This may sound like a really stupid question, but I was sorting through my violin case yesterday and I found, (apart from the violin and bow I usually play with obviously!):

- pencil (2)
- rubber
- spare set of strings
- spare bow
- padlock
- sheet music
- duster
- 20p(!)
- rosin
- shoulder rest

This just made me wonder, what else do you keep in your case apart from your violin and bow? Why not tell us all about it here, however crazy!

Umm... rosin, cloths.

everything else gets piled into another bag along with my music

My case is an absolute disgrace, I have to admit (that could actually be me in the picture Janexxx posted...)

Currently it contains :

Several notebooks
Pen
Pencil
Three bows
Two chinrests in case I feel the need to put one on
A chinrest key thingy
A shoulder rest (which I don't use - but cannot throw away because I'm a terrible hoarder...)
Two dusters
String cleaner
Business cards
MP3 recorder (for recording sessions)
Luthier stuff (sound post setter, stuff for pegs)
Spare strings in helicore and wiener mélange
A set of gut strings (which I will never use either, but hey ho)
Spare change
Spare keys for my house
A cello stop (why? Why is this not in the cello case?)
Some chocolate (hurrah)
And a photograph of a labrador puppy that I plan to steal from some friends.
Playing cards for when the sessions inevitably turn to poker.

Oh and Hamish MacFight - my fiddle !

^ how BIG is your case?!!

CLoth
Shoulder rest
Rosin
Digital Tuner
Metronome(not always)
Sheet music
Music stand(not always)
Newspaper(Only when I have a long journey and I have my violin with me)

PS: Rosfrog what model mp3 recorder do you have? I have looking in to investing in a cheap one ro something that will do the job just as well.

Not big enough, manifestly! I'm always the one who takes fifteen minutes to get his fiddle out before playing, which is embarassing as I don't use either a chin or shoulder rest, so I should in theory be able to pull it out of the case and go - ahem. Nope, I have to dig first! Plus I'm big on ones with pockets - I love little hidey holes in my case.



I use a microphone that I attach to my Ipod, but another session musician uses an Olympus thingy - works fine enough for him - not good enough to record for CD output, but certainly good enough to record new tunes, rehearsals that kind of thing - I think they're about thirty pounds. The Ipod mic was 50 euro, so what's that, around 40 quid at the moment ?

I have my business card with my name and address on it in case my violin is accidentally 'left' somewhere......



Memory like a sieve... it's my age

Rosfrog. I have just order a microphone and will use with software called Recordpad which I have installed on my laptop.

Good enough for what I need. It is just so some people can hear what my playing is like without me having to drag my violin all the way over to their house when I visit.

*cellist invading violin thread*

In my cello case, I only have a very small pocket, but I do fit an impressive number of things in there!

Cello and bow, obviously, and:

4xspare strings (used to be 12 before I cleared them out!)
e.4 pencils
rubber
spike holder
rosin
good luck charm
paracetamol
sometimes chewing gum/sweets, though I think I'm out right now

....all in a pocket about 10cmx15cm on the inside of the case...

What's actually in it:
Violin with chin rest attached, two bows, a duster, rosin, a pencil, shoulder rest (in pieces, in the external pocket). There's also currently a letter we were given at the end of last term saying when things start again this term - I know cos I dug it out yesterday to check when term started.

What else ought to be:
The tuning fork that sometimes lives in there has been missing a while - I think it's in a pencil jar by my desk, or it may have ended up in a guitar case. If I'm playing alone, I'm fine with it just being in tune with itself (I don't have perfect pitch) and when playing with others I tune to them, so it doesn't really matter.
More important would be spare strings, but I havn't got round to getting them yet as I can decide what type to get.

There's no way it could take sheet music or a music stand of anything else of that sort of size.

My case is pretty empty of general junk at the moment, mainly because I've only had it a couple of weeks, but I'm sure that will change soon
Currently in there I have:
-Violin (obviously)
-2 bows
-shoulder rest
-Rosin
-duster
-blanket-y thing that came with the case and goes over the top of my violin
-tuning fork
-chinrest key
-spare bridge
-piece of paper with my contact details incase it gets lost
-orchestral mute
-practice mute
-pencil
-shoulder straps for the case that I don't normally use
-"You passed" card that has nothing to do with music exams
-Old envelope for said card
-Sticker from this summer's orchestra tour


OK, maybe I'll take that back - it is a fair amout of junk!!

