Viola da terra is a

stringed musical instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

from the islands of the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, closely associated with the ''

saudade ''Saudade'' (, , , ; plural ''saudades'') is an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for something that one loves despite it not necessarily being real. It often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of long ...

'' genre of

Portuguese music Portuguese music includes many different styles and genres, as a result of its history. These can be broadly divided into classical music, traditional/folk music and popular music and all of them have produced internationally successful acts, with ...

. Its 12 or 15 metal strings are arranged in either five or six courses.

Construction

The viola da terra is constructed of wood with a traditional guitar "hourglass" shape for the body, a fretted neck, and headstock supporting the tuners. Traditionally the viola da terra had wooden friction pegs inserted from behind the headstock (see illustration), rather than the "watch-key" mechanism used on Portuguese instruments such as the

Guitarra Portuguesa The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra ( pt, guitarra portuguesa, ) is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses of two strings. It is one of the few musical instruments that still uses watch-key or Prest ...

. Nowadays the Viola da terra usually has machine heads, similar to those of the classical guitar. What at first glance appears to be the bridge is actually just the support for the bridge pins, which anchor the lower end of the strings. The bridge saddle is a separate piece, which sits on the soundboard of the instrument, in front of the bridge pin plate. Like all Portuguese ''violas'', the number of bridge pins does not match the number of strings, and often there are two or three strings on each pin. Scale length is about 540mm (about 21.3 inches), shorter than the modern classical guitar scale of about 655mm (about 25.8 inches). 22-24 metal frets are set into the fingerboard. One unusual distinguishing feature of the viola da terra is that the portion of the fingerboard which passes over the instrument's body is set flush with the top face of the soundboard. Another distinctive feature, which it shares with the

Viola amarantina The viola amarantina is a stringed musical instrument from Amarante, Northern Portugal. It is also named viola de dois corações (two-hearted guitar) because of the two heart-shaped frontal openings. It has 10 strings in 5 courses. The strings ...

is the use of a pair heart-shaped sound holes, although the instrument is occasionally made with a single round sound hole. The instrument is much lighter in construction than the classical guitar, using thinner tone woods, which permits a considerable volume of sound, despite the instrument's small size and light strings. There is also a smaller version (about three-quarter size) called a Requinto.

Tuning and further info

Strings are generally of metal, and very light gauge, due to the instrument's light construction. The lowest pitched "A" and "D" strings are wound, as is the lowest "E" string on 15-string instruments. All other strings are of plain, unwound steel. With 12 strings, the lower 2 courses have 3 strings each (2 of them high octaves and the third a low octave), and the higher 3 courses have 2 strings each, all tuned in unison. It is tuned A3 A3 A2•D4 D4 D3•G3 G3•B3 B3•D4 D4. With 15 strings and five courses, each course is triple strung, and the tunings is A3 A3 A2•D4 D4 D3•G3 G3 G3•B3 B3 B3•D4 D4 D4; with 15 strings and six courses, the lower three courses are triple strung and the upper three courses are double strung: E3 E3 E2•A3 A3 A2•D4 D4 D3•G3 G3•B3 B3•D4 D4 -- similar to the

Viola terceira The viola da Terceira (also ''viola Terceirense'') is a stringed musical instrument of the guitar family, from the Portuguese islands of the archipelago of the Azores, associated with the island of Terceira. History The viola and other string i ...

Gallery

Image:Viola da terra 1.jpg, An antique Viola da terra in its case. Image:Viola da terra 2.jpg, A close-up, showing the string arrangement and sound-holes of the Viola da terra Image:Viola da terra 3.jpg, A close-up, showing the bridge and saddle of the Viola da terra.

References

{{Reflist String instruments Portuguese musical instruments