Chin rest..in the wrong spot?

August 3, 2008 at 09:32 PM · I wouldn't say a centered chinrest is bad - you might find it natural to want to place your chin there - and of course that depends on other factors, such as where the scroll is pointing, etc.

Definitely worth a try.

August 3, 2008 at 09:41 PM · It depends on how you hold the violin. And lacking pictures, or seeing you in person, it is rather difficult to diagnose over the internet

The key factors being, does what you have now cause discomfort, and or tension in your approach to the instrument? Or have you gotten so acclimated to discomfort and tension, as a result of your equipment--that you no longer notice it? If you are genuinely comfortable and relaxed with your equipment-and it does not get in the way of technique--I see no problems with it.

I used to use a centered chin rest, as I found it more comfortable, now I'm back on a Guarneri syle chinrest. Chinrests are easy things to try different ones of-if you want to experiment tho'.

August 3, 2008 at 10:00 PM · I was in your shoes once!

It ended up I was holding it incorrectly. I also had a lot of shoulder pain and a blister where my violin "hicky" is.

My problem (and you can look out for this but it might not be yours) was that I held it too much over the shoulder, and not enough over the collarbone. I ended up needing to bring the violin down over the collarbone, rotate the violin a tad to the left to get the chinrest aligned with my jaw...and Voila!

I also had a sponsor teacher who was not a fan of the generic flesch model chinrests that almost always come with a violin. She was a BIG fan of the Wittner (sp?).

Seeing as how you are probably growing a tad bit more, your body might need a new set-up due to new proportions with arm length, neck height, amongst other things.

Good luck! And if you have any questions about being a music ed major, feel free to shoot me a message :)

August 4, 2008 at 12:32 AM · There's a link here somewhere to a great ongoing study in Europe that shows that the Guarneri doesn't fit many players. You could try the Wittner that projects over the tailpiece, plus the Wittner that centers over the tailpiece, or a Zitsman,etc., to get a sense. See if you can find a shop that has a good collection of rests you can try out so you don't spend a fortune ordering a half-dozen and returning 4 or 5. Sue

August 4, 2008 at 07:38 PM · I used the center (or Flesch) chinrest (without hump)for a very long time, and only recently switched back to the Guarneri. The Flesch was very good and very comfortable in the beginning, but as I used it for longer and longer, I felt like I had to turn my head in a way that was uncomfortable for me, and I was getting severe neck and upper back pains. But, obviously, every person is different, and the Flesch seems to be just what you need at this point. Also, many famous violinists use this chinrest, notably Joshua Bell, Leila Josefowicz, and, most famously, Anne-Sophie Mutter.

hope this helps!

August 4, 2008 at 07:42 PM · A great place to find a wide variety of chinrests is Shar, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.