Kréddle tips--the step-by-step guide for setting up your violin chin rest.

kréddle tips

The step-by-step comprehensive guide to setting up your kréddle fully adjustable chin rest.

The kréddle set up philosophy.

The Kréddle Credo, and the following approach, encapsulate the Kréddle philosophy concerning set up. This is a living document—our theories will evolve as our understanding of the intricacies of fiddle playing become more nuanced. The kréddle is the first chin rest that fully recognizes the uniqueness of every fiddler. As such, we have done our best to frame these ideas as dynamic principles, and not as rigid rules. We hope these ideas will inspire further exploration.

Though the kréddle can move along every 3-dimensional plane, it cannot tell you why or where to move it to. Figuring out why orwhere to move the kréddle is the player’s responsibility. We encourage you to consider the ideas presented as you work with the kréddle. Come up with your own credo, and refuse to compromise with your own health and fiddling goals. We hope the kréddle will help you on your quest for comfort!

Though we have broken down the process into 5 steps, in actual practice working with the kréddle is an organic process. Feel free to deviate from our framework as you see fit.

Step 1: Identify healthy & musical playing postures and motions
Step 2: Chin rest height
Step 3: Lateral Placement
Step 4 : Tilt, Pitch, and Rotation
Step 5: Exploration

Step 1: Healthy & musical positions and motions of violin playing.

Basic Principle:

A clear mental image of how we want our posture and motions to look or feel, guides us in our search for physical, mental, and emotional health. The more clearly we can visualize our holistic ideal when faced with the many facets of fiddle playing, the more likely we will reach our ultimate goals.

The body positions and motions used in violin playing, when done correctly, are quite natural. It is true that we rarely hold any other object in the same way that we hold the violin. However, at the level of each individual joint (the place that motion occurs), when we are playing in ways commonly considered correct, we are not asking the joints to do anything particularly unnatural. In other words, while watching another fiddler play and we say to ourselves “wow, they make it look so easy,” we are observing them efficiently using each part of the body in a natural way. Naturalness in violin playing equates with ease. The game of violin playing in large part centers around figuring out how to use our bodies as naturally as we can.

The fully adjustable capability of the kréddle gives us access to heretofore hidden positions, and thus requires us to first establish clear ideas of the body positions and motions we want to use in our violin playing. This visualized holistic ideal acts as a compass that helps us avoid reactively accommodating the kréddle, violin, or shoulder rest at the expense of our own best interests.

Ideas to Explore:

Proud sternum. Back of neck lengthened (as though a balloon were gently pulling upwards on the flat spot of the top of the head). The nod happens between the ears; the top of the neck is between the ears. Relaxed shoulders. Shoulder blades hug the back. Violin rests on the collarbone. The home base position for the right wrist is basically straight--i.e. this is were we go from and return to in that joint. Carry the right elbow as opposed to letting it collapse down. The elbow joint is where the basic deteché originates. We operate with the idea that security does not mean static positions, it means dynamic poise.

Step 2: Kréddle chin rest height.

Basic Principle:

Height adjustment should come from the top down (chin rest), not the bottom up (shoulder rest).

Using a shoulder rest to lift the violin up to the chin can cause all kinds of problems and discomforts. Unfortunately using a shoulder rest to lift the violin up to the chin is the most common way for players to accommodate the length of their necks, because until the kréddle, no chin rest could compete with shoulder rests in adjustability. However, let’s briefly look at the downsides to using a shoulder rest to lift the instrument up to the chin.

Lifting the instrument up to the chin requires us to bring everything else up to the same level, and we move the violin farther away from our bodies in the process. Having to hold our left and right arms higher requires more work from our muscles, increasing the potential of fatigue. This position also compromises easy access to healthy and ideal violinistic motions.
Lifting the instrument up to the chin jeopardizes the violin-collarbone connection. The collarbone serves as a stable shelf upon which we can rest the violin. Conversely, the shoulder as the most mobile joint in the body, can not provide the stable foundation we need without extensive help from our muscles. In order to counter act the shoulder’s inherent instability, our only choice is to lock the shoulder into one position. Attempting to limit the freedom of the shoulder not only contradicts natural body mechanics, but also commonly contributes to muscle fatigue and pain.

