HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the
violin family The violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the 16th century. At the time the name of this family of instruments was viole da braccio which was used to distinguish them from the viol family (viole ''da gamba''). The stand ...
. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regular use. The violin typically has four strings (some can have
five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...
), usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings. It can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (
pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowe ...
) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (
col legno In music for bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite th ...
). Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to
orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
s) and as solo instruments. Violins are also important in many varieties of
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
, including
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
, bluegrass music, and in
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
.
Electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...
s with solid bodies and piezoelectric pickups are used in some forms of
rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
and jazz fusion, with the pickups plugged into
instrument amplifier An instrument amplifier is an electronic device that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal of a musical instrument into a larger electronic signal to feed to a loudspeaker. An instrument amplifier is used with musical ins ...
s and speakers to produce sound. The violin has come to be incorporated in many non-Western music cultures, including
Indian music Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk (Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed ove ...
and
Iranian music The music of Iran encompasses music that is produced by Iranian artists. In addition to the traditional folk and classical genres, it also includes pop and internationally celebrated styles such as jazz, rock, and hip hop. Iranian music infl ...
. The name ''fiddle'' is often used regardless of the type of music played on it. The violin was first known in 16th-century
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, with some further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries to give the instrument a more powerful sound and projection. In Europe, it served as the basis for the development of other stringed instruments used in Western classical music, such as the
viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...
. Accessed 5 September 2015. Violinists and collectors particularly prize the fine historical instruments made by the
Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the collo ...
,
Guarneri The Guarneri (, , ), often referred to in the Latinized form Guarnerius, is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati an ...
,
Guadagnini Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (often shortened to G. B. Guadagnini; 23 June 1711 – 18 September 1786) was an Italian luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history. Reprint with new introduction by Stewart Pol ...
and
Amati Amati (, ) is the last name of a family of Italian violin makers who lived at Cremona from about 1538 to 1740. Their importance is considered equal to those of the Bergonzi, Guarneri, and Stradivari families. Today, violins created by Nicolò ...
families from the 16th to the 18th century in
Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
and Cremona (Italy) and by
Jacob Stainer Jacob Stainer (–1683) was the earliest and best known Austrian and Germanic luthier. His violins were sought after by famous 17th- and 18th-century musicians and composers including Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and . Stainer w ...
in
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or equal it, though this belief is disputed. Great numbers of instruments have come from the hands of less famous makers, as well as still greater numbers of mass-produced commercial "trade violins" coming from cottage industries in places such as
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
, Bohemia, and
Mirecourt Mirecourt () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Mirecourt is known for lace-making and the manufacture of musical instruments, particularly those of the Violin family. Inhabitants are called Mirecurtiens. ...
. Many of these trade instruments were formerly sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other mass merchandisers. The components of a violin are usually made from different types of
wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
. Violins can be strung with gut,
Perlon Perlon is an electronic music record label founded in 1997 in Frankfurt, Germany, now based in Berlin, and run by Thomas Franzmann aka Zip and Markus Nikolai. It is a minimal techno and tech house label which has been characterised as one of t ...
or other synthetic, or steel strings. A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier or violinmaker. One who makes or repairs bows is called an ''archetier'' or bowmaker.


Etymology

The word "violin" was first used in English in the 1570s. The word "violin" comes from "Italian ''violino'', diminutive of
viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...
. The term "viola" comes from the expression for "tenor violin" in 1797, from Italian and Old Provençal ''viola'', hich came from
Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functione ...
as a term which means "stringed instrument," perhaps omingfrom Vitula, Roman goddess of joy..., or from related Latin verb ''vitulari'', "to cry out in joy or exaltation." The related term "''
Viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...
''" meaning "bass viol" (1724) is from Italian, literally "a viola for the leg" (i.e. to hold between the legs)." A violin is the "modern form of the smaller, medieval
viola da braccio Viola da braccio (from Italian "arm viola", plural ''viole da braccio'') is a term variously applied during the baroque period to instruments of the violin family, in distinction to the viola da gamba ("leg viola") and the viol family to which t ...
." ("arm viola") The violin is often called a fiddle, either when used in a folk music context, or even in Classical music scenes, as an informal nickname for the instrument. The word "fiddle" was first used in English in the late 14th century. The word "fiddle" comes from "fedele, fydyll, fidel, earlier fithele, from Old English ''fiðele'' "fiddle," which is related to
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
''fiðla'', Middle Dutch ''vedele'', Dutch ''vedel'',
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
''fidula'', German ''Fiedel'', "a fiddle;" all of uncertain origin." As to the origin of the word "fiddle", the "...usual suggestion, based on resemblance in sound and sense, is that it is from Medieval Latin ''vitula''."


