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You are here: Home / Lessons / Customize Your Shoulder Rest – Quick Tip

Customize Your Shoulder Rest – Quick Tip

Teacher: David Wallace

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Hi there, I’m Dr. David Wallace of myTalentForge.com and this is the Quick Tip of the week!

The Quick Tip of the week is to customize your shoulder rest. So that you adjust the instrument to your body, not your body to the instrument.

And you can do that using pink make-up sponges!

My viola teacher at Juilliard, Karen Tuttle, is the person who came up with this idea. And you can actually now buy these pads from SHARmusic.com, and various other places, but a drug store is good enough.

You can see right here, I need a little more height than this coon shoulder rest will give me.

My neck is pretty long, and without this, there’s a little extra space and I can only fill in that space if I squeeze. That’s going to hurt- that’s not going to be good for my playing long-term.

So, I take some rubber bands, put a sponge there, and now it just fits and floats comfortably. As a matter of fact, I need a little more space here, so I take the rubber bands and put it right there…

And I have the instrument fit my body rather than the other way around.

When I take the instrument away, I look just like I look when I’m standing normally.

So get yourself some pink make-up sponges, some rubber bands, and customize that shoulder rest.

And for more tips on ergonomic playing, check out myTalentForge.com’s Comfort With Your Instrument and Comfort With Your Bow Series.

That’s your tip of the week!

About David Wallace

As Chair of Berklee College of Music’s String Department, Dr. David Wallace enjoys leading the foremost contemporary and eclectic string program in higher education. Previously, David served as a Juilliard professor for fourteen years, and a New York Philharmonic Teaching Artist for seventeen years.

Dr. David Wallace is a fiercely eclectic musician, an award-winning composer, and a master teaching artist. A short list of David’s presenters and clients includes Carnegie Hall, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic, and Young Audiences. The New York Times compares his solo improvisations to "Jimmy Page fronting Led Zeppelin."

Known for his mastery of eclectic styles ranging from all classical genres to fiddling, rock, and free jazz, David has also gained widespread acclaim for his ability to connect with audiences in diverse community settings. Symphony Magazine declares his book Reaching Out: A Musician’s Guide to Interactive Performance "an invaluable manual for all musicians.”

David has entered his third decade of teaching violin & viola to students of all ages, styles, and ability levels. He draws from techniques and principles he studied under renowned master teachers including Karen Tuttle, Karen Ritscher, Lawrence Wheeler, Kenneth Goldsmith, Johnny Gimble, Felix Galimir, and Victor Danchenko.

Join Talent Forge and learn from David.

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