Scientists say cellists have more stress than violinists

Scientists at King’s College London believe they can accurately predict changes in musicians’ heart rates while playing.

The experiment collected data on the heart rates of musicians playing the Andante con moto from Schubert’s Trio No. 2. The findings published in Frontiers, reveal that:

• Pushing towards a climax led to a significant increase in heart rate.
• Playing loudly also increased heart rate, including more than playing faster.
• The players’ cardiac signals were remarkably correlated during passages where they played in tandem, despite playing different instruments with different physical demands.
• Difficult or risky passages also predicted heart rate changes – in particular for the cellist but less so for the violinist.

Now why is that?