History

The earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked (for example, the Greek lyre). Two-stringed, bowed instruments, played upright and strung and bowed with horsehair, may have originated in the nomadic
equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
cultures of Central Asia, in forms closely resembling the modern-day
Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
n Morin huur and the Kazakh
Kobyz The Kobyz ( kk, қобыз, ''Qobyz''; ba, ҡумыҙ; tt-Cyrl, кубыз) or ''kylkobyz'' ( kk, қылқобыз, ''qylqobyz''; ba, ҡыл ҡумыҙ; tt-Cyrl, кылкубыз) is an ancient Turkic bowed string instrument, spread among Ka ...
. Similar and variant types were probably disseminated along east–west trading routes from Asia into the Middle East, and the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. According to ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
'', the direct ancestor of all European bowed instruments is the
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
'' rebab'' (ربابة), which developed into the
Byzantine lyra The Byzantine lyra or lira ( gr, λύρα) was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by ...
by the 9th century and later the European
rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...
. Several sources suggest alternative possibilities for the violin's origins, such as northern or western Europe. The first makers of violins probably borrowed from various developments of the Byzantine lyra. These included the
vielle The vielle is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, three to five gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs, sometimes with a ...
(also known as the ''fidel'' or ''viuola'') and the ''
lira da braccio The lira da braccio (or ''lyra de bracio''Michael Praetorius. Syntagma Musicum Theatrum Instrumentorum seu Sciagraphia Wolfenbüttel 1620) was a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance. It was used by Italian poet-musicians in court ...
''. The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th-century northern Italy. The earliest pictures of violins, albeit with three strings, are seen in northern Italy around 1530, at around the same time as the words "violino" and "vyollon" are seen in Italian and French documents. One of the earliest explicit descriptions of the instrument, including its tuning, is from the ''Epitome musical'' by Jambe de Fer, published in
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
in 1556. By this time, the violin had already begun to spread throughout
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
. The violin proved very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility; the French king Charles IX ordered Andrea Amati to construct 24 violins for him in 1560. One of these "noble" instruments, the ''Charles IX'', is the oldest surviving violin. The finest Renaissance carved and decorated violin in the world is the
Gasparo da Salò Gasparo da Salò (20 May 154214 April 1609) is the name given to Gasparo Bertolotti, one of the earliest violin makers and an expert double bass player. Around 80 of his instruments are known to have survived to the present day: violins (small ...
(1574) owned by
Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria (Linz, 14 June 1529 – 24 January 1595, Innsbruck) was ruler of Further Austria and since 1564 Imperial count of Tirol. The son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, he was married to Philippine Welser ...
and later, from 1841, by the Norwegian virtuoso Ole Bull, who used it for forty years and thousands of concerts, for its very powerful and beautiful tone, similar to that of a Guarneri. "The Messiah" or ''"Le Messie"'' (also known as the "Salabue") made by
Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the collo ...
in 1716 remains pristine. It is now located in the Ashmolean Museum of
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. The most famous violin makers (
luthiers A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers of ...
) between the 16th century and the 18th century include: * The school of
Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
, beginning in the late 14th century with liras, violettas, violas and active in the field of the violin in the first half of the 16th century ** The Dalla Corna family, active 1510–1560 in Brescia and
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
** The
Micheli Micheli is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Khatlyn Micheli, Italian-American Mineral Policy Specialist * Amanda Micheli, American filmmaker * Blessed Clotilde Micheli (1849-1911), Italian Roman Catholic professed reli ...
family, active 1530–1615 in Brescia ** The
Inverardi Paola Inverardi (born 1957) is an Italian computer scientist specializing in software engineering. She is a professor in the Department of Information Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics at the University of L'Aquila in Italy, and the ...
family active 1550–1580 in Brescia ** The
Gasparo da Salò Gasparo da Salò (20 May 154214 April 1609) is the name given to Gasparo Bertolotti, one of the earliest violin makers and an expert double bass player. Around 80 of his instruments are known to have survived to the present day: violins (small ...
family, active 1530–1615 in Brescia and
Salò Salò (; la, Salodium) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy (northern Italy) on the banks of Lake Garda, on which it has the longest promenade. The city was the seat of government of the Italian Socia ...
**
Giovanni Paolo Maggini Giovanni Paolo Maggini (c. 1580 - c. 1630), was a luthier born in Botticino (Brescia), Italy. Maggini was a pupil of the most important violin maker of the Brescian school, Gasparo da Salò. Maggini's early instruments are now considered very de ...
, student of Gasparo da Salò, active 1600–1630 in Brescia ** The Rogeri family, active 1661–1721 in Brescia * The school of Cremona, beginning in the second half of the 16th century with violas and violone and in the field of violin in the second half of the 16th century ** The
Amati Amati (, ) is the last name of a family of Italian violin makers who lived at Cremona from about 1538 to 1740. Their importance is considered equal to those of the Bergonzi, Guarneri, and Stradivari families. Today, violins created by Nicolò ...
family, active 1550–1740 in Cremona ** The
Guarneri The Guarneri (, , ), often referred to in the Latinized form Guarnerius, is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati an ...
family, active 1626–1744 in Cremona and Venice ** The
Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the collo ...
family, active 1644–1737 in Cremona ** The Rugeri family, active 1650–1740 in Cremona **
Carlo Bergonzi (luthier) Carlo Bergonzi (21 December 1683 – 9 February 1747) was an Italian luthier and is the first and most prominent member of the Bergonzi family, a distinguished group of luthiers from Cremona, Italy, a city with a rich tradition of stringed inst ...
(1683-1747) in Cremona * The school of
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, with the presence of several makers of bowed instruments from the early 16th century out of more than 140 makers of string instruments registered between 1490 and 1630. ** The Linarolo family, active 1505–1640 in Venice **
Matteo Goffriller Matteo Goffriller (1659–1742) was a Venetian luthier, particularly noted for the quality of his cellos. He was active between 1685–1735 and was the founder of the " Venetian School" of luthiers, during a time when Venice was one of the most imp ...
, known for his celli, active 1685–1742 in Venice **
Pietro Guarneri Pietro Guarnieri (14 April 1695 – 7 April 1762) was an Italian luthier. Sometimes referred to as ''Pietro da Venezia'', he was the son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, ''filius Andreae'', and the last of the Guarneri house of violin-ma ...
, son of
Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, better known as Giuseppe ''filius Andrea'' Guarneri (25 November 1666 – 1739/1740) was a violin maker from the prominent Guarneri family of luthiers who lived in Cremona, Italy. Biography Early life Gi ...
and from Cremona, active 1717–1762 in Venice **
Domenico Montagnana Domenico Montagnana (24 June 1686 – 6 March 1750) was an Italian master luthier based in Venice, Italy. He is regarded as one of the finest violin and cello makers of his time. His pieces, particularly his cellos, are sought after by orchestras ...
, active circa 1700–1750 in Venice ** Santo Serafin, active before 1741 until 1776 in Venice Significant changes occurred in the construction of the violin in the 18th century, particularly in the length and angle of the neck and a heavier bass bar. The majority of old instruments have undergone these modifications, and hence are in a significantly different state than when they left the hands of their makers, doubtless with differences in sound and response. But these instruments in their present condition set the standard for perfection in violin craftsmanship and sound, and violin makers all over the world try to come as close to this ideal as possible. To this day, instruments from the so-called Golden Age of violin making, especially those made by Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, and Montagnana, are the most sought-after instruments by both collectors and performers. The current record amount paid for a Stradivari violin is £9.8 million (
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
15.9 million at that time), when the instrument known as the Lady Blunt was sold by
Tarisio Auctions Tarisio Auctions is a web-based auction house that specializes in string instruments and bows. Founded in 1999 with locations in New York and London, it provides a service to clients around the world. Locations Tarisio's New York offices and galle ...
in an online auction on June 20, 2011.


