Learning to play

without shoulder

rest and/or chin rest

Esther Visser

This is the website by violinist Esther Visser (The Netherlands), who is specialized in historically informed performance practice and Alexander Technique. Currently I am in the final stages of my PhD research about the way how violinists supported their violin between 1790-1830 and the implications of that on performance practice and health, receiving a fulltime scholarship from Canterbury Christ Church University (UK).

Part of the research is an experiment in which I teach balancing the violin without using a shoulder rest or chin rest to professional violinists and music students, in order to improve muscle tone / sound quality / historically informed articulation. Would you be interested to participate? Please read more about it here on the website and message me if you have any questions.

Congress paper 2022

Research

about my research on historical support of the violin and implications for modern performers

Experiment

about the experiment on how to teach professional violinists to play without shoulder rest or chin rest

Publications

previous publications on this subject by Esther

Waar wil je meer informatie over?

Read more…

The Strings of Paganini

VIBRATO – a short overview in historical perspective

Vibrato in the Romantic Era

Newsletters

No Zoom session this Wednesday

One last round for the experiment!

Reminder: tomorrow is the deadline!

Update on the experiment

The 22nd week of the experiment

The 21st week of the experiment

The 20th week of my experiment

The 19th week of my experiment

The 18th week of my experiment

The 17th week in my experiment

The 16th week of my experiment

The 15th week of my experiment

The 14th week of my experiment

The 13th week of my experiment and Happy New Year!

The twelfth week of my experiment on playing with a shoulder and / or chin rest

The eleventh week of the experiment

The tenth week of the experiment

The ninth week of the experiment

The eighth week of the experiment

The seventh week of the experiment

The sixth week of the experiment

The fifth week of the experiment

The fourth week of the experiment

The third week of the experiment

The second week of the experiment

The first week of the experiment

The experiment is starting!