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ObjectiveTo investigate the association between piano playing and myopia prevalence, and to analyze the interactive effect of piano playing and outdoor activity time or out-of-class study time on myopia among primary and secondary school students in Shanghai. MethodsVisual acuity tests and a self-administered anonymous questionnaire survey were conducted among 26 522 students recruited using multistage cluster sampling in 7 primary and secondary schools in 7 districts of Shanghai municipality from September to November 2021. An unconditional binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between piano playing and myopia prevalence among students. ResultsOf the students surveyed, 3 778 (14.2%) reported playing the piano. The myopia detection rate was 77.7% in students who reported playing the piano and significantly different from that 76.1% in those who did not (χ2 = 4.368, P < 0.05). After controlling for gender and parental myopia, no statistically significant association was found between piano playing and myopia prevalence. Compared to students who did not play piano and spent 2 hours or more per day in outdoor activities, students who did not play piano and spent less than 2 hours per day in outdoor activities had an increased risk of myopia (odds ratio [OR] = 1.153, 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 1.073 – 1.239), and students who played piano and spent less than 2 hours per day in outdoor activities also had an increased risk of myopia (OR = 1.165, 95%CI: 1.038 – 1.308). Compared to the students who did not play piano and spent less than 2 hours per day studying outside the classroom, the students who did not play piano and spent 2 hours and more per day studying outside the classroom had an increased risk of myopia (OR = 1.212, 95%CI: 1.119 – 1.312) and the students who played piano and spent 2 hours and more per day studying outside the classroom also had an increased risk of myopia (OR = 1.203, 95%CI: 1.027 – 1.411). ConclusionThis study did not find a statistically significant association between piano playing and myopia prevalence in primary and secondary school students in Shanghai, and further prospective studies may investigate the association between piano playing and myopia in students.

The paper explains the role played by the practice of analogical reasoning in piano lessons, especially at the beginner level. The first stage of piano studies is the most important one in raising musicians. In order to develop a young student’s understanding and appreciation of music and piano playing, teachers use interesting and logically connected stories with plenty of entertaining characters, colorful illustrations and imaginative scenes. Comprehensive analogies with images of characters and their adventures used to introduce and expand on musical concepts in working with beginners make complicated playing techniques understandable and acceptable to them. It is very important to invoke students’ imagination and creativity using fantasy, as well as analogies from everyday life, in order to help them to envisage musical images and express them through physical movements. By making progress in piano playing, students also improve their problem-solving skills in the arts, sciences, natural environment and social life.

The length of time it takes to experimentally make one-sided choppers, as found in the fossil record, bears a linear relationship to the knapping process of fabricating them. In addition, this temporal frame appears to be related to human heart rates measured as beats per minute, which act as a physiological metronome. We achieved these observations, assuming that any paleolithic one-sided chopper has the information needed to estimate, quantitatively, the number of strikes on it. The experimental data allow us to establish the total timing needed for the standard fabricating of any one-sided chopper. We discuss issues derived from these experimental results, showing the evolution of human neurological abilities from 2.4 million years ago to the Modern period via the duration of time needed for making one chopper to that needed to play a 19th-century music score on a piano. Given that the neuronal and physiological distance between both actions differs by a factor of 6, we propose the concept of “technome” to measure human evolution by using methodological homogeneous metrics applied to these two human technologic objects: the chopper and the piano.

The article applies the knowledge of the physiological structure of finger movement in piano playing and the DH parameter method to construct a kinematic model of finger keystroke in piano playing. The Leap Motion-based gesture recognition algorithm is used for piano playing gesture movement extraction, gesture movement sub-framing, and velocity direction encoding, and the judgment HMM algorithm and the Viterbi improvement algorithm based on the a priori knowledge of fingering are utilized to automatically standardize piano fingering. After comparing the recognition performance of the piano playing training model in this paper, it is discussed how it can be used and how it can improve the user’s piano playing skills. In comparison to other piano gesture recognition models, the recognition accuracy and gesture dynamic information description of this paper’s training model demonstrate optimal performance. After the actual playing training experiments, the experimental group achieved significant improvements, while the control group experienced negligible improvements. After the experiment, the difference between the two groups increased, and the experimental group was superior to the control group in all aspects of piano playing. The training model for piano playing in this paper is effective in enhancing the user’s piano playing level.