Construction and mechanics

A violin generally consists of a spruce top (the soundboard, also known as the ''top plate'', ''table'', or ''belly''), maple ribs and back, two endblocks, a neck, a
bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
, a soundpost, four strings, and various fittings, optionally including a
chinrest A chinrest is a shaped piece of wood (or plastic) attached to the body of a violin or a viola to aid in the positioning of the player's jaw or chin on the instrument. The chinrest may be made of ebony, rosewood, boxwood, or plastic. History T ...
, which may attach directly over, or to the left of, the
tailpiece A tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually opposite the end with the tuning mechanism (the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.). Function and construction The tailpiece anchors t ...
. A distinctive feature of a violin body is its hourglass-like shape and the arching of its top and back. The hourglass shape comprises two upper bouts, two lower bouts, and two concave C-bouts at the ''waist'', providing clearance for the bow. The "voice" or sound of a violin depends on its shape, the wood it is made from, the graduation (the thickness profile) of both the top and back, the varnish that coats its outside surface and the skill of the luthier in doing all of these steps. The varnish and especially the wood continue to improve with age, making the fixed supply of old well-made violins built by famous luthiers much sought-after. The majority of glued joints in the instrument use animal
hide glue Animal glue is an adhesive that is created by prolonged boiling of animal connective tissue in a process called rendering. In addition to being used as an adhesive it is used for coating and sizing, in decorative composition ornaments, and a ...
rather than common white glue for a number of reasons. Hide glue is capable of making a thinner joint than most other glues. It is reversible (brittle enough to crack with carefully applied force and removable with hot water) when disassembly is needed. Since fresh hide glue sticks to old hide glue, more original wood can be preserved when repairing a joint. (More modern glues must be cleaned off entirely for the new joint to be sound, which generally involves scraping off some wood along with the old glue.) Weaker, diluted glue is usually used to fasten the top to the ribs, and the nut to the fingerboard, since common repairs involve removing these parts. The
purfling Purfling is a narrow decorative edge inlaid into the top plate and often the back plate of a stringed instrument. Inexpensive instruments may have no purfling and instead simulate the appearance with paint. Purfling was originally made of laminat ...
running around the edge of the spruce top provides some protection against cracks originating at the edge. It also allows the top to flex more independently of the rib structure. Painted-on
faux Faux may refer to: People *Faux (surname) Places Places in Belgium * Faux, a village in the Belgian commune of Court-Saint-Étienne Places in France * Faux, Ardennes, French commune of the Ardennes department * Faux, Dordogne, French commune of t ...
purfling on the top is usually a sign of an inferior instrument. The back and ribs are typically made of
maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
, most often with a matching striped
figure Figure may refer to: General *A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration *Figure (wood), wood appearance *Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif *Noise figure, in telecommunication *Dance figure, an elementary dance pattern ...
, referred to as ''flame'', ''fiddleback'', or ''tiger stripe''. The neck is usually maple with a flamed figure compatible with that of the ribs and back. It carries the fingerboard, typically made of ebony, but often some other wood stained or painted black on cheaper instruments.
Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...
is the preferred material because of its hardness, beauty, and superior resistance to wear. Fingerboards are dressed to a particular transverse curve, and have a small lengthwise "scoop," or concavity, slightly more pronounced on the lower strings, especially when meant for gut or synthetic strings. Some old violins (and some made to appear old) have a grafted scroll, evidenced by a glue joint between the pegbox and neck. Many authentic old instruments have had their necks reset to a slightly increased angle, and lengthened by about a centimeter. The neck graft allows the original scroll to be kept with a Baroque violin when bringing its neck into conformance with modern standards. The
bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
is a precisely cut piece of maple that forms the lower anchor point of the vibrating length of the strings and transmits the vibration of the strings to the body of the instrument. Its top curve holds the strings at the proper height from the fingerboard in an arc, allowing each to be sounded separately by the bow. The
sound post In a string instrument, the sound post or soundpost is a dowel inside the instrument under the treble end of the bridge, spanning the space between the top and back plates and held in place by friction. It serves as a structural support for an arc ...
, or ''soul post'', fits precisely inside the instrument between the back and top, at a carefully chosen spot near the treble foot of the bridge, which it helps support. It also influences the modes of vibration of the top and the back of the instrument. The
tailpiece A tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually opposite the end with the tuning mechanism (the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.). Function and construction The tailpiece anchors t ...
anchors the strings to the lower bout of the violin by means of the tailgut, which loops around an ebony button called the tailpin (sometimes confusingly called the ''endpin'', like the cello's spike), which fits into a tapered hole in the bottom block. The E string will often have a fine tuning lever worked by a small screw turned by the fingers. Fine tuners may also be applied to the other strings, especially on a student instrument, and are sometimes built into the tailpiece. The fine tuners enable the performer to make small changes in the pitch of a string. At the scroll end, the strings wind around the wooden
tuning peg A variety of methods are used to tune different stringed instruments. Most change the pitch produced when the string is played by adjusting the tension of the strings. A tuning peg in a pegbox is perhaps the most common system. A peg has a ...
s in the pegbox. The tuning pegs are tapered and fit into holes in the peg box. The tuning pegs are held in place by the friction of wood on wood. Strings may be made of metal or less commonly gut or gut wrapped in metal. Strings usually have a colored
silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...
wrapping at both ends, for identification of the string (e.g., G string, D string, A string or E string) and to provide friction against the pegs. The tapered pegs allow friction to be increased or decreased by the player applying appropriate pressure along the axis of the peg while turning it.


Strings

Strings were first made of sheep gut (commonly known as
catgut Catgut (also known as gut) is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fiber found in the walls of animal intestines. Catgut makers usually use sheep or goat intestines, but occasionally use the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, ...
, which despite the name, did not come from cats), or simply gut, which was stretched, dried, and twisted. In the early years of the 20th century, strings were made of either gut or steel. Modern strings may be gut, solid steel, stranded steel, or various synthetic materials such as
perlon Perlon is an electronic music record label founded in 1997 in Frankfurt, Germany, now based in Berlin, and run by Thomas Franzmann aka Zip and Markus Nikolai. It is a minimal techno and tech house label which has been characterised as one of t ...
, wound with various metals, and sometimes plated with
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
. Most E strings are unwound, either plain or plated steel. Gut strings are not as common as they once were, but many performers use them to achieve a specific sound especially in historically informed performance of Baroque music. Strings have a limited lifetime. Eventually, when oil, dirt, corrosion, and rosin accumulate, the mass of the string can become uneven along its length. Apart from obvious things, such as the winding of a string coming undone from wear, players generally change a string when it no longer plays "true" (with good intonation on the harmonics), losing the desired tone, brilliance and intonation. String longevity depends on string quality and playing intensity.


Pitch range

A violin is tuned in fifths, in the notes G3, D4, A4, E5. The lowest note of a violin, tuned normally, is G3, or G below middle C (C4). (On rare occasions, the lowest string may be tuned down by as much as a fourth, to D3.) The highest note is less well defined: E7, the E two octaves above the open string (which is tuned to E5) may be considered a practical limit for orchestral violin parts, but it is often possible to play higher, depending on the length of the fingerboard and the skill of the violinist. Yet higher notes (up to C8) can be sounded by stopping the string, reaching the limit of the fingerboard, and/or by using
artificial harmonic Playing a string harmonic (a flageolet) is a string instrument technique that uses the nodes of natural harmonics of a musical string to isolate overtones. Playing string harmonics produces high pitched tones, often compared in timbre to a wh ...
s.


