Good posture improves cello performance

In this paper, we present results of our experiments on the effects of posture in playing the cello. We used electromyogram to measure various positions of both left and right upper arm, shoulder and back muscles in two postures: with the spine bent and with the spine straight. The measurements showed differences in strength patterns for these two postures with more back strength and less arm strength in the bent spine posture than in the straight spine posture. This observation suggests that performance is more efficient in the straight spine posture than in bent spine posture since the electromyograms indicate that for proper performance, the arms need a certain amount of power, while the back muscles do not need as much power, and in fact, too much back power may have a harmful effect. Furthermore, we observed that the straight spine posture generated better sound quality than the bent spine posture.