Resumen de Hand asymmetry: a study of young string players' finger dexterity
Judith A. Palac, David W. Sogin
The present study seeks to discover whether or not young string players increase their finger dexterity, as measured by the 9-Hole Pegboard Test, with age and playing experience, shedding more insight on the question of whether or not finger dexterity is an underlying motor ability in string performance. A total of 43 participants, all right-handed string players, was randomly selected from a weeklong Suzuki summer camp and a community music school to participate in this study. The participants were placed in three groups. Group 1 (n=14) consisted of 7¿9-year-olds, group 2 (n=10), 10-12-year-olds, and group 3 (n=19), 13-15-year-olds. Results indicate that statistically significant differences were found between the right and left hands (p=.01) across all three groups, between some groups (p=.01), and between some years of musical experience, p=.02 for the right hand and p=.01 for the left hand.