Acoustics

The arched shape, the thickness of the wood, and its physical qualities govern the sound of a violin. Patterns of the
node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics * Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines ...
made by sand or glitter sprinkled on the plates with the plate vibrated at certain frequencies, called '' Chladni patterns'', are occasionally used by luthiers to verify their work before assembling the instrument.


Sizes

Apart from the standard, ''full'' () size, violins are also made in so-called ''fractional'' sizes of , , , , , , , and even . These smaller instruments are commonly used by young players, whose fingers are not long enough to reach the correct positions on full-sized instruments. While related in some sense to the dimensions of the instruments, the fractional sizes are not intended to be literal descriptions of relative proportions. For example, a -sized instrument is not three-quarters the length of a full size instrument. The body length (not including the neck) of a full-size, or , violin is , smaller in some 17th-century models. A violin's body length is , and a size is . With the violin's closest family member, the viola, size is specified as body length in inches or centimeters rather than fractional sizes. A full-size viola averages . However, each individual adult will determine which size of viola to use. Occasionally, an adult with a small frame may use a so-called size violin instead of a full-size instrument. Sometimes called a ''lady's violin'', these instruments are slightly shorter than a full size violin, but tend to be high-quality instruments capable of producing a sound comparable to that of fine full size violins. 5 string violin sizes may differ from the normal 4 string.


Mezzo violin

The instrument which corresponds to the violin in the
violin octet The violin octet is a family of stringed instruments developed in the 20th century primarily under the direction of the American luthier Carleen Hutchins. Each instrument is based directly on the traditional violin and shares its acoustical prop ...
is the mezzo violin, tuned the same as a violin but with a slightly longer body. The strings of the mezzo violin are the same length as those of the standard violin. This instrument is not in common use.


Tuning

Violins are tuned by turning the pegs in the pegbox under the scroll or by adjusting the ''fine tuner'' screws at the
tailpiece A tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually opposite the end with the tuning mechanism (the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.). Function and construction The tailpiece anchors t ...
. All violins have pegs; fine tuners (also called ''fine adjusters'') are optional. Most fine tuners consist of a metal screw that moves a lever attached to the string end. They permit very small pitch adjustments much more easily than the pegs. Turning a fine tuner clockwise causes the pitch to become sharper (as the string is under more tension), and turning it counterclockwise, the pitch becomes flatter (as the string is under less tension). Fine tuners on all four of the strings are very helpful when using those with a steel core, and some players use them with synthetic strings. Since modern E strings are steel, a fine tuner is nearly always fitted for that string. Fine tuners are not used with gut strings, which are more
elastic Elastic is a word often used to describe or identify certain types of elastomer, elastic used in garments or stretchable fabrics. Elastic may also refer to: Alternative name * Rubber band, ring-shaped band of rubber used to hold objects togeth ...
than steel or synthetic-core strings and do not respond adequately to the very small movements of fine tuners. To tune a violin, the A string is first tuned to a
standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...
pitch (usually A=440  Hz). (When accompanying or playing with a fixed-pitch instrument such as a piano or accordion, the violin tunes to the corresponding note on that instrument rather than to any other tuning reference. The oboe is generally the instrument used to tune orchestras where violins are present since its sound is penetrating and can be heard over the other woodwinds.) The other strings are then tuned against each other in intervals of perfect fifths by bowing them in pairs. A minutely higher tuning is sometimes employed for solo playing to give the instrument a brighter sound; conversely, Baroque music is sometimes played using lower tunings to make the violin's sound more gentle. After tuning, the instrument's bridge may be examined to ensure that it is standing straight and centered between the inner nicks of the
f-hole A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the vio ...
s; a crooked bridge may significantly affect the sound of an otherwise well-made violin. After extensive playing, the tuning pegs and their holes can become worn, making the pegs liable to slip under tension. This can lead to the pitch of the string dropping somewhat, or if the peg becomes completely loose, to the string completely losing tension. A violin in which the tuning pegs are slipping needs to be repaired by a luthier or violin repairperson.
Peg dope A variety of methods are used to tune different stringed instruments. Most change the pitch produced when the string is played by adjusting the tension of the strings. A tuning peg in a pegbox is perhaps the most common system. A peg has a ...
or peg compound, used regularly, can delay the onset of such wear while allowing the pegs to turn smoothly. The tuning G–D–A–E is used for most violin music, including Classical music, jazz, and
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. Other tunings are occasionally employed; the G string, for example, can be tuned up to A. The use of nonstandard tunings in classical music is known as ''
scordatura Scordatura (; literally, Italian for "discord", or "mistuning") is a tuning of a string instrument that is different from the normal, standard tuning. It typically attempts to allow special effects or unusual chords or timbre, or to make certain p ...
''; in some folk styles, it is called '' cross tuning''. One famous example of scordatura in classical music is Camille Saint-Saëns' ''
Danse Macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...
'', where the solo violin's E string is tuned down to E to impart an eerie dissonance to the composition. Other examples are the third movement of ''Contrasts'', by Béla Bartók, where the E string is tuned down to E and the G tuned to a G,
Niccolò Paganini Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices fo ...
's First Violin Concerto, where all four strings are designated to be tuned a semitone higher, and the
Mystery Sonatas The ''Rosary Sonatas'' (''Rosenkranzsonaten'', also known as the ''Mystery Sonatas'' or ''Copper-Engraving Sonatas'') by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber are a collection of 15 short sonatas for violin and continuo, with a final passacaglia for solo v ...
by Biber, in which each movement has different scordatura tuning. In Indian classical music and Indian light music, the violin is likely to be tuned to D–A–D–A in the South Indian style. As there is no concept of absolute pitch in Indian classical music, musicians can use any convenient tuning to maintain these relative pitch intervals between the strings. Another prevalent tuning with these intervals is B–F–B–F, which corresponds to Sa–Pa–Sa–Pa in the Indian carnatic classical music style. In the North Indian Hindustani style, the tuning is usually Pa-Sa-Pa-Sa instead of Sa–Pa–Sa–Pa. This could correspond to F–B–F–B, for instance. In Iranian classical music and Iranian light music, the violin ls different tunings in any
Dastgah Dastgāh ( fa, دستگاه) is the standard musical system in Persian art music, standardised in the 19th century following the transition of Persian music from the Maqam modal system. A consists of a collection of musical melodies, . In a son ...
, the violin is likely to be tuned (E–A–E–A) in Dastgah-h Esfahan or in
Dastgāh-e Šur Dastgāh-e Šur ( fa, دستگاه شور; az, Şur) is one of the seven ''Dastgāh''s of Persian Music (Classically, Persian Music is organized into seven ''Dastgāhs'' and five '' Āvāz''es, however from a merely technical point of view, one c ...
is (E–A–D–E) and (E–A–E–E), in
Dastgāh-e Māhur Dastgāh-e Māhūr or Dastgaah-e Maahur ( fa, دستگاه ماهور) is one of the seven ''Dastgāh''s of Persian Music (Classically, Persian Music is organized into seven ''Dastgāhs'' and five '' Āvāz''es, however from a merely technical poi ...
is (E–A–D–A). In Arabic classical music, the A and E strings are lowered by a
whole step In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more de ...
i.e., G–D–G–D. This is to ease playing Arabic maqams, especially those containing quarter tones. While most violins have four strings, there are violins with additional strings. Some have as many as seven strings. Seven is generally thought to be the maximum number of strings practical on a bowed string instrument; with more than seven strings, it would be impossible to play any particular inner string individually with the bow. Violins with seven strings are very rare. The extra strings on such violins typically are lower in pitch than the G-string; these strings are usually tuned to C, F, and B. If the instrument's playing length, or string length from nut to bridge, is equal to that of an ordinary full-scale violin; i.e., a bit less than , then it may be properly termed a violin. Some such instruments are somewhat longer and should be regarded as violas. Violins with five strings or more are typically used in jazz or folk music. Some custom-made instruments have extra strings which are not bowed, but which sound sympathetically, due to the vibrations of the bowed strings.


