"And while we are discussing the physical aspects of the instrument
there is the 'chin rest.' None of the great violin makers ever made a
'chin rest.' Increasing technical demands, sudden pyrotechnical flights
into the higher octaves brought the 'chin rest' into being. The 'chin
rest' was meant to give the player a better grasp of his instrument. I
absolutely disapprove, in theory, of chin rest, cushion or pad.
Technical reasons may be adduced to justify their use, never artistic
ones. I admit that progress in violin study is infinitely slower without
the use of the pad; but the more close and direct a contact with his
instrument the player can develop, the more intimately expressive his
playing becomes. Students with long necks and thin bodies claim they
have to use a 'chin rest,' but the study of physical adjustments could
bring about a better coördination between them and the instrument. A
thin pad may be used without much danger, yet I feel that the thicker
and higher the 'chin rest' the greater the loss in expressive rendering.
The more we accustom ourselves to mechanical aids, the more we will come
to rely on them.... But the question you ask anent 'Violin Mastery'
leads altogether away from the material!