The Endless Journey

Supporting Equipment

When I first starting playing the violin I picked one up and starting playing - no questions asked. I didn't pay much attention the chinrest and didn't even know what a shoulder rest was. I brought my left shoulder up and forward in support of the back of the instrument and since I was young and limber it caused no problems. In fact, I gave off funny looks when I looked at other players that had shoulder rests. After a period of repose away from the violin partly due to the fact that I fractured my left index finger with a direct hit from a hammer, I stopped playing the violin for several years. In fact, it took one full year before I had full motion of my index finger. Coming back to the instrument, revealed all kinds of shoulder and neck problems. My earnest return to the instrument occurred around age 36. At that point, I had lost much flexibility in my body and found that any violin body contortions ended up hurting my muscles for days on end; sometimes weeks. More recently at age 41, it was actually months of pain. Side Note: This year (2011) I have been required to take a several months of repose due to back/neck injuries and the severing of the tip of my left ring finger. The hits just keep on coming... Back to the subject, I found that well-fitted chinrests and shoulder rests are a necessary evil. Even though I would prefer to play a naked fiddle, I am resolved to the fact that it can only be done so in the privacy of my own home with very few if any listeners.

I wanted to share with the public my array of experimental equipment which I have developed over the last five years. In this first photo, my chinrests on are the left and my shoulder rests are on the right.

In the photos below I have focused on my experimental shoulder rests.

I have recently developed a chinrest which allows me to get back to my original "no shoulder rest" setup. I have found that with the appropriate chinrest and proper training, a shoulder rest is not required. I was inspired by Yehudi Menuhin to find the path to freedom. What I found was having the instrument upheld in the air allows the left hand to slide up and down the neck without tension in the left shoulder. The more freedom in the shoulders, the more fluid the hands can move about.

I will now create these chinrests and offer them to the public. I will offer two versions as they both have different tonal impacts on the instrument. Both versions will offer adjustable heights and will be made of basswood. I will offer three different color options: stained black like Ebony, stained golden brown like Boxwood, and finally stained amber for a rosewood appearance. Version one will mount around and over the tailpiece like a Guarneri chinrest and version two will mount on the left side of the tailpiece like a Morawetz chinrest.