Bows

A violin is usually played using a bow consisting of a stick with a ribbon of horsehair strung between the tip and frog (or nut, or heel) at opposite ends. A typical violin bow may be overall, and weigh about . Viola bows may be about shorter and heavier. At the frog end, a screw adjuster tightens or loosens the hair. Just forward of the frog, a
leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...
thumb cushion, called the grip, and winding protect the stick and provide a strong grip for the player's hand. Traditional windings are of wire (often silver or plated silver), silk, or baleen ("whalebone", now substituted by alternating strips of tan and black plastic.) Some fiberglass student bows employ a plastic sleeve as grip and winding. Bow hair traditionally comes from the tail of a
grey Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
male horse (which has predominantly white hair). Some cheaper bows use synthetic fiber. Solid
rosin Rosin (), also called colophony or Greek pitch ( la, links=no, pix graeca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene comp ...
is rubbed onto the hair, to render it slightly sticky; when the bow is drawn across a string, the friction between them makes the string vibrate. Traditional materials for the more costly bow sticks include
snakewood Snakewood is a common name of several different plants: * '' Acacia'' species (family Fabaceae) in Australia, '' Acacia eremaea'', '' Acacia intorta'', ''Acacia xiphophylla' * ''Brosimum guianense'' (= ''Piratinera guianensis'') (family Moraceae) ...
, and brazilwood (which is also known as Pernambuco wood). Some recent bow design innovations use
carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
(CodaBows) for the stick, at all levels of craftsmanship. Inexpensive bows for students are made of less costly timbers, or from fiberglass (Glasser).


Playing


Posture

The violin is played either seated or standing up. Solo players (whether playing alone, with a piano or with an orchestra) play mostly standing up (unless prevented by a physical disability such as in the case of Itzhak Perlman). In contrast, in the orchestra and in chamber music it is usually played seated. In the 2000s and 2010s, some orchestras performing Baroque music (such as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) have had all of their violins and violas, solo and ensemble, perform standing up. The standard way of holding the violin is with the left side of the jaw resting on the
chinrest A chinrest is a shaped piece of wood (or plastic) attached to the body of a violin or a viola to aid in the positioning of the player's jaw or chin on the instrument. The chinrest may be made of ebony, rosewood, boxwood, or plastic. History T ...
of the violin, and supported by the left shoulder, often assisted by a shoulder rest (or a sponge and an elastic band for younger players who struggle with shoulder rests). The jaw and the shoulder must hold the violin firmly enough to allow it to remain stable when the left hand goes from a high position (a high pitched note far up on the fingerboard) to a low one (nearer to the pegbox). In the Indian posture, the stability of the violin is guaranteed by its scroll resting on the side of the foot. While teachers point out the vital importance of good posture both for the sake of the quality of the playing and to reduce the chance of
repetitive strain injury A repetitive strain injury (RSI) is an injury to part of the musculoskeletal or nervous system caused by repetitive use, vibrations, compression or long periods in a fixed position. Other common names include repetitive stress disorders, cumula ...
, advice as to what good posture is and how to achieve it differs in details. However, all insist on the importance of a natural relaxed position without tension or rigidity. Things which are almost universally recommended are keeping the left wrist straight (or very nearly so) to allow the fingers of the left hand to move freely and to reduce the chance of injury and keeping either shoulder in a natural relaxed position and avoiding raising either of them in an exaggerated manner. This, like any other unwarranted tension, would limit freedom of motion, and increase the risk of injury. Hunching can hamper good playing because it throws the body off balance and makes the shoulders rise. Another sign that comes from unhealthy tension is pain in the left hand, which indicates too much pressure when holding the violin.


