Starting Out
Holding the Violin

Playing Position and Rest Position

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IN THIS LESSON

Three Violin Hold Elements:

Playing position:

  1. Holding the violin with your left hand around the neck/fingerboard/strings or clamp over the higher portion of the fingerboard (nearer to the bridge) place the tailpiece/endpin (bottom of the violin) up against the left side of your neck.

  2. Keeping your neck and chin straight and looking straight ahead, bring your left jawbone down onto the chin rest. (Make sure there is not much of a gap between your neck and the violin)

  3. Keep the scroll of the violin level with the floor or tilting slightly up towards the sky and point the violin out to the left of your chest. Be sure the backside of the shoulder rest is resting on the shoulder, not your chest.

Standing Rest Position:

  1. Holding the violin with your left hand, place the violin under your right arm, strings facing out, with your elbow resting over the chin rest, behind the bridge (not on the bridge) and your forearm supporting the violin from beneath (side bout)

  2. Feet together

  3. Arms and shoulders relaxed. (Make sure not to point the tip of the bow towards anyone or touch the floor. You can rest it on a music stand while maneuvering the violin)

Sitting Rest Position:

  1. Holding the violin with your left hand, rest the tailpiece/endpin on the bottom of the violin on your left knee with the strings facing out.

  2. Feet shoulder width apart

  3. Keep your back straight in the chair and/or sit a little further up on the edge of the chair to avoid slouching.

Similar to the bow hold, establishing a comfortable violin hold is critical to avoid frustration in your playing later on. All other muscle movements (bow arm and angles) are affected by the angle at which the violin rests on the shoulder. While this can be altered while playing, it is important that these three elements are given priority while developing a solid foundation.

How to practice: Practice going from standing or sitting rest position to playing position quite a number of times until it becomes comfortable to hold the violin without left hand support.

A note on practice: Setting goals - I always encourage students to set a number of repetitions as their goal, instead of an amount of time.

Rest Position to Playing Position repetitions per practice session GOAL: 20 repetitions. Happy practicing!