KRÉDDLE TIPS Dear Fellow Kréddler
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KRÉDDLE TIPS Dear Fellow Kréddler, I hope the kréddle will help you on your own quest for comfort and musical excellence! If you ever have questions or concerns about your kréddle, have an idea you would like to discuss, or want a second opinion on an issue related to violin playing or set up, please feel free to contact me at [email protected], or by other means listed at kreddle.com. Sincerely, Jordan Hayes Violinist & President 3 KRÉDDLE CREDO Welcome to the Kréddle Community—a worldwide group of musicians dedicated to the quest of finding healthy positions and movement patterns that work in harmony with each player’s unique qualities. The phrases collected below articulate discoveries, beliefs, & ideas to contemplate while exploring the paradigm-shifting dynamic capabilities of the kréddle. 4 CONTENTS Kréddle Credo 3 Parts 12 Using the Hex Key 5 Initial Assembly 12 Kréddle Approach to Set Up Adjustment Steps 6 Adjusting Height 13 Healthy Positions and Motions 7 Adjusting 360º Lateral Angle 14 Kréddle Height 8 Adjusting Tilt, Pitch, & 360º Rotation 15 Lateral Placement 9 Tilt, Pitch, and Rotation 10 Continuous Exploration 11 Kréddle Terms and Conditions 16 5 USING HEX KEY Use only the long end of the hex key to adjust the screws. DO NOT use the short end. Only tighten to the point that the clamp is snug, working up to the necessary tightness in small increments. Very little torque is needed to keep the post from rotating in the base-clamp. Slightly more torque will be needed for the chin plate clamp, but continue to tighten in small increments. DO NOT use any other hex key than the one provided. Other hex keys may strip out the screw head. The hex key provided is a 1.5mm (Kréddle 1) or 2mm (Kréddle 2) Hex PLUS key, which is specially designed to prevent stripping the screw head. You may be able to find a Hex PLUS key locally or online. Replacements can also be found at kreddle.com. Parts 6 KRÉDDLE APPROACH TO SET UP 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 or where 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 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 Healthy Positions Kréddle Height Lateral Placement Tilt, Pitch, Exploration & Motions & Rotation Necessary Disclaimer: Kréddle does not accept any liability for the implementation of the ideas presented herein or from other sources, or for the use of the kréddle. Using the kréddle, or the implementation of any of the ideas presented by Kréddle, affiliates of Kréddle, or any other source, is done at the sole discretion of the player, and the player assumes all responsibility. Kréddle encourages players/users to consult with their medical professional and teacher before implementing the ideas presented. 7 1. HEALTHY POSITIONS & MOTIONS Ideas to Explore: Proud sternum. Back of neck lengthened (as though a balloon Basic Principle: A clear mental image of how we want our were gently pulling upwards on the flat spot of the top of the posture and motions to look or feel, guides us in our search head). The nod happens between the ears; the top of the for physical, mental, and emotional health. The more clearly neck is between the ears. Relaxed shoulders. Shoulder blades we can visualize our holistic ideal when faced with the many hug the back. Violin rests on the collarbone. The home base facets of fiddle playing, the more likely we will reach our position for the right wrist is basically straight--i.e. this is were ultimate goals. 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 body positions and motions used in violin playing, the basic deteché originates. We operate with the idea that when done correctly, are quite natural. It is true that we rarely security does not mean static positions, it means dynamic hold any other object in the same way that we hold the violin. poise. 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. 8 2. KRÉDDLE HEIGHT Shoulder rests are useful tools for many fiddlers. Every player must decide for themselves whether or not to use a Basic Principle: Height adjustment should come from the top shoulder rest. However, when dealing with the space between down (chin rest), not the bottom up (shoulder rest). the top of the instrument and the jaw, nothing can compete with the sense of security a well fitting chin rest provides. As Using a shoulder rest to lift the violin up to the chin can cause one of the most important functions of a chin rest, we all kinds of problems and discomforts. Unfortunately using a encourage you to first experiment with the height adjustment shoulder rest to lift the violin up to the chin is the most the kréddle provides. common way for players to accommodate the length of their necks, because until the kréddle, no chin rest could compete Ideas to Explore: with shoulder rests in adjustability. However, let’s briefly look at The process for finding the ideal height for your kréddle the downsides to using a shoulder rest to lift the instrument commonly goes as follows: up to the chin. 1. Take any shoulder rest or pad off of the instrument. 2. Once you’ve installed the kréddle onto the violin as • Lifting the instrument up to the chin requires us to bring described on page 12, put the violin into playing position everything else up to the same level, and we move the violin and examine how the height of the kréddle feels. Our farther away from our bodies in the process. Having to hold ultimate goal is to find a height that allows you to feel a our left and right arms higher requires more work from our solid connection between your jaw and collarbone through muscles, increasing the potential of fatigue. This position also the kréddle + instrument. In a sense, we’re looking to feel compromises easy access to healthy and ideal violinistic the weight of our head transferred directly down into our motions. collarbone, while allowing our left shoulder to remain free • Lifting the instrument up to the chin jeopardizes the violin- to move. collarbone connection. The collarbone serves as a stable 3. Switch the posts provided as needed to find the best height shelf upon which we can rest the violin. Conversely, the for you. 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. 9 3. LATERAL PLACEMENT neck. Keep this in mind as you nod your chin/jaw down onto the kréddle. 4. Position the kréddle so that the back of the neck can remain Basic Principle: Instead of reaching for the chin rest, we bring nicely elongated (as if a balloon was gently pulling up on a string the kréddle to a spot directly under our chin/jaw, which helps attached to the flat spot of the head) even as we nod from us avoid knocking the head off the top of the spine. between the ears. Additionally we can obtain the ideal violin-to-body angle— particularly necessary for access to natural bow arm positions Violin-to-Body Angle and the Bow Arm and bowing motions. 1. There are three ways we can move the fiddle to modify how our bow arm looks and moves: a.