JAVS Spring 2025

The quite massive cello-like pegboxes are also not helpful with their extra weight at the upper end of the instrument, and even the choice of wood of the fitting parts, such as the pegs, tailpiece, and chin rest, can impact the overall weight of a viola. Alternative lighter materials such as titanium are becoming more popular and can be used as an alternative to the traditional heavier chin rest hardware and fine tuners. However, weight only reduces by a couple of grams. Determining if a viola is light or heavy can be quite a tricky task since each person can interpret the instrument’s weight differently. Sound advice requires individuals to test the viola for a long practice section or rehearsal, constantly switching from playing to rest positions. The more tedious and the longer the rehearsal, the better it is for the violist to decide whether the viola is light enough or too heavy. Conclusion Using body length as the sole criterion for selecting a viola is misleading due to the significant variability in other dimensions and measurements. A more holistic approach, considering string length, rib height, bout shapes, and overall weight, is necessary to determine whether an instrument is ergonomically suited to a player’s needs. Both traditional and innovative viola models can offer excellent playability when these factors are properly assessed. Ultimately, violists should carefully evaluate their instruments to ensure optimal comfort, technique, and performance longevity. Footnotes: 1 Christine Rutledge, “Report on the Violin Society of America’s 14 th Annual Competition for Instrument Making.” Journal of the American Viola Association 17 no. 2 (2001): 40. 2 Christine Rutledge, “Report on the Violin Society of America’s 14 th Annual Competition for Instrument Making.” Journal of the American Viola Association 17 no. 2 (2001): 40. 3 Maurice W. Riley, The History of the Viola . (U.S: s.n., 1980), 11. 4 David Dalton, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose (Oxford [England] ; Oxford University Press, 1988), 11. 5 Daniel Whitman, “In defense of the small viola,” The Strad, 108 no.1243 (1994): 126-27.

Weight The viola weight has a significant impact on the player’s shoulders, neck, and body health, especially for violists that play on large violas ensuring the left hand and arm will be far from the body´s center of balance. The viola´s weight has become a concern among modern makers as we can observe in the article featuring the luthier Hiroshi Iizuka by Eric Chapman:

By 1986, Iizuka turned his attention to weight reduction, redesigned the scroll and removed the center of the volute. Even a slight decrease in scroll weight would increase player comfort, and also has some perceptible impact on sound production as weight is removed for a vibrating surface. 14

The weight comes mostly from the heavy maple wood commonly used in the construction of most parts of the stringed instruments such as bottom plate, neck, scroll and sides, as well as from other parts such as the pegs, fingerboard, and chinrest. The weight also comes from the player’s left hand and arm, as already mentioned, and this extra weight requires more muscular involvement since the elongated distance of the left hand from the torso correlates to more additional weight. In other words, the farther away the left hand is situated from the body, the heavier the feeling overall. Viola playing requires an extra stretch of the left arm, further from the body’s balance, a characteristic that requires more considerable involvement of shoulders, arms, and back muscles. In the long term, the instrument’s weight as well as the player’s arm weight combined may impact the ability to perform for an extended period, potentially leading to health conditions common among viola players. In the case of impacting the player’s health, a shorter viola could help the violist reduce the added weight and stretch, especially when the left arm extends over a 120-degree angle. In the case of injury, discretion on this subject is essential since each person may have different levels of strength or health conditions, and medical support and supervision are the correct approach. Moreover, each person has quite different body strength, body awareness, and flexibility, in addition to playing posture and technique.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 41, No. 1, Spring 2025

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