How Does Playing The Violin Help Him In His Detective Work?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novella, A Study in Scarlet, introduces to us the story of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson first joining forces and beginning their friendship and business of solving crimes together. Yet, in A Study in Scarlet, we learn about Holmes playing the violin for the first time. We also learn that he occasionally talks about topics that have to do with violins, such as different kinds of violins, going to violin performances, and what others have said about music in general. Yet, we must ask ourselves: why does he play the violin? Does playing the violin help Holmes in solving crimes? How does it aid him in his detective work? The main focus of these interrelated questions is for us to wonder if Holmes’ violin playing is instrumental to his success as a
Drebber. Aside from the consistent use of focused attention and improved concentration, Holmes also exhibits other benefits, such as better coordination and motor skills, and improved finger dexterity. This is made evident by Dr. Watson who describes Holmes to have “nimble fingers” and that his examination is swift and minute as he is “feeling, pressing, unbuttoning,” and “examining” (19) about Drebber’s dead body. He seems to always have great focused attention and concentration while he is searching for clues, but it obvious that by the way his moves his hands Holmes exhibits both improved finger dexterity as evidence by their nimbleness and his improved coordination and motor skills come in the form of his swift yet minute searching all the while talking to his colleagues since he needs good hand-eye coordination not only to do things quickly, but at the same time. This gives him the edge of double-tasking and is the result of him playing the violin since he would need to coordinate both his fingers and arms simultaneously to play the