Eye Dominance and String Playing: Does It Matter?

by Judy Weigert Bossuat

_____________________________________________________________________________________



More than 20 years, ago a Readers Digest
article explained that dominance pertains
not only to a preference for hand use but
also to eyes and feet. This article sparked
my theory that eye dominance might affect
the head position of a string player. Years
of experimentation have led me to suggest
that string teachers should take eye
dominance into account when teaching.
Prepare a blank sheet of paper and keep
your instrument handy in order to try these
experiments yourself.

WHAT IS EYE DOMINANCE?
Just as people are right-handed or left-
handed, they can be right-eyed or left-
eyed. Even when you think you are looking
at something with both eyes, one of them
often takes precedence.
1
One way to test
eye dominance on a basic level is to cut a
3/4-inch diameter hole in the center of a
piece of paper. Hold the paper with both
hands, arms fully extended. Focus on an
object through the hole and slowly bring
the paper toward your face, keeping the
object in view. You probably will take the
paper directly to one or the other of your
eyes. Repeat this exercise, then try the
experiment again but take the paper to the
opposite eye. Notice if you lost sight of the
object for a second.
2


On violin and viola, the head naturally
balances with the left arm. Without the
instrument in your hands, experiment by
imitating a violin hold and changing your
head angle. When your head tilts to the
right, your left elbow will rotate away from
your body. Tilt your head to the left and
the elbow naturally comes closer to the
body.
As you take up the instrument itself,
keep your left eye closed, forcing yourself
to be right-eye dominant. With your jaw on
the chin rest, your head will be in a
position that allows the cervical vertebrae
to continue in a straight line up from your
spine, even with your head turned slightly
to the left. With the left hand in first
position, check to see that you can see all
four strings at the bow contact point and
down the fingerboard. You probably can
see all four strings without a right or left
tilt to the vertebral axis.
Repeat this exercise with your right eye
closed, forcing left-eye dominance. If you
place your head in the same straight
position of the cervical vertebrae, you
might discover that you cannot see all four
strings. The top string is hidden behind the
second string.
Reprinted from American String Teacher, Volume 55, Number 1 (February 2005), with permission from the
American String Teachers Association with National School Orchestra Association.

Notes
1. See Hannaford, 1997 and 1995.
2. Eye dominance has long been taken into account in sports like archery and target shooting. See
"Determining your Dominant Eye at http://archeryweb.com/archery/eyedom.htm (8/10/2004).
3. Recent vision research shows that eye dominance can change when the relative image size is larger
through the right or left eye or with a change in horizontal eye position. See Banks, Ghose, Hillis.

Experiment to see what modifications
are necessary in order to see all four
strings. You may find yourself doing what
many students do: tilting the head far to
the right or left, or perhaps moving the
chin over to be even with the tailpiece.
3

This head-tilting solution produces a
whole-body imbalance. Tension in the
unbalanced left arm impacts fingering,
shifting, and facility, ultimately impacting
the right-arm tone production. When
moved to the center, the chin puts
pressure on the tailpiece and can cause
variance in the string tuning and
intonation. This phenomenon becomes
especially apparent immediately before a
large shift, as weight on the left thumb is
transferred to the jaw/shoulder hold.
Experiment again, holding or pretending
to hold a cello or bass. Close the right,
then the left eye, while placing your left
hand even with your eyes. In this case,
with the left eye open, you can see what
the left hand is doing without turning your
head. When using only your right eye, your
hand is visible only if you turn your head to
the left, move your hand further forward
(as if the cello were placed almost straight
up and down), or if the hand is moved to
upper positions. Taking this into
consideration, we begin to understand why
children have a tendency to pull the cello
neck away from their bodies when they
play-especially if they are right-eye
dominant visual learners. They are just
trying to see. Granted, cellists usually play
with binocular vision (using both eyes) so
the effect may not be as dramatic until
other objects of visual concentration are
added, such as the music stand or
conductor.
Watch your students play, noticing their
head postures. No matter how carefully
you have taught them, each performers
body tendencies dictate what he or she
ultimately does when playing. Try the
paper test. Most of my crooked-headed
violinists have turned out to be left-eyed.
Many right-eyed cellists have an
overwhelming desire to pull the neck to the
left, away from their bodies. These position
variations are caused by the simple wish to
see what is happening. Add to this mix our
directives as teachers to "watch your bow
contact point or "check your finger
placement, and you can imagine the
difficulties we inadvertently create.
The same theories seem to apply to
guitar. Students who turn their heads far
to the left to see what they are doing with
their left hands are strongly right-eye
dominant, which has an effect on guitar
angles, spine twisting, and left-hand
facility.
Imagine the effect of left-/right-eye
dominance on harp, which is played to the
left. Complicate the situation by adding a
music stand placed to the right of the
strings and hands. Some students are able
to adapt quite easily. For others, knowing
the effects of eye dominance might help to
provide some answers, slight position
adaptations, and perhaps more patience
and understanding.

