The viola de cocho is a singular

plucked string instrument Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucki ...

from Brazil. It is typical in the states of

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

and

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, and ...

and has been designated a part of Brazil's intangible national heritage by IPHAN, the Brazilian institution responsible for the preservation of the national cultural heritage. It is unusual in that although it has only three

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instrume ...

s at most and is left unvarnished. The Portuguese word ''cocho'', used by farm labourers, refers to a hollowed-out log forming a sort of container. The ''cocho'' is widely used, for example, to provide salt for cattle on grassland farms.

Design

The viola-de-cocho is a musical instrument of the group of short lutes, produced by master craftsmen. After choosing the wood, cut the trunk into two flat parts. With a cast the wood is scratch and on which is carved a sounding board. Once carved the body of the instrument, the soundboard is glued and then the bridge,

fingerboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The stri ...

and pegs are placed, and, finally, the frets and strings. Some instruments have a small circular hole on top, sometimes not. The viola without hole is something new. Some viola players justified that the viola with hole gave a lot of work, because always came by this hole, spiders or other animals, damaging the instrument's sound. Some former viola players prefer it to the hole because, in the words of one, the hole gives a better sound.

Gallery

Image:Veekola de cosho fon paraseela.jpg, A traditional viola de cocho Image:National_Museum_of_Ethnology,_Osaka_-_Viola_de_Cocho_-_Brazil_-_Collected_in_1994.jpg, Viola de cocho in a museum in Osaka, Japan. File:Dusepo vdc front.jpg, Viola de cocho, Front view. File:Dusepo vdc back.jpg, Viola de cocho, Back view.

Tuning

With unique shape and sound, the viola-de-cocho has always five orders of strings, called ''prima'', ''contra'', ''corda do meio'', ''canotio'' and ''resposta''. The strings are tuned in two different ways, ''canotio solto'' (open) and ''canotio preso'' (stopped): bottom-up, re, la, mi, re, sol, and re, la, mi, do, sol. Image:CanotioPreso.png, canotio preso Image:CanotioSolto.png, canotio solto (Tunings sound one octave below than notated.)

Notable performers

Braz da Viola Braz Roberto da Costa (born 1961), known professionally as Braz da Viola, is a Brazilian multi-instrumentalist musician, luthier, conductor and teacher. He runs workshops of viola caipira in several cities in Brazil. He played with several guita ...

, besides being a virtuoso instrumentalist is also a maker of beautiful violas-de-cocho. Another well known performer of the viola-de-cocho is the Brazilian instrumentalist Roberto Corrêa.

References

{{Reflist Brazilian musical instruments

Design

Gallery

Tuning

Notable performers

See also

References