V.com weekend vote: Do you have a violin 'hickey'?
This may be a little indelicate to ask but, do you have a violin (or viola) 'hickey'?
Yes, it's that red mark on the neck, the telltale sign that someone has been playing the violin or viola for long hours. The famous and beloved violinist Nicola Benedetti has shared with the world the story of her own painful violin scar -- she posted the picture below on Twitter in 2018 - and later that year the Daily Mail even wrote a story about it!
The story is not new for us violinists - in fact there has been a recent discussion about it here on Violinist.com. But I still find it a mystery, why some violinists and violists really suffer from this, while others don't. I can remember that we considered it a badge of honor in high school, to have that mark on one's neck. Everyone in youth orchestra wanted one! But getting older, it stopped seeming so cool, especially when it could be painful.
I definitely have a nice big scar, which gets worse very quickly if I have a busy week of playing. But there are people who play longer hours than I do, and they don't have such a bad mark or scar!
As someone with sensitive skin that is prone to irritation, I've learned a few preventative measures in my decades of playing the fiddle. I'll share them here:
- Just stop playing (HAH! Kidding! Still, that does work if things get really bad...)
- Make sure the chin rest is not digging into your neck (It's always possible to change chin rests)
- Use a cotton handkerchief over the chin rest and wash it frequently
- Use an alcohol pad to disinfect your chin rest every few months
What is your situation, when it comes to the infamous violin "hickey"? Do you have one, or not? What have you done to prevent or treat the violin mark? Please participate in the vote and then share your wisdom!
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Replies
I use a Wolf Maestro leather chin rest and also never had a skin irritation. It is so soft and eliminated any sliding as well.
I seem to hold my violin with the left angle of my mandible on the chin rest. The angle is the sharp right angle bend below the ear. Over many years of playing a callous developed on the bone at mandíbular angle. One day my dentist noticed it and became alarmed and told me it could be a bone tumor. I explained about violin playing but she was convinced it was a malignant tumor and wanted to do an x-ray. That would be about 100 bucks out of my pocket. We reached an agreement, if the x-ray didn’t show any abnormality I would pay nothing. We both looked at the film together- nothing. A callous, even on bone is soft tissue and doesn’t show up on x-ray. No tumor, nothing. Now she will often ask me what else I do to abuse my body besides playing the violin.
I have one and it is thankfully diminishing. My teacher recommended a taller chin rest and that seems to really help me to not clamp my chin onto the chinrest as tightly!
It is funny, I was convinced that the violin hickey was rather a thing of the past. My first teacher had one, a pretty obvious one. And I remember one of the other person who had one too. It seems to me that back then it was just an unfortunate side effect of violin playing; nothing you could do about it.
More recently I don't remember ever seeing a violin hickey any more; it seemed to have disappeared. I put it down to progress in chin and shoulder rests.
Now I read that about half of the population here is or was once a vicitim. I must have been wrong. Maybe long time amateurs usually don't have them, the sort of people I would meet in my life.
I remember playing a concert with my high school orchestra where I sat in the back of the 1st violin section. Looking up the row of violins, I noticed that everyone had a hickey and was very unhappy that I missed what I assumed was a great party the night before!
No neck mark for me: I use clean and dry bandanas and handkerchiefs, at times changing them during longer practice sessions, and I consciously try to use good biomechanics whenever working with the violin (relaxed neck, shoulders, arms, having good playing posture, and a proper warm-up).
Even better than a cotton handkerchief draped over the chinrest, is a piece of natural chamois leather. That also works wonders for playing without shoulder rest. I honestly suspect that playing with a shoulder rest increases the risk for a violin hickey, since you are more immobilized.
When I used to play with a shoulder rest, my violin hickey under the jaw was active, i.e. frequently sore and irritated. It stopped being active when I took off the shoulder rest about a decade ago, and has since been replaced by a smaller, less irritated collarbone hickey.
I only occasionally have a neck mark, mostly after playing in hot conditions. It seems to have more to do with sweat than anything else.
when I grow a beard the hair is a different colour on the spot
Did anyone else notice that on that photo of Nicola Benedetti she has not one, but two marks? One is just under her cheekbone, while the other is just above her clavicle. Hard core! (I've never had a hickey, but my viola teacher did.)
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October 10, 2021 at 11:11 AM · No -- I don't have a mark. Ever since my late teens, I've used a Strad Pad®; but even before this, I didn't have a mark, although I was already practicing and playing 1-3 hours a day. These pads are easily detachable and washable -- I have two different sizes, regular and large, to cover the different chin rests I have on my fiddles.
Another thing I like about the Strad Pad, besides prevention of skin irritation, is that it gives me extra grip and traction, so there's less need to press down with chin and jaw.