A shoulder rest is a crucial part of the setup of a violin or a viola but with so many different styles, types, and even colours, how do you go about choosing the one most suited to you? The simple answer is to seek the guidance of your teacher, or ask for advice at your best local retailer. Here are some ideas of what to look for when shopping for the ideal product!
Like a well-fitting pair of shoes, a properly chosen shoulder rest will be both comfortable and aid in holding up your instrument with a correct posture! This is not for purely aesthetic considerations, but more importantly the overall muscular and skeletal health of the player. Therefore, the setup must be right for the individual! Some students may not even require a rest, particularly if their necks are short and shoulders deep and broad. The occasional teacher can be quite insistent that all their students use the same set-up, regardless of physique, musculature, and skeletal structure! This is obviously not to be recommended, far better to look at each player on an individual basis and make choices with them accordingly. Always keep in mind that the best setup for the student will keep the instrument stable, encouraging a better left-hand facility and making it far easier to successfully move around the complete range of notes when playing!
One size will never fit all players or their instruments!
The violin or viola should be carefully sized to be the most appropriate for the student (you can read our blog article about sizing here), and the same is true of the shoulder rest! The chosen rest should fit the contours of the players shoulders smoothly, allowing for a comfortable posture that creates no strain in the neck, shoulders or back of the player. It also goes without saying that the rest should also fit the instrument correctly! For this reason, shoulder rests come in specific sizes and the best are usually adjustable to both the shape of the player and the instrument, enabling the best fit all round!
What should the shoulder rest be made of?
Most commercial shoulder rests will be a combination of some of the following materials – plastic, metal, wood, rubber, and foam! There are also the home-made kind, often an improvisation of a bathroom sponge combined with an elastic band or two – a word of warning, use a new sponge that has not already seen its days in the bathroom, it will be more hygienic and offer better support than a used one!
Whichever product you choose, they must be stable, durable and there should be no danger of them damaging the player or instrument physically. A badly fitted rest is more likely to disengage with the instrument, and that is when all sorts of issues can occur.
The point of contact with the instrument should not be made in such a way that the instrument will not be damaged, and usually these parts are covered in a softer rubber material, protecting the wood from the harder core of the rest. The part of the rest that contacts the player should also be comfortable too, providing the necessary support but hopefully moulding to the contours of the players shoulder! Over time, a good shoulder rest will fit its owner like a glove, making the sharing of rests a less desirable practice.
The choice of materials used for the rest should also ensure that it is both light and long lasting, with flexibility in the sections that require it. As most good shoulder rests are not cheap, they should be made to last and justify the outlay for their purchase. You should also consider whether spare parts are available to fix smaller problems. Just like with our string recycling scheme, we also offer a shoulder rest part-exchange scheme where you can receive a sustainability credit against a new shoulder rest. Just bring or send it back to us, providing it is in working order or fixable we’ll add to our rental fleet and issue you a credit against the new rest otherwise we’ll recycle the parts.
Choices of shoulder rest
When it comes to the shoulder rest, the upper string player is truly spoilt for choice! The array of products on offer can be somewhat bewildering. Some individuals are very lucky and do not need any support when playing their instrument at all, but these are few. For some, a simple sponge and elastic band may suffice, but for many the added support of a thoughtfully designed, fully functional and well-made shoulder rest is the best option. Before exploring the seemingly endless options it is worthwhile also taking the chin rest being used into consideration! These also come in a variety of styles, but exploring those choices fully needs a separate article devoted purely to chin rests!
The first consideration to bear in mind is budget, as this could limit the choice. A current search (June 2024) finds a price range between £10.00 and £65.00. Once the price range has been established, then the style of rest should be explored.
Shoulder rests come in a variety of styles, that can be broken down into foam pads, those that clip on, and suction models!
The foam pad shoulder rest
Foam pads are the least expensive option when it comes to purchasing a shoulder rest. In its simplest form, it is a sponge with elastic bands that attach it to the body of the instrument. More developed forms use hardened foam that can be added to in sections. The pad style option of shoulder rest offers less support than the sliding or clip on rest, but they are often better suited to young players as they are so easily adjusted to the correct height and shape. They also offer the lightest option when it comes to weight, and are easily kept in the instrument case.
The sliding or collapsable clip-on shoulder rest
For flexibility and practicality, it is hard to beat a clip-on style shoulder rest! Most types can be adjusted in several ways to fit the individual, making them ideal for optimal comfort and practicality. They usually have design features that enable them to collapse down neatly and be stored within the instrument case, and often spare parts can be purchased rather than buying a complete new rest, should any section become damaged or lost! This is an important consideration to make when considering longevity and making the best of resources in an environmentally friendly way.
The suction rest
To attach these types of shoulder rests to the instrument, they make use of suction cups. This method allows a better ease of installation and removal. Generally, they provide less height than the clip-on shoulder rest, and as such are particularly useful for players with shorter necks, providing a more comfortable fit. They are also extremely lightweight. The one draw-back is that the use of suction cups does make them tend to be less secure than other styles of shoulder rest.
To conclude, it is worthwhile spending a little time, effort, and money on finding the ideal shoulder rest that will both ergonomically support your instrument in the best way, and give you a sustainable and durable product that hopefully will last you for years to come!