In the evolving domain of artificial intelligence and deep learning, the pedagogical applications of piano performance— specifically its artistic instruction and emotional expressiveness—have garnered increasing scholarly attention. This research leverages MIDI music file formats to mine necessary data, engaging in a detailed examination of the structural and characteristic elements of MIDI files. To optimize the precision of mathematical models applied in this study, MIDI music data underwent preliminary preprocessing steps, including hexadecimal encoding and feature filtering, which facilitated the transformation of MIDI features into vectors representing emotional attributes. The study introduced the development of a BiLSTM_BLS model tailored to articulate the nuances of piano performance and emotional expression. This model synthesis integrates features reflective of emotional states induced by piano playing. A mathematically derived loss function was utilized to gauge the model’s fidelity, thereby enabling an assessment of its efficacy in the realms of artistic instruction and emotional conveyance in piano performance. Findings indicate a proximity between the emotional states of Anger (0.392) and Stress (0.385), with Depressed (0.422) presenting a slightly elevated distance from these states. Moreover, the BiLSTM_BLS model achieved a performance score of 3.214 in the evaluation of artistic expression, which corresponds to 64.28 on a standardized 100-point scale. This investigation contributes to the enhancement of musical skills and theoretical knowledge among pianists, promotes cognitive development, augments emotional expression, and nurtures creativity.

This paper proposes two primary pathways for online teaching and virtual music classrooms constructed using virtual reality technology and establishes a corresponding technical framework. In the online teaching mode, an online teaching platform is built, and an improved genetic algorithm is proposed for the intelligent grouping problem, which introduces the individual similarity elimination operation and incorporates simulated annealing to solve the problem of insufficient search capability. Meanwhile, in order to build a virtual music classroom, a dynamic light projection algorithm is proposed to reconstruct a three-dimensional model of human movement, and a multi-feature fusion algorithm is used to match the weights assigned to the human body's action gestures. In the evaluation of the teaching effect of the application of the technology framework, the piano art students are taken as the research object, and the experimental class and the control class are set up to carry out the teaching practice. In the evaluation of the learning effect, the completion degree of music and artistic performance of students in the experimental class was 83.65 and 82.66, which was significantly better than that of the control class (P

Piano performance represents a refined artistic expression characterized by its expressive and emotive qualities. This study focuses on research papers related to piano performance indexed in the Chinese literature database, utilizing the CiteSpace visualization tool to conduct an analysis. Employing the tool’s capabilities for word frequency, thematic, and cluster analysis, we investigate the temporal and spatial distributions, key terms, research trends, and emergent themes in the literature on piano performance. This multifaceted approach enables a deeper understanding of the developmental stages and overarching trends in the field. Our findings reveal significant shifts in thematic focus and research intensity, with notable increases in themes related to the transformation of piano performance and theoretical exploration post-2017.50, achieving an impact score exceeding 0.425. Prominent emergent keywords include “piano art” (4.9948), “piano certificate” (3.8833), “style” (3.4721), “accompaniment” (3.3155), “piano technique” (2.8888), “piano teaching” (2.6997), “emotional expression” (2.6129), and “intelligence” (2.2193). These findings indicate a trend towards the integration of modern technology and intellectual approaches in piano performance. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution and current trends in piano performance research, offering insights into its future trajectory.