Son's teacher lent us a case once... at first glance, it looked empty, but it was fun to excavate! There was even a necktie stuffed in there.

A music school here is reputed to run instrument case checks every now and then...students are required to dispose of or redistribute: candy, pin-ups of favourite musicians, umbrellas, hairbrushes, cosmetics, magazines, diaries...

At an orchestra rehearsal not so long ago, amongst the sheet music in my case I came across....the sermon I gave for the previous Christmas Eve!

I have the usual things in my viola case: viola, bow, rosin, shoulder rest, tuner, handkerchief etc.

but my kids put things into the case as well - last time I went to my lesson I found a quantity of Lego, a small sock and my son's recorder

I have....
1 cloth to wipe off rosin dust
1 cloth to go over my chinrest if my chin starts hurting
2 rosins
Shoulder rest
A practise mute
A metronome
Dominant strings
Zyex strings
Helicore strings
A list of lesson times and dates from the summer
My teacher's business card
A pencil (with violins on it!! )
A spare bow
A key for the lock on my case - which i don't use as i will lose the key =|
My driving teacher's business card o_O !
A looaaad of post-it notes that my friend wrote 'i love cara' over and stuck on me
And a folded up poster advertising my string group conductor's quartet's concert
Blanket thing for my violin



A few random things but nothing that interesting atleast i dont think?

Think mine's pretty boring and standard, also don't have a lot of room in my case,

Spare bow
Duster
Rosin
Shoulder rest
Digital tuner
Pencil
oh and the shoulder strap which I still haven't put on the case since I bought it!

my passport
flight details (both from tour....in July)
pencil
snack bar
rosin
shoulder rest
ipod
business card from 2 luthiers and piano tuner
some sheet music
yellow duster

First off: a viola, (not a violin..... )
my bow
set of spare strings in a tube
2 soft yellow cloths - one for cleaning rosin off strings etc with and one as a 'chin rest softener'
shoulder rest
rubber mute
rosin
peg paste
3-in-1 digitial tuner thingy
(Last 5 items all kept in the little compartment)

Music I keep on the music stand (or the shelf, if not currently in use), along with my prac book and a pencil.

Violin case:

Violin
4 bows
Shoulder rest
Spare strings, plus old strings in case of emergency?!
2 cloths
Silk bag
Case blanket thing
Rosin
String cleaner
Pencil
Case key
Chinrest adjusting key
Peg paste
A-Z of instrument care book
2 practice mutes, metal and rubber
2 other mutes, rubber and wooden (I like mutes! )
Spare endpin (why? )
Various luthier business cards
Little notepad I got from the Strad museum in Cremona

Viola case:

Viola
1 bow
1 cloth
Silk bag
Rosin
Practice mute
Chinrest adjusting key
Tuning fork

The violin case probably has too much in but the viola one just has useful things - I switched from a big oblong viola case to a smaller, lighter one which limits how much assorted junk will fit in, and it's so much nicer to carry around!

My case doesn't have much room in its one compartment for bits and pieces - probably just as well as I'm terrible for junk. My instrument case is probably one of the tidiest aspects of me!!!

Apart from the bare essentials, it contains:
- pencil & rubber
- tuning fork
- practice mute

That's it!

I currently have...

A spare bow
2 sets of spare strings
Roisin
Spare change
Pencils
ID
Mints
Chewing gum
Tissues
Cleaning cloths
String cleaner
Cleaning fluid
Peg paste
A concert programme
Sheet music
Shoulder rest
Mute
Spare bridge

I have:

violin
bow
rosin
mute
spare G string
mini nail file as I always forget to file them before I go to a lesson
shoulder rest
ikea pencil


that's it. I don't even have a pocket big enough for any music... *sob*

It's a soft cello case with...
A pencil with violins on
one music book
a couple of pieces of sheet music
a cello stop
rosin
a cello
a bow
a mute on the cello
an orchestra sticker which I'm saving till I get my own cello because the first one just came off...

My cello teacher uses other pupils' cellos to play with you in your lesson, once she opened someones and found empty bottles of pop and choc wrappers...she was NOT impressed...

