Hi Christina,

I would also recommend trying a shoulder pad/shoulder rest. But I also want to say that, I find those who don't use shoulder rests, use a chinrest that's more centered like the Flesch or Berber chinrest. I prefer the Berber because it lets you lean to the side a little bit and not forcing you solely to stay at the center cup like the Flesch chinrest. Even without a centered chinrest, you'll notice violinists without shoulder rests will place their chin more to the center of the violin than the side, this gives better support.

A couple of violinists that comes to mind who uses either Flesch or Berber are:

Anne Sophie-Mutter: http://youtu.be/nV-RLFFX5y4

Albert Chang (sleightlymusical): http://youtu.be/0g7EwE6ztlg

Some you'll notice using thin pad/sponge/folded cloth for extra support underneath the violin on the shoulder. And if not, like in performance, men's tux have padded shoulders or they'll stuff some pad inside their tux shoulder area. Heifetz and Perlman has shown to have done this.

Though you'll see Anne Sophie-Mutter doesn't have any padding, she looks uncomfortable to me. But she's gotten used to working in that way.

I also notice violinists who are more advanced, that don't use a shoulder rest but used to, made that choice due to some research or findings that helped make their decision - like the violin being more resonant or they like feeling the vibrations go through their body, etc. To me, the body is absorbing the vibrations making the violin sound damp/muted, it's not going to make it resonate as much. For advanced players who have learned how to manage, know how to manage playing without a shoulder rest. But for beginners still learning, this is something I suggest waiting to experiment later. Of course everyone is different, if an individual has a super short neck, and they're doing wonderfully without a shoulder rest then great. But I usually see this in younger people, but as they grow, necks get longer.. need more support! This was my experience as well.