will use to acquire the data. While observing the possibilities of muscle tension, the project also will examine the psychophysiological aspects behind musical performances: Does anxiety related to performing music have an effect on muscle activity?

Peter Pidcoe, DPT, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy in the VCU School of Allied Health Professions, helped the team design a foolproof experiment that would target the muscle groups specific to playing trumpet. Using an electromyography device (EMG), the group will measure the amount of muscle activity before, during and after trumpeters play a series of 30-second musical arrangements.

The data will be compared to information obtained from each participant’s STAI assessment – the State-Trait Anxiety Index – a survey used to understand specific types of anxiety experienced by each participant prior to and after playing music.

The team will analyze both sets of data in order to see if there are any links between the participant’s anxiety and the amount of muscular tension experienced while they play. The data, Rumsey hopes, will help those in both the medical and musical fields better understand musculoskeletal disorders and performance-related anxiety, and how they can be treated.

Project mentor Ross Walter, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Music, will oversee the project as the group prepares to begin research in a few weeks. The team will begin its research with trumpeters at VCU and will then travel to several other schools in the region, including James Madison University, East Carolina University and the University of Maryland.

“What’s awesome about our project is that a lot of these grants go to art-specific projects,” said Park, the team member from biomedical engineering. “Ours also has a very practical, clinical application that could really help people.”

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