Pianists' health

Eri Yoshimura, a doctoral student in piano performance who earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from UNT studying under Pamela Paul, conducts research to understand and prevent medical problems related to playing the piano. She works with Kris Chesky, associate professor of music and director of education and research at UNT's Texas Center for Music and Medicine.

Yoshimura and Chesky have teamed with researchers Rita Patterson and Shrawan Kumar from the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth for her current study, "Hand Kinematics in Piano Players." Using sensors and a high-speed motion camera, Yoshimura is measuring the posture of 30 UNT piano majors' hands and arms and the force generated when they play different intervals at different dynamic levels. The research will help identify performance-related factors associated with pain and ways to reduce and prevent it.

Two of Yoshimura's previous studies, which examined risk factors for piano-related pain among college students and piano teachers, were published in the Medical Problems of Performing Artists journal. She also has investigated the use of an ergonomically modified piano, with each key 15/16 the size of a standard key, for small-handed pianists. She has presented her research in the United States, Serbia and England.