Shoulder rests are useful tools for many fiddlers. Every player must decide for themselves whether or not to use a shoulder rest. However, when dealing with the space between the top of the instrument and the jaw, nothing can compete with the sense of security a well fitting chin rest provides. As one of the most important functions of a chin rest, we encourage you to first experiment with the height adjustment the kréddle provides.

Ideas to Explore:

The process for finding the ideal height for your kréddle commonly goes as follows:

Take any shoulder rest or pad off of the instrument.
Once you’ve installed the kréddle onto the violin as described on page 12, put the violin into playing position and examine how the height of the kréddle feels. Our ultimate goal is to find a height that allows you to feel a solid connection between your jaw and collarbone through the kréddle + instrument. In a sense, we’re looking to feel the weight of our head transferred directly down into our collarbone, while allowing our left shoulder to remain free to move.
Switch the posts provided as needed to find the best height for you.

Step 3: Kréddle lateral adjustment.

Basic Principle:

Instead of reaching for the chin rest, we bring the kréddle to a spot directly under our chin/jaw, which helps us avoid knocking the head off the top of the spine. Additionally we can obtain the ideal violin-to-body angle—particularly necessary for access to natural bow arm positions and bowing motions.

Never before have we been able to customize the lateral placement of a chin rest, aside from moving it back and forth along the bottom edge of the instrument. The capability to bring the chin cup of the kréddle toward us, as opposed to having to reach for the chin cup, has the potential to revolutionize your playing more than perhaps any other aspect of adjustability. Ordinary chin rests too often force us to make a decision between the health of our bodies and the demands of fiddle playing. The kréddle enables us to satisfy both matters simultaneously.

Ideas to Explore:

There are two primary concerns the lateral adjustability tackles:

Head on Top of Spine

Standing in front of a mirror, watch carefully as you put the fiddle into playing position. Make sure that you avoid the subtle habit of reaching with your chin/jaw for the chin rest edge.
Ensure that your head remains directly on top of the spine.
Imagine the top of your spine; where do you believe the spine connects with the skull? In many cases, we picture the spine connecting with the head somewhere in the neck. In fact, the top of the spine connects with the skull approximately between the ears. We nod from between the ears, not lower down in the neck. Keep this in mind as you nod your chin/jaw down onto the kréddle.
Position the kréddle so that the back of the neck can remain nicely elongated (as if a balloon was gently pulling up on a string attached to the flat spot of the head) even as we nod from between the ears.

Violin-to-Body Angle and the Bow Arm

There are three ways we can move the fiddle to modify how our bow arm looks and moves:

Swing the button of the instrument closer or farther away from the adams apple (center of throat).
Swing the scroll from right to left.
Move the instrument up and down in relation to the top of the trapezius muscle.

Players with longer arms often do best by positioning the button of the violin close to the front of the adams apple, thereby moving the instrument away from the top of the trapezius, and possibly swinging the scroll towards their left. Overall the instrument is lower down, more in front of the body, and slightly angled away from the right side of the body—thus more room is created for their longer bow arm. In this position we are viewing the strings from an oblique angle.
Players with shorter arms often need the button of the violin farther to the left of their adams apple. Additionally they may need the scroll rotated towards the right side of their body, and in some cases, the instrument closer to the top of the trapezius. In this position, we’re looking straight down the strings.
Moving the button of the violin is often the most effective way to customize the violin-to-body angle for the bow arm. This allows the two halves of the body to remain largely balanced. Swinging the scroll and/or moving the violin towards the top of the trapezius can both knock the body off balance—such positions require everything to move farther to one side of the body (the left side).

Step 4: Kréddle tilt, pitch, and rotation.

Basic Principle:

Find chin/jaw comfort, security, and ideal angles for the violin and bow arm.

