Hardware

September 6, 2008 at 5:25 AM

OK - It is odd for a software person talking about hardware, but maybe that is why it took so long to possibly figure this out. I've given up on my chinrest, and I finally realized why it does NOT work for me.

For the past two years I struggled with my new, larger, 16" viola. All this time I fiddled around (pun intended) with my shoulder rest(s) and viola position. It just dawned on me to try different chin rests instead. My current chinrest is a Strad style. It has this rather large bump in the front and is highly contoured to "lock" my head in one position, and one alone. My chin is not that deep, and it takes a bit of effort to position it over this chinrest to be semi-comfortable.

My teacher noticed earlier this year that I had this routine of trying to position my chin over and around this rest, and we tried different ways of holding the viola. It worked for awhile. But now that I'm focusing on the curvature of my fingers, I noticed that the most comforatble place to hold my viola while keeping fingers curved and still be able to draw a straight bow was NOT the position where my chinrest locked me into.

I experimented without a chinrest at all tonight to try to determine what style of chinrest (or lack thereof) would work best for me. As near as I can tell at this point, a rest that is low and relatively flat would work well. I tend to move my head anywhere from the left and then towards the tailpiece depending on the position that I'm playing in (more near the tailpiece in higher positions). The strad style was hindering my natural left side movements. This may have been contributing to my right arm pains.

So, tomorrow is chinrest shopping day. If there are two that are close, I'll come home with both.

Wish me luck!

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on September 6, 2008 at 12:08 PM

Isn't it remarkable how important these little things are? I got a new chin rest for my violin last year, and I really like it. Good luck!

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.