I have:

violin (mute attached)
2 bows
blanket
green duster (should get a new one)
string tube with some spare strings, some already used
empty packets from my current strings so I can remember what they are
shoulder rest
chin rest key
rosin
small nail clippers with file
tuning fork
small plastic tube to blow up the Play-on-air rest that I mislaid ages ago
some cotton wool in case I am sitting in front of the trumpets
some old concert programmes
a map with directions to an out-of-town concert

....but better, perhaps, than one of my students arriving for a lesson, opening the case, and finding NO violin!!

Genius ! I've forgotten my bow before (slightly embarassing, but never the fiddle)

Glad I'm not the only one!

mine is remarkably tidy inside as I do make sure I give it a regular de-cluttering. This is mainly due to avoid carrying excess weight around:

Violin
Bow x 2
Silk scarf
Pencils x 2
Eraser (plastic variety that doesn't smudge)
Rehearsal schedules dating back to March 2005 (don't ask me why they are still in there)
Beethoven Volume 1 piano and violin sonatas (violin part that I borrowed)
Chinrest key
Peg paste (to make pegs turn smoothly)
Hidersine paste (to stop pegs slipping)
Kun shoulder rest drawstring bag (why I put the bag in the case I don't know)
Tuning fork
Polythene bow bag
Shoulder rest (Kun Bravo)
Very soft duster
A variety of mutes
Spare E strings x 2 (Obligato)
Spare strings in tube - A x 2, D x 1, G x 1
A postcard sized drawing of Paganini
Two photos of me with Maxim Vengerov

I got all the way to the Barbican only to find that I'd forgotten my violin part. So what you may ask, you could have used another? Nope, it was a hire set not belonging to the orchestra I was playing for and worse still, the set was due to be returned to the hire library the next morning!

By absolute luck I had someone coming up to sit in the audience. I just managed to catch them before they left work and ask them to call past my house on the way and pick up the music.

I have a cellist friend who actually mananged to forget his cello entirely. He'd spent 30 years in the profession and never once done that before, but somehow he just got in the car and drove off to the venue without it. You can imagine the schock he had when arriving, opening the back door of the car to find no instrument!! I got a phone call from him asking if I was anywhere near his house. By chance I was about 5 minutes around the corner from where he lived, so I collected it and met him half way, in the car park at Surrey University - he was playing in the Petworth Festival in Sussex. I promised not to tell his colleagues because they would never have let him live it down.

for my grade 8 violin, I'd spent so long making sure i had music and correct accompaniments for the 3 books i was playing from that i left my violin in the hall. got halfway to school and thought uh oh. Good job i left early...

Don't you mean two photographs of Maxim Vengerov with you (I think he must have them in his violin case too)

every time...

What do I have in my case? I have one set of spare strings, a shoulder rest, three rosins, a bag (to put a violin in), a cloth.

I put most of my stuff in my music bag.Thats the only reason that my case isn't packed up...

I think we all need a case clearout...

But, i like knowing that i have everything i need in there

i still have chocolate wrappers from chocolates that a freind gave me at easter in my case.....

I have my feedback envelope from the last Adult Learners concert at Stalybridge in mine.

Spare strings, peg paste, rosin, metronome & tuner, duster, old bits of ticker tape from an anniversary concert when they released loads of it, with fireworks

In my electric violin case I have some confetti from a party popper that a little girl presented me with after a gig

Spare specs!!!!

(£7-50 jobs from Woolworths)

Nothing, except a small piece of paper with my name/address and cell phone number on it.

I leave my violin out, and only use the case when I need to take it somewhere .. like lesson or orchestra.
Tuner, metronome and rosin generally live on the music stand, bookshelf and desk.

That's seriously minimalist!!

Usually only: music, rosin, pencil, mute, receipt of viola (so I can do partial exchange if necessary), letter I was meant to give to my orchestra conductor about 2 months ago

Sometimes it varies... occasionally I won't have much to take to school with me except my viola and a textbook or two, so I won't bother with a bag and then I end up leaving my chemistry stuff in there for a week. Once, I left my maths homework jotter in there for over 6 months! I thought I'd lost it...

I have rosin, a shoulder rest, a duster and a scarf. 3 pencils, two spare sets of strings, a chin rest key, peg chalk, nail clippers and 6 clothes pegs!

Rosin, nail sissors, hair bobbles, spare set of strings, shoulder rest, duster & the silk scarf I wrap my violin in.