Ideas to Explore:

Rotation:

The 360º rotation capability of the kréddle allows us to swing the scroll of the instrument to the right and left. This motion is one of the three ways we can move the instrument to accommodate the length of our bow arm. If we have longer arms, in many cases swinging the scroll to the left will allow our right wrist to relax into a neutral position, by providing more room for our bow arm. If we have shorter arms, rotating the scroll towards the right side of our body will help us reach the tip of the bow.
Using rotation, we’re looking for a balance between reaching the tip of the bow, and having a neutral right wrist even when at the frog.
Rotation should be used in conjunction with moving the button of the violin closer and farther away from the adams apple (option 1. a. on page 9, under “Violin-to-Body Angle and the Bow Arm”). Moving the button of the violin closer or farther away from the adam’s apple should be given preference over swinging the scroll, as exclusively swinging the scroll (i.e. rotation) can cause imbalances in the body.

Tilt:

Tilt allows us to find the angle of the violin desired for the level of the strings.
A very flat instrument will mean that we have to raise our bow arm very high in order to reach over to the lowest string. A highly tilted instrument will mean that our bow will be straight up and down, and we will not be able to use gravity on the highest string. The ideal position will be a balance between these two extremes.

Pitch:

Pitch allows us to find an ideal amount of grip on the back edge of the kréddle.
Initially our inclination might be to roll the kréddle as far forward as possible, maximizing our ability to grip. However, ensure that after an extended amount of playing, rolling the kréddle all the way forward does not create tension in the neck.
We’re looking for a balance between just enough grip for security, and a certain amount of softness or suppleness in the neck to safeguard against unhealthy tension.

Step 5: Keep exploring.

Basic Principle:

Can we ever actually attain complete mastery of fiddle playing? Do we ever truly run out of areas in which we can improve? At Kréddle we believe the answer is no. In the same way we continue to grow as musicians, our understanding of the interaction between our body and the fiddle becomes progressively more nuanced and naturally evolves throughout our lives. Operating with the idea that at some point we will find “the perfect set up” is an attempt to deny the unavoidable fact that change happens. Ordinary fixed chin rests make it impossible to truly welcome the dynamic nature of our bodies and our development as fiddlers. The kréddle is the only chin rest that provides us access to every angle of of adjustment. Embrace the freedom for continual exploration.

Ideas to Explore:

Work to develop sensitivity to what your body tells you. Your body is the supreme guide—listen carefully.
Move towards visualizing fiddle playing holistically. Instead of separating the body into right and left sides, or upper body and lower body, we want to see the body as an interconnected whole. For instance, due to rules regarding how the bow and the violin contact each other (i.e. the bow needing to remain perpendicular to the strings) the bow and the violin must be visualized as a single unit. With the violin and the bow as one unit, we can see that it is the angle of the violin to the body that determines the angles we have in our bow arm, and the angles we have in the bow arm determine how our bow arm can move. Thus if we are struggling with tendonitis or another injury in the bow arm, often caused by unhealthy motions or positions, then the real cause could be the angle of the violin to the body. If we cut the body down the middle and view the violin side and the bow side as separate entities, then we might miss the fundamental cause of the injury.
Move away from reactive bargaining, and towards proactive experimentation. The most common way fiddlers pick a chin rest is by trying a few different kinds; settling for the chin rest that is least annoying. With this approach we relinquish a significant amount of freedom because we are forced to choose amongst a small number of chin rests from a pool of limited options. In this scenario we are put into positions by the chin rests; we are at their mercy; we must involuntarily react to the chin rest. In contrast the kréddle’s infinite possibility gives us the option of determining what we want from our set up long before we put the fiddle into playing position. We can say: I want my bow arm to look like this; I want the way I move to look like this; I want the violin to be here. Then we move the kréddle to a position according to what we have decided. This process might still require experimentation, but now our ideas are coming first. We are no longer reactively bargaining with the chin rests in front of us; we’re proactively experimenting with the help of the kréddle.
“No pain, no gain” has no place in fiddle playing. We encourage you to reject the idea that pain is a necessary part of fiddle playing. Some players find their way to pain-free playing naturally. For others of us, the quest to play without pain can be a long and frustrating journey. In spite of the difficulties remain open to the idea that there is a way to play pain-free. Work towards the goal in small steps, one day at a time, and celebrate the small accomplishments.