As computer science advances, it intersects intriguingly with the realm of music acoustics, particularly in enhancing piano performance through technological means. This paper delves into an innovative approach to piano learning and creation, focusing on emotional expression’s nuances. We have devised a system capable of precise musical tone recognition and sound quality evaluation by adopting Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) for the nuanced extraction of piano sounds and integrating dynamic fuzzy neural networks. Our findings show an impressive accuracy rate, with musical tone misidentification below 2.58% and sound quality assessment errors within a 5% margin. This work not only sets a new benchmark in piano performance analysis but also paves the way for revolutionary teaching methods in music education, with profound implications for artistic instruction and emotional expression.

In this paper, firstly, in order to solve the piano playing recognition problem in the field of artificial intelligence, based on the theory of multiple intelligences, the VGG-16 deep network migration learning algorithm is applied to estimate and acquire the piano playing gesture posture. Secondly, combined with the Iterative Update Extended Kalman Filter (IUEKF) algorithm, the micro-inertial sensor fixation of the piano-playing gesture is realized, which in turn is conducive to improving the piano-playing gesture recognition accuracy. Then, we obtain real-time piano-playing gesture information through a Kinect somatosensory device, construct a piano-playing gesture recognition model based on migration learning on the basis of obtaining piano-playing gesture features, and confirm the effectiveness of the model through the experimental study of piano-playing recognition. The results show that in piano-playing gesture recognition, the recognition accuracy of this paper’s method remains above 0.9, and the application of this paper’s method can effectively improve the recognition accuracy of piano-playing gestures. On piano playing pedal action recognition, this paper’s method shows that the average F-measure scores of these two strategies are 0.924 and 0.944, respectively, which are better compared to other methods. This study provides an effective case for applying AI techniques to piano performance recognition and broadens the scope of AI applications.

Finger technique is a crucial aspect of piano learning, and hand exoskeleton mechanisms effectively assist novice piano players in maintaining correct finger technique consistently. Addressing current issues with exoskeleton robots, such as the inability to provide continuous correction of finger technique and their considerable weight, a novel hand exoskeleton robot has been developed to enhance finger technique through continuous correction and reduced weight. Initial data are gathered using finger joint angle sensors to analyze movements during piano playing, focusing on the trajectory and angular velocity of key strikes. This analysis informs the design of a 6-bar double-closed-loop mechanism with an end equivalent sliding pair, using analytical methods to establish the relationship between motor extension and input rod rotation. Simulation studies assess the exoskeleton’s motion space and dynamics, confirming its capability to meet structural and functional demands for accurate key striking. Prototype testing validates the exoskeleton’s ability to maintain correct finger positioning and mimic natural strike speeds, thus improving playing technique while ensuring comfort and safety.

Muscle synergy has been widely acknowledged as a possible strategy of neuromotor control, but current research has ignored the potential inhibitory components in muscle synergies. Our study aims to identify and characterize the inhibitory components within motor modules derived from electromyography (EMG), investigate the impact of aging and motor expertise on these components, and better understand the nervous system’s adaptions to varying task demands. We utilized a rectified latent variable model (RLVM) to factorize motor modules with inhibitory components from EMG signals recorded from ten expert pianists when they played scales and pieces at different tempo–force combinations. We found that older participants showed a higher proportion of inhibitory components compared with the younger group. Senior experts had a higher proportion of inhibitory components on the left hand, and most inhibitory components became less negative with increased tempo or decreased force. Our results demonstrated that the inhibitory components in muscle synergies could be shaped by aging and expertise, and also took part in motor control for adapting to different conditions in complex tasks.

Performance is an essential part of music education; however, many music professionals and students suffer from music performance anxiety (MPA). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a 10-min expressive writing intervention (EWI) can effectively reduce performance anxiety and improve overall performance outcomes in college-level piano students. Two groups of music students (16 piano major students and 19 group/secondary piano students) participated in the study. Piano major students performed a solo work from memory, while group/secondary piano students took a sight-reading exam of an eight-measure piano musical selection. All students performed twice, at baseline and post-EWI, with 2 or 3 days between performances. During the EWI phase, students were randomly divided into two groups: an expressive writing group and a control group. Students in the expressive writing group wrote down feelings and thoughts about their upcoming performances, while students in the control group wrote about a topic unrelated to performing. Each student’s pulse was recorded immediately before performing, and each performance was videotaped. Three independent judges evaluated the recordings using a modified version of the Observational Scale for Piano Practicing (OSPP) by Gruson (1988). The results revealed that, by simply writing out their thoughts and feelings right before performing, students who had high MPA improved their performance quality significantly and reduced their MPA significantly. Our findings suggest that EWI may be a viable tool to alleviate music performance anxiety.

Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a neurological illness characterized by limb movements which are carried out without being aware of it. Many patients describe these movements as aggressive and some perceive a strong feeling of estrangement and go so far as to deny ownership. The sense of body ownership is the perception that parts of one’s body pertain to oneself, despite it is moving or not and if movement is intentional or unintentional. These anomalous self-experiences may arise in patients with focal brain lesions and provide unique opportunities to disclose the neural components underlying self-body perception. The feeling of foreignness described in AHS is often observed in post-central cortical lesions in the non-dominant hemisphere and is typical of the “posterior alien hand variant”. We used Diffusion-Tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) in an unusual case of posterior AHS of the dominant hand in a professional pianist with corticobasal syndrome (CBS). The patient showed uncontrolled levitation with the right arm while playing the piano and perceived as if her hand had a “mind of its own” which prevented her from playing. MRI-scans show asymmetric brain atrophy, mainly involving left post-central regions and SPECT-Tc99m-ECD patterns of hypometabolism over the left parietal-occipital cortices. DT-MRI revealed extensive damage which comprised left fronto-temporal cortex and extends into the ipsilateral parietal cortex causing a disruption of corpus callosum (CC) projections from the rostrum to the splenium. Our case illustrates that posterior AHS may occur in the dominant hemisphere due to widespread damage, which exceed parietal cortex. The parietal lobe has been recognized as a multimodal association region that gets input from several networks and organizes motor output. We suggest that the disturbance to this pathway could result in disruption of motor output and associate an abnormal motor control and anomalous self-body perception.

Статья посвящена анализу роли информационных ресурсов, технологий и возможностей интернета в учебном процессе работы над музыкальным произведением в классе фортепиано, способствующих наиболее полному и разностороннему охвату материала и адекватному прочтению авторского текста студентами, педагогами и молодыми исполнителями. Отмечается усиление интереса к фортепианному наследию Дебюсси, исполнению и записи на диски ранее не столь популярных его произведений: Двенадцати этюдов и 13-го этюда, информация о котором стала доступна широкой аудитории в настоящее время благодаря развитию современных технологий. Отмечается также множественность интерпретаций, доступных в записи, и открывающиеся в этой связи возможности для развития творческой фантазии и аналитических способностей учащихся. Прослушивание записей пианистов, относящихся к разным исполнительским стилям, играющим одно и то же произведение, позволяет найти то общее, что характерно для интерпретации данной музыки. Приводится пример исследовательской работы музыковедов по анализу авторского исполнения Дебюсси, приведшей к корректировке печатного нотного текста и, как следствие, изменению традиции исполнения пианистами Прелюдии Дебюсси «Затонувший собор». В статье особо освещается, какому этапу работы над музыкальным произведением соответствуют какие возможности использования мультимедиа или библиотечных ресурсов.

In this study, the influence of piano key vibration levels on players’ personal judgment of the instrument quality and on the dynamics and timing of the players’ performance of a music piece excerpt is examined. In an experiment four vibration levels were presented to eleven pianists playing on a digital grand piano with grand piano-like key action. By evaluating the players’ judgment of the instrument quality, strong integration effects of auditory and tactile information were observed. Differences in the sound of the instrument were perceived by the players, when the vibration level in the keys was changed and the results indicate a sound-dependent optimum of the vibration levels. By analyzing the influence of the vibration levels on the timing and dynamics accuracy of the pianists’ musical performances, we could not observe systematic differences that depend on the vibration level.