Apparently there is a school of thought about how to hold the fiddle/violin without a chinrest or shoulder pad. A balancing act is needed and I guess this comes from an Early Music Consort approach. There are those barrel-chested types that can support the fiddle and elicit sweet tones or cultivated scratchy ones without any contact with the head.

Being a perpetual novice, I need all the help I can get. (Chin rest and shoulder pad)

Frank Hamilton