Introducing -- The Impressionist -- Chinrest Comfort

Welcome to the new and improved home page for Swing Cat Enterprises and Swing Cat Enterprises, LLC.

In addition to our wide assortment of compact discs, we are extremely proud to offer you something completely new and unique. It’s a revolutionary violin and viola chinrest insert that softens when heated, then accepts an exact impression of the player’s jaw. It’s called The Impressionist. For more information, please follow me.......

In 1831, violinist Louis Spohr invented the chinrest. Since then, violinists and fiddlers alike have tried, and usually failed, to find a chinrest that really fits them. The two dozen or so existing chinrest shapes don’t really seem to fit anybody. Foam and gel pads, can at best only disguise the fact that the chinrests didn’t fit our chins, and at the expense of solid contact between jaw and chinrest.

As a violinist and teacher myself, I know the frustration. Ever since I began playing at age nine, I could never hold my instrument comfortably.

I finally hit upon an idea, and brought it to Cole Biasini, one of my college music teachers and the inventor of the Stand-Outs music stand extenders. Unbeknownst to me, he had been working on the same idea. We put our heads together, and then the sparks really started flying!

Now, Cole and I are proud to introduce the first real improvement in chinrest comfort in 177 years. We call it The Impressionist. Made from a durable material with a remarkably low melting point, The Impressionist is softened in hot water, towel-dried, then placed atop a violin or viola’s chinrest. Holding the instrument normally for five seconds allows The Impressionist to take an exact impression of your jaw. Give it fifteen minutes to cool, and that’s all there is to it!

Your chinrest will now fit you perfectly.

Even better, The Impressionist can be re-softened and re-shaped to finesse the fit as often as desired. As a professional player and teacher, I’ve used a pre-production version of this product for years. I wouldn’t want to play without it. What I’ve noticed more than anything is that once The Impressionist is fitted, it allows me to hold my violin exactly the same way each time I pick it up. What I’ve noticed more than anything is that this constant violin position allows me to play far better in tune. In addition, the fact that my jaw now is placed in a well-defined groove allows me to move in and out of the higher positions with added confidence.

Cole and I are selling The Impressionist directly to players for $11.95.

— Paul Anastasio, improviser and inventor