Books › The Violin: How to Master It, 1880 › scan 37
Scan 37
The Violin: How to Master It, 1880
4 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1hollow slope to fit the chin inside. It is also slightly hollowed out on the underside of the slope, that it may rise free of the breast-plate of the violin, and touch it only above the ribs, with the feet already mentioned.
3One great advantage of this plan is that the chin completely overlaps the holder, and rests upon the breast of the violin, which thus forms a bottom to the hollow of the chin-rest, thus affording a deeper and more secure grip of the instrument, and obviating the danger of pressing the chin-rest down on the violin. Spohr, in recommending the use of his violin-holder, objects to the chin being pressed "on the sound-board or tail-piece, thereby checking the vibration of these parts, to the detriment of the sonority and volume of tone of the instrument." The most trifling mistake in this statement is that which gives vibration to the tail-piece. Passing that over as too absurd to require answering, and referring to the alleged impending of the vibration of the breast-plate of the violin, I may say that, after experimenting and testing in every way with dozens of violins, I have come to the conclusion that no such impeding exists, and that the chin of the performer, however firmly pressed on the breast-plate, does not impede, or check, or enfeeble the tone, any more than does the pressure of the feet of the bridge. I have noticed also that, with a skilled player who can use the wrist in shifting down the hand, there is not so much danger of the instrument slipping forward with the hand as of it sliding imperceptibly from under the chin towards the right hand; and very good players who use no chin-rest may be seen perpetually shifting it back to its right position. This inclination of the violin to slide away in the direction of its own slope has caused me to make the end of my own design hooked, so as to catch on the left side of the chin, and prevent this incessant slipping to the right. The only objection to the design is the brittleness of ebony, which, being more beautiful and ornamental than reliable, and having the fibres running across the holder, might give way at the junction of tail-piece and chin-rest, or
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