My Favorite Viola Accessories and Gear – What’s in my Viola Case?

Today I’m sharing my favorite viola accessories and gear. These are things I can’t live without and make my life so much easier!

Even though I mostly just teach and work from home, I wanted to show you what I keep in my case for my gigs that happen outside of my teaching studio!

Watch the Video: My Favorite Viola Accessories

My Case

Let’s start with my case! I use a BAM Stylus Oblong Case that I got it as a high school graduation gift. I don’t know if BAM cases are entirely worth the money; they are very expensive and I’m sure you can get more bang for your buck from other reliable brands.

But… I do love mine! It was sort of a right of passage: I was going to go off to conservatory to study music, I got a BAM case, and I felt so cool!

Th case is really protective and has held up nicely 10 years now. The one complaint that I do have is that one of the little strap connectors on the bottom broke after about two years, and I fixed it by adding some carabiners to the bottom to keep the straps attached. That was not a fun walk across campus when one of these straps broke!

No matter what case you get, make sure you measure your instrument before ordering! I ordered the case size that I thought would fit my viola, but it turned out to be too small. Be sure to measure your viola (length, width, and depth) and double check that it’ll fit in the case you want to buy!!

Now let’s open up the case and see what viola accessories lie inside!

Instrument Bag

I love to put my viola in a silk instrument bag. Mine is by Carmen Bruna Designs. She makes beautiful instrument accessories like instrument bags, cleaning cloths and bass bibs, and they’re wonderful quality.

Putting your instrument in a bag can help regulate the temperature and humidity by giving your instrument an extra layer of protection. Silk and satin are the best materials to do this, since they’re natural fibers.

I put my viola in the bag, close the drawstring, velcro it in my case, and I’m good to go!

Rosin

Let’s talk about rosin next! I have two rosins that I regularly use: one for my viola, and one for my violin.

My favorite rosin for my viola is Motrya Gold rosin. I’ve been using this for about seven years now, and it helps give my viola a deep tone. This rosin is a little on the sticky side. My viola loves humidity–it sounds so good on rainy days–and I feel like this rosin really helps support that.

Just last year I started using the Bernardel rosin. This one is a little bit more powdery and although it looks like a darker shade than the Motrya rosin, I feel like it’s not quite as rich. I find that this is a little bit too powdery for my viola, and it gave it sort of a metallic sound. It does work really well on my violin, so I only use it there!

I do have one viola student who uses the Bernardel rosin on her viola and she loves it, and I have a few students who use the Motrya Gold to for both viola and violin and they also seem to really like it. It really just depends on what you want and your environment: a stickier rosin generally combats drier environments or gives your instrument a richer sound, and a more powdery rosin can cut through a little bit of humidity and give you a crisp, clear tone.

Cleaning Cloth

A cleaning cloth is an essential accessory for every string musician! I just use microfiber cleaning cloths my dad gets for me at car shows.

When I’m out performing or teaching somewhere I wipe my viola down right before I put it in my instrument bag and close my case up. When I’m teaching at home, I usually only remember to wipe down my instruments at the end of the week. I’m trying to be better, though!

Built up rosin will melt down and mess up the varnish on your instrument, so you definitely want to wipe things down, especially over the summer!

Shoulder Rest

I use an Everest shoulder rest on my viola, and it’s my favorite! I bought this shoulder rest about 12 years ago when I was in high school, and I love how study it is.

The feet are nice and grippy (they’re made of rubber), there’s next to no metal that you could potentially scratch your viola on, and even 12 years later it still has squish to it!

I highly recommend an Everest shoulder rest! I think it’s so much better than the other generic alternatives, and it’s usually offered at about the same price point or even lower! I would definitely start with this one and then experiment with other shoulder rests if it doesn’t work for you.

Want to learn about other shoulder rests? Here are the four shoulder rests I’ve tried!

Instrument Stand

Since I do work and teach from home, I mostly keep my instruments on instrument stands. I been using Ingles violin/viola instrument stands for almost 20 years now!

These provide a lot of support for your instrument. I always feel safe leaving my instruments on these stands! It’s great to just have my instrument sitting next to my desk where I can grab and go when I need to demonstrate while teaching or just play for fun.

I really think I could not live without an instrument stand. It’s just one of the best accessories I’ve ever used for anything!

If you find that it’s difficult for you to actually pick up your instrument and get started, keeping your instrument on a stand (as long as you feel comfortable leaving it out) takes down one of the hardest barriers, which is the first one: getting your instrument out in the first place!

Struggling with your motivation as a musician? I got you!

Dampit (in the cold months)

The last viola accessory that I’d like to share today is a Dampit. This is a snake-like accessory that gives your instrument a humidity boost. You soak it in water (there’s a sponge inside), dry it off, then feed it through one of the f holes.

I only use a Dampit during the dry cold months when my instruments needs a little bit of humidity. I don’t use this very much anymore, because it’s really only helpful if your instrument is inside the case and the case is closed, because it’s relatively small and it won’t provide a ton of humidity.

If you’re leaving your instrument out all the time like I am, then it’s a lot more helpful to have an actual humidifier that you set up in your room. But if you’re in a small room like a practice room that’s really dry, or any kind of space where you can’t control the humidity yourself, then a Dampit can help even just a little bit.

Learn more about keeping your string instrument safe during temperature and humidity changes!

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Those are some of my favorite viola accessories and general string instrument gear. I hope you found some inspiration, but if you have a different accessory that you can’t live without, please let me know in the comments!