SOLUTIONS
Center chin rests help solve the visual
problem for violinists and violists. For
many years there has been a center chin
rest that fits on full and 3/4 violins and
violas. More recently, a chin rest adapted
for small instruments has become
available. This chin rest attaches to the left
of the tailpiece but has a large cup that
extends far to the right. This gives
students the possibility of moving their
chin positions toward the center until they
can see all four strings, still maintain
correct cervical position, and not affect the
tuning of the instrument by the chin
pushing on the tailpiece. There is no bump
on these chin rests, so children find them
comfortable. Of course, some teachers
argue that center chin rests may lead to
other problems in the upper positions, but
creating correct spine position and body
balance is an important basis for decision
making and long-term healthy playing.
For beginning cellists, a small square of
adhesive Velcro in a first position thumb
spot will help the children get a feel that
they are in the right place and encourage
them not to move the neck of the cello
away from their bodies in order to see their
left hand.
Left-eyed violinists and violists are more
comfortable working on the middle two
strings, as their visual dilemma is caused
by the highest string. Classroom
heterogeneous methods generally start
players on the middle two strings, so the
head angle problem may not show up
immediately. Right-eyed cellists are more
comfortable working in fourth position,
bassists in "middle position. Some newer
method books offer the option for bassists
to begin in lower or middle position.
Consider eye dominance as a factor when
choosing which position to use.

ORCHESTRA SEATING
Eye dominance plays a huge role in ones
comfort level when playing in orchestra.
The best case scenario is when players can
line up their dominant eye, the music, and
the conductor in a relatively straight line of
vision. The worst case scenario is when
those three points create a zigzag.
Performers tend to line up their eye with
the music, making the conductor
superfluous. Even continual admonitions
from the conductor to watch do not lead to
much improvement, but rather can result
in a higher level of tension for the player.
Because of the zigzag angles, watching the
conductor could require memorization of
whole sections of the music with the
potential for getting lost reading the music.
We often ask students to share stands.
We often seat them in orchestras through
audition. Students are creative when trying
to solve the problems these two situations
present. Have you ever noticed
concertmasters sitting with their knees
facing the audience? Those students were
attempting to align the left eye, music, and
conductor.
Allowing beginning orchestra students to
play with individual stands gives each
student the opportunity to line up eye,
music, and conductor while keeping good
posture. Although a bit cumbersome, this
also encourages students to mark their
own music during rehearsals. Taking eye
dominance into consideration when setting
up stand partners can reap results and
improve an orchestras sight-reading
ability.

EXPERIMENT!
Eye dominance seems to affect string
playing. Any aspect of a persons
physiology that can potentially disrupt the
flow of whole body balance and correct
muscle use deserves serious consideration.
Recognizing the effects of eye dominance
and being able to offer practical solutions
to problems can have positive
consequences on students playing comfort
and efficiency. Experiment with your
orchestras and students. For me, this tiny
bit of information has reaped huge
benefits.

__________________________________________________________________________

Judy Weigert Bossuat lectures in string pedagogy at the University of the Pacific in Stockton,
California; is the master teacher of the String Project at California State University,
Sacramento; and maintains an active private studio. Currently president of the California
Chapter of ASTA WITH NSOA, she holds degrees from State University New York-Potsdam
Crane School of Music and the Suzuki Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan. She
will present information related to the above article at the 2005 ASTA WITH NSOA National
Conference in Reno, Nevada, during a session titled Optimizing Physical Comfort and
Balance.

Bibliography
Banks, Martin S., Tandra Ghose, and James M. Hillis, "Relative Image Size, Not Eye Position,
Determines Eye Dominance Switches. Vision Research, 44 (2004): 229-234.
Hannaford , Carla, The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain,
Hand and Foot Can Improve Your Learning. (Arlington, Va.: Great Ocean Publishers,
1997).
---, Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head. (Arlington, Va.: Great Ocean
Publishers, 1995).
Khan, A. Aarlenne Z., and J. Douglas Crawford, "Ocular Dominance Reverses as a Function of
Horizontal Gaze Angle. Vision Research, 41 (2001): 1743-1748.
Porac, Clare, and Stanley Coren (1976), "The Dominant Eye. Psychological Bulletin, 83
(1976): 880-897.