Learning to Play with a Shoulder Rest

I have had a physically rough time lately. Changes in my body have caused changes in the way I hold the viola and the violin, and the result was, after a few orchestra concerts filled with difficult viola parts (requiring a lot of practice in addition to rehearsals) I found myself having the most intense back and arm pain I have ever experienced.

I thought that by using a shoulder rest I could avoid having this kind of pain in the future, so I consulted (while seated in an arm chair "wearing" a heating pad) the violists in the Facebook viola groups.

I learned that the terrible pain I had in my lower trapezius muscle is indeed a result of lifting my shoulder to meet the instrument a few times too many, and that, after the muscles heal themselves, using a shoulder rest could help prevent the problem in the future.

So I now have shoulder rests for both my violin and my viola, and have been putting bow to string after a week away.

My friend Danny Morganstern quotes his teacher Channing Robbins, who said, "When you change one thing, you change everything." I am finding that to be true, expecially on the viola, where the actual distances and angles are larger than they are on the violin.

A shoulder rest stabilizes the instrument, so that more flexibility is required in the bow arm. I used to bring the viola up to meet the bow when playing on the C string. Now I have to adjust the angle of my bow arm. So now I'm practicing on one string at a time in order to learn my new angles, and try to find something of my old sound.

I have been organizing my closet lately, and am finding shirts with buttons and shirts made of slippery material that I will now be able to wear while playing. I might even invest in a turtleneck (well, maybe for next winter). Maybe I'll find new aspects of sound in this new phase of playing. Every day is an adventure.