Left hand and pitch production

The left hand determines the sounding length of the string, and thus the pitch of the string, by "stopping" it (pressing it) against the fingerboard with the fingertips, producing different pitches. As the violin has no
frets 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 instrum ...
to stop the strings, as is usual with the
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
, the player must know exactly where to place the fingers on the strings to play with good intonation (tuning). Beginning violinists play open strings and the lowest position, nearest to the nut. Students often start with relatively easy keys, such as A Major and G major. Students are taught scales and simple melodies. Through practice of scales and arpeggios and
ear training Ear training or aural skills is a music theory study in which musicians learn to identify pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, solfeges, and other basic elements of music, solely by hearing. The application of this skill is analogous t ...
, the violinist's left hand eventually "finds" the notes intuitively by
muscle memory Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning. When a movement is repeated over time, the brain creates a long-t ...
. Beginners sometimes rely on
tapes Tape or Tapes may refer to: Material A long, narrow, thin strip of material (see also Ribbon (disambiguation): Adhesive tapes * Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive * Athletic tape, pressure-sensiti ...
placed on the fingerboard for proper left hand finger placement, but usually abandon the tapes quickly as they advance. Another commonly used marking technique uses dots of white-out on the fingerboard, which wear off in a few weeks of regular practice. This practice, unfortunately, is used sometimes in lieu of adequate ear-training, guiding the placement of fingers by eye and not by ear. Especially in the early stages of learning to play, the so-called "ringing tones" are useful. There are nine such notes in first position, where a
stopped note On string instruments, a stopped note is a note whose pitch has been altered from the pitch of the open string by the player's left hand pressing (stopping) the string against the fingerboard. Bowed strings On bowed string instruments, a stop ...
sounds a unison or octave with another (open) string, causing it to resonate sympathetically. Students often use these ringing tones to check the intonation of the stopped note by seeing if it is harmonious with the open string. For example, when playing the stopped pitch "A" on the G string, the violinist could play the open D string at the same time, to check the intonation of the stopped "A". If the "A" is in tune, the "A" and the open D string should produce a harmonious perfect fourth. Violins are tuned in perfect fifths, like all the orchestral strings (violin, viola, cello) except the double bass, which is tuned in perfect fourths. Each subsequent note is stopped at a pitch the player perceives as the most harmonious, "when unaccompanied, violinistdoes not play consistently in either the tempered or the natural
ust UST or Ust may refer to: Organizations * UST (company), American digital technology company * Equatorial Guinea Workers' Union * Union of Trade Unions of Chad (Union des Syndicats du Tchad) * United States Television Manufacturing Corp. * UST Gr ...
scale, but tends on the whole to conform with the Pythagorean scale." When violinists are playing in a string quartet or a string orchestra, the strings typically "sweeten" their tuning to suit the key they are playing in. When playing with an instrument tuned to equal temperament, such as a
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
, skilled violinists adjust their tuning to match the equal temperament of the piano to avoid discordant notes. The fingers are conventionally numbered 1 (index) through 4 (little finger) in
music notation Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, such as sheet music and etude books. Especially in instructional editions of violin music, numbers over the notes may indicate which finger to use, with ''0'' or ''O'' indicating an open string. The chart to the right shows the arrangement of notes reachable in first position. Not shown on this chart is the way the spacing between note positions becomes closer as the fingers move up (in pitch) from the nut. The bars at the sides of the chart represent the usual possibilities for beginners' tape placements, at 1st, high 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers.


Positions

The placement of the left hand on the fingerboard is characterized by "positions". First position, where most beginners start (although some methods start in third position), is the most commonly used position in string music. Music composed for beginning
youth orchestra A youth orchestra is an orchestra made of young musicians, typically ranging from pre-teens or teenagers to those of conservatory age. Depending on the age range and selectiveness, they may serve different purposes. Orchestras for young stude ...
s is often mostly in first position. The lowest note available in this position in standard tuning is an open G3; the highest note in first position is played with the fourth finger on the E-string, sounding a B5. Moving the hand up the neck, the first finger takes the place of the second finger, bringing the player into ''second position''. Letting the first finger take the first-position place of the third finger brings the player to ''third position'', and so on. A change of positions, with its associated movement of the hand, is referred to as a ''shift,'' and effective shifting maintaining accurate intonation and a smooth legato (connected) sound is a key element of technique at all levels. Often a "guide finger" is used; the last finger to play a note in the old position continuously lightly touches the string during the course of the shift to end up on its correct place in the new position. In elementary shifting exercises the "guide finger" is often voiced while gliding up or down the string, so the player can establish correct placement by ear. Outside of these exercises it should rarely be audible (unless the performer is consciously applying a
portamento In music, portamento (plural: ''portamenti'', from old it, portamento, meaning "carriage" or "carrying") is a pitch sliding from one note to another. The term originated from the Italian expression "''portamento della voce''" ("carriage of the ...
effect for expressive reasons). In the course of a shift in low positions, the thumb of the left hand moves up or down the neck of the instrument so as to remain in the same position relative to the fingers (though the movement of the thumb may occur slightly before, or slightly after, the movement of the fingers). In such positions, the thumb is often thought of as an 'anchor' whose location defines what position the player is in. In very high positions, the thumb is unable to move with the fingers as the body of the instrument gets in the way. Instead, the thumb works around the neck of the instrument to sit at the point at which the neck meets the right bout of the body, and remains there while the fingers move between the high positions. A note played outside of the normal compass of a position, without any shift, is referred to as an ''extension''. For instance, in third position on the A string, the hand naturally sits with the first finger on D and the fourth on either G or G. Stretching the first finger back down to a C, or the fourth finger up to an A, forms an extension. Extensions are commonly used where one or two notes are slightly out of an otherwise solid position, and give the benefit of being less intrusive than a shift or string crossing. The lowest position on the violin is referred to as "half position". In this position the first finger is on a "low first position" note, e.g. B on the A string, and the fourth finger is in a downward extension from its regular position, e.g. D on the A string, with the other two fingers placed in between as required. As the position of the thumb is typically the same in "half position" as in first position, it is better thought of as a backwards extension of the whole hand than as a genuine position. The upper limit of the violin's range is largely determined by the skill of the player, who may easily play more than two octaves on a single string, and four octaves on the instrument as a whole. Position names are mostly used for the lower positions and in method books and etudes; for this reason, it is uncommon to hear references to anything higher than seventh position. The highest position, practically speaking, is 13th position. Very high positions are a particular technical challenge, for two reasons. Firstly, the difference in location of different notes becomes much narrower in high positions, making the notes more challenging to locate and in some cases to distinguish by ear. Secondly, the much shorter sounding length of the string in very high positions is a challenge for the right arm and bow in sounding the instrument effectively. The finer (and more expensive) an instrument, the better able it is to sustain good tone right to the top of the fingerboard, at the highest pitches on the E string. All notes (except those below the open D) can be played on more than one string. This is a standard design feature of stringed instruments; however, it differs from the piano, which has only one location for each of its 88 notes. For instance, the note of open A on the violin can be played as the open A, or on the D string (in first to fourth positions) or even on the G string (very high up in sixth to ninth positions). Each string has a different tone quality, because of the different weights (thicknesses) of the strings and because of the resonances of other open strings. For instance, the G string is often regarded as having a very full, sonorous sound which is particularly appropriate to late Romantic music. This is often indicated in the music by the marking, for example, ''sul G'' or ''IV'' (a Roman numeral indicating to play on the fourth string; by convention, the strings are numbered from thinnest, highest pitch (I) to the lowest pitch (IV). Even without an explicit instructions in the score, an advanced violinist will use her/his discretion and artistic sensibility to select which string to play specific notes or passages.


Open strings

If a string is bowed or plucked without any finger stopping it, it is said to be an ''open string''. This gives a different sound from a stopped string, since the string vibrates more freely at the nut than under a finger. Further, it is impossible to use vibrato fully on an open string (though a partial effect can be achieved by stopping a note an octave up on an adjacent string and vibrating that, which introduces an element of vibrato into the overtones). In the classical tradition, violinists will often use a string crossing or shift of position to allow them to avoid the change of timbre introduced by an open string, unless indicated by the composer. This is particularly true for the open E which is often regarded as having a harsh sound. However, there are also situations where an open string may be specifically chosen for artistic effect. This is seen in classical music which is imitating the drone of an organ (J. S. Bach, in his Partita in E for solo violin, achieved this), fiddling (e.g., ''
Hoedown A hoedown is a type of American folk dance or square dance in duple meter, and also the musical form associated with it. Overview The most popular sense of the term is associated with Americans in rural or southeastern parts of the country, par ...
'') or where taking steps to avoid the open string is musically inappropriate (for instance in Baroque music where shifting position was less common). In quick passages of scales or arpeggios an open E string may simply be used for convenience if the note does not have time to ring and develop a harsh timbre. In folk music, fiddling and other
traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
genres, open strings are commonly used for their resonant timbre. Playing an open string simultaneously with a stopped note on an adjacent string produces a
bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...
-like drone, often used by composers in imitation of
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. Sometimes the two notes are identical (for instance, playing a fingered A on the D string against the open A string), giving a ringing sort of "fiddling" sound. Playing an open string simultaneously with an identical stopped note can also be called for when more volume is required, especially in orchestral playing. Some classical violin parts have notes for which the composer requests the violinist to play an open string, because of the specific sonority created by an open string.


Double stops, triple stops, chords and drones

Double stop In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass. On instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle it is common and often employed. In performin ...
ping is when two separate strings are stopped by the fingers and bowed simultaneously, producing two continuous tones (typical intervals include 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, and octaves). Double-stops can be indicated in any position, though the widest interval that can be double-stopped naturally in one position is an octave (with the index finger on the lower string and the pinky finger on the higher string). Nonetheless, intervals of tenths or even more are sometimes required to be double-stopped in advanced repertoire, resulting in a stretched left-hand position with the fingers extended. The term "double stop" is often used to encompass sounding an open string alongside a fingered note as well, even though only one finger stops the string. Where three or four simultaneous notes are indicated, the violinist will typically "split" the chord, choosing the lower one or two notes to play first before immediately continuing onto the upper one or two notes, with the natural resonance of the instrument producing an effect similar to if all four notes had been voiced simultaneously. In some circumstances, a "triple stop" is possible, where three notes across three strings can be voiced simultaneously. The bow will not naturally strike three strings at once, but if there is sufficient bow speed and pressure when the violinist "breaks" (sounds) a three note chord, the bow hair can be bent temporarily onto three strings, allowing each to sound simultaneously. This is accomplished with a heavy stroke, typically near the frog, and produces a loud and aggressive tone. Double stops in
orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
are occasionally marked
divisi In musical terminology, ''divisi'', or as typically printed ''“div.,”'' is an instruction to divide a single section of instruments into multiple subsections. This usually applies to the violins of the string section in an orchestra, although v ...
and divided between the players, with some division of the musicians playing the lower note and some division playing the higher note. Double stops (and divisi) are common in orchestral repertoire when the violins play accompaniment and another instrument or section plays melodically. In some genres of historically informed performance (usually of Baroque music and earlier), neither split-chord nor triple-stop chords are thought to be appropriate; some violinists will arpeggiate all chords (including regular double stops), playing all or most notes individually as if they had been written as a slurred figure. However, with the development of modern violins, triple-stopping has become more natural due to the
bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
being less curved. In some musical styles, a sustained open string
drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...
can be played during a passage mainly written on an adjacent string, to provide a basic accompaniment. This is more often seen in folk traditions than in classical music.


Vibrato

Vibrato Vibrato ( Italian, from past participle of " vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms ...
is a technique of the left hand and arm in which the pitch of a note varies subtly in a pulsating rhythm. While various parts of the hand or arm may be involved in the motion, the result is a movement of the fingertip bringing about a slight change in vibrating string length, which causes an undulation in pitch. Most violinists oscillate below the note, or lower in pitch from the actual note when using vibrato, since it is believed that perception favors the highest pitch in a varying sound. Vibrato does little, if anything, to disguise an out-of-tune note; in other words, misapplied vibrato is a poor substitute for good intonation. Scales and other exercises meant to work on intonation are typically played without vibrato to make the work easier and more effective. Music students are often taught that unless otherwise marked in music, vibrato is assumed. However, it has to be noted that this is only a trend; there is nothing on the sheet music that compels violinists to add vibrato. This can be an obstacle to a classically trained violinist wishing to play in a style that uses little or no vibrato at all, such as baroque music played in period style and many traditional fiddling styles. Vibrato can be produced by a proper combination of finger, wrist and arm motions. One method, called ''hand vibrato'' (or ''wrist vibrato''), involves rocking the hand back at the wrist to achieve oscillation. In contrast, another method, ''arm vibrato'', modulates the pitch by movement at the elbow. A combination of these techniques allows a player to produce a large variety of tonal effects. The "when" and "what for" and "how much" of violin
vibrato Vibrato ( Italian, from past participle of " vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms ...
are artistic matters of style and taste, with different teachers, music schools and styles of music favouring different styles of vibrato. For example, overdone vibrato may become distracting. In acoustic terms, the interest that vibrato adds to the sound has to do with the way that the overtone mix (or tone color, or timbre) and the directional pattern of sound projection change with changes in pitch. By "pointing" the sound at different parts of the room in a rhythmic way, vibrato adds a "shimmer" or "liveliness" to the sound of a well-made violin. Vibrato is, in a large part, left to the discretion of the violinist. Different types of vibrato will bring different moods to the piece, and the varying degrees and styles of vibrato are often characteristics that stand out in well-known violinists.


Vibrato trill

A vibrato-like motion can sometimes be used to create a fast
trill TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is an Internet Standard implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and is the application of link-state routing to the VLAN-aware cus ...
effect. To execute this effect, the finger above the finger stopping the note is placed very slightly off the string (firmly pressed against the finger stopping the string) and a vibrato motion is implemented. The second finger will lightly touch the string above the lower finger with each oscillation, causing the pitch to oscillate in a fashion that sounds like a mix between wide vibrato and a very fast trill. This gives a less defined transition between the higher and lower note, and is usually implemented by interpretative choice. This trill technique only works well for semi-tonal trills or trills in high positions (where the distance between notes is lessened), as it requires the trilling finger and the finger below it to be touching, limiting the distance that can be trilled. In very high positions, where the trilled distance is less than the width of the finger, a vibrato trill may be the only option for trill effects.


Harmonics

Lightly touching the string with a fingertip at a harmonic
node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics * Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines ...
, but without fully pressing the string, and then plucking or bowing the string, creates harmonics. Instead of the normal tone, a higher pitched note sounds. Each node is at an integer division of the string, for example half-way or one-third along the length of the string. A responsive instrument will sound numerous possible harmonic nodes along the length of the string. Harmonics are marked in music either with a little circle above the note that determines the pitch of the harmonic, or by diamond-shaped note heads. There are two types of harmonics: natural harmonics and
artificial harmonic Playing a string harmonic (a flageolet) is a string instrument technique that uses the nodes of natural harmonics of a musical string to isolate overtones. Playing string harmonics produces high pitched tones, often compared in timbre to a wh ...
s (also known as ''false harmonics''). Natural harmonics are played on an open string. The pitch of the open string when it is plucked or bowed is called the fundamental frequency. Harmonics are also called ''overtones'' or ''partials''. They occur at whole-number multiples of the fundamental, which is called the first harmonic. The second harmonic is the first
overtone An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...
(the octave above the open string), the third harmonic is the second overtone, and so on. The second harmonic is in the middle of the string and sounds an octave higher than the string's pitch. The third harmonic breaks the string into thirds and sounds an octave and a fifth above the fundamental, and the fourth harmonic breaks the string into quarters sounding two octaves above the first. The sound of the second harmonic is the clearest of them all, because it is a common
node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics * Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines ...
with all the succeeding even-numbered harmonics (4th, 6th, etc.). The third and succeeding odd-numbered harmonics are harder to play because they break the string into an odd number of vibrating parts and do not share as many nodes with other harmonics. Artificial harmonics are more difficult to produce than natural harmonics, as they involve both stopping the string and playing a harmonic on the stopped note. Using the ''octave frame'' (the normal distance between the first and fourth fingers in any given position) with the fourth finger just touching the string a fourth higher than the stopped note produces the fourth harmonic, two octaves above the stopped note. Finger placement and pressure, as well as bow speed, pressure, and sounding point are all essential in getting the desired harmonic to sound. And to add to the challenge, in passages with different notes played as false harmonics, the distance between stopping finger and harmonic finger must constantly change, since the spacing between notes changes along the length of the string. The ''harmonic finger'' can also touch at a
major third In classical music, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones.Allen Forte, ...
above the pressed note (the fifth harmonic), or a fifth higher (a third harmonic). These harmonics are less commonly used; in the case of the major third, both the stopped note and touched note must be played slightly sharp otherwise the harmonic does not speak as readily. In the case of the fifth, the stretch is greater than is comfortable for many violinists. In the general repertoire fractions smaller than a sixth are not used. However, divisions up to an eighth are sometimes used and, given a good instrument and a skilled player, divisions as small as a twelfth are possible. There are a few books dedicated solely to the study of violin harmonics. Two comprehensive works are Henryk Heller's seven-volume ''Theory of Harmonics'', published by Simrock in 1928, and Michelangelo Abbado's five-volume ''Tecnica dei suoni armonici'' published by Ricordi in 1934. Elaborate passages in artificial harmonics can be found in virtuoso violin literature, especially of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Two notable examples of this are an entire section of
Vittorio Monti Vittorio Monti (6 January 186820 June 1922) was an Italian composer, violinist, mandolinist and conductor. His most famous work is his '' Csárdás'', written around 1904 and played by almost every Romani orchestra. Monti was born in Naples ...
's ''
Csárdás Csárdás (, ; ), often seen as Czárdás, is a traditional Hungarian folk dance, the name derived from ' (old Hungarian term for roadside tavern and restaurant). It originated in Hungary and was popularized by bands in Hungary and neighboring l ...
'' and a passage towards the middle of the third movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. A section of the third movement of Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1 consists of double-stopped thirds in harmonics. When strings are worn, dirty and old, the harmonics may no longer be accurate in pitch. For this reason, violinists change their strings regularly.


Right hand and tone color

The strings may be sounded by drawing the hair of the bow held by the right hand across them (''arco'') or by plucking them (''
pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowe ...
'') most often with the right hand. In some cases, the violinist will pluck strings with the left hand. This is done to facilitate transitions from pizzicato to arco playing. It is also used in some virtuoso showpieces. Left hand pizzicato is usually done on open strings. Pizzicato is used on all of the violin family instruments; however, the systematic study of advanced pizzicato techniques is most developed in jazz bass, a style in which the instrument is almost exclusively plucked. The right arm, hand, and bow and the bow speed are responsible for tone quality,
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
, dynamics, articulation, and most (but not all) changes in
timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...
. The player draws the bow over the string, causing the string to vibrate and produce a sustained tone. The bow is a wooden stick with tensioned horsetail hair, which has been rosined with a bar of
rosin Rosin (), also called colophony or Greek pitch ( la, links=no, pix graeca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene comp ...
. The natural texture of the horsehair and the stickiness of the rosin help the bow to "grip" the string, and thus when the bow is drawn over the string, the bow causes the string to sound a pitch. Bowing can be used to produce long sustained notes or melodies. With a string section, if the players in a section change their bows at different times, a note can seem to be endlessly sustainable. As well, the bow can be used to play short, crisp little notes, such as repeated notes, scales and arpeggios, which provide a propulsive rhythm in many styles of music.


Bowing techniques

The most essential part of bowing technique is the bow grip. It is usually with the thumb bent in the small area between the frog and the winding of the bow. The other fingers are spread somewhat evenly across the top part of the bow. The pinky finger is curled with the tip of the finger placed on the wood next to the screw. The violin produces louder notes with greater bow speed or more weight on the string. The two methods are not equivalent, because they produce different timbres; pressing down on the string tends to produce a harsher, more intense sound. One can also achieve a louder sound by placing the bow closer to the bridge. The sounding point where the bow intersects the string also influences timbre (or "tone colour"). Playing close to the bridge (''sul ponticello'') gives a more intense sound than usual, emphasizing the higher harmonics; and playing with the bow over the end of the fingerboard (''sul tasto'') makes for a delicate, ethereal sound, emphasizing the
fundamental frequency The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the ''fundamental'', is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present. I ...
. Shinichi Suzuki referred to the sounding point as the '' Kreisler highway''; one may