In musical performance, rehearsals are often held in rooms with short reverberation time (RT), while concerts typically take place in venues with longer RT. Previous studies have suggested that musicians adjust their performance depending on RT, and such adjustments are expected to be reflected in their physical movements. However, few studies have examined how these acoustic differences affect performers’ physical movements, particularly bowing in string performance. This study conducted a preliminary experiment to examine the effect of reverberation on bowing movements in violin and viola performance by analyzing right elbow angles. Four professional violinists, five amateur violinists, and five amateur violists participated. They played eight musical tasks in both non-reverberant and reverberant environments. 3-D right elbow joint angles were calculated from body landmarks obtained via MediaPipe using two video recordings. The validity of the MediaPipe-based method was confirmed by its consistency with a previous study using motion capture. No significant differences in elbow angles were found between the two acoustic conditions across all tasks, with relatively large individual differences. Additionally, in tasks using a musical piece, several acoustic parameters were analyzed to examine their relationship with the performers' body movements.
Muto et al. (Wed,) studied this question.