Is it just me, or are these getting more popular? I know I have one, and I seem to see a few more now than I ever used to...

What is an in the middle chin rest??

One that sits over the tailpiece rather than on the side. It has the effect of moving the tail end of the violin higher on the shoulder making it easier for players with shorter arms to have the bow at right angles at the tip without having to stretch the right arm too far out.

Mines kinda inbetween a normal one and middle one. It's more to the left of the violin, but is quite large and flat and very comfy

I haven't enough contact with violinists and violists to say if it's become more popular recently.

I have a Wolf chinrest (forget the make) that has a piece that goes over the tailpiece, but I've had that for (gulp) at least 18 years, so it's not exactly a new thing!

I remember in-the-middle chinrests from my childhood/teenagerdom though.

The rests that sit centrally over the tailpiece are called 'Flesch'. The flatter sort that fits over the tailpiece, but with the bulk of the chin rest to the left, are named 'Guarneri'. These are simply generic names that have been assigned to different chin rest shapes in order to identify one from another.

My arms aren't that long and I did try a Flesch chin rest. Although it helped the bow arm, having small hands meant it did nothing for my left hand or shoulder. I ended up having to really strain across to reach the G string, especially in third position. Fine if you are only playing for 30 minutes a day in total, but not for a full day of rehearsing Mahler or Wagner.......

The Guarneri for me is a compromise - it lets my chin sit close to the tailpiece, but also flat enough to allow adjustment of the instrument position on my shoulder if needed.

As for popularity, don't buy a certain chin rest because everyone else has one. Purchase the one that suits your physique and feels the most comfortable. Certain chin rests may be more fashionable than others, but long term injuries due to it being unsuitable for you, aren't!

I bought what the man in the viola shop told me to... But my mum said ti looked a lot better, so there you go! It has been an ongoing problem, because my first teacher was a direly incompetent man, who knackered up absolutely everything about the way I play the viola for me. My new teacher still sometimes asks me if my last teacher told me to do that...

But I digress! I just wondered, because I'd never actually seen them until lost of people seemed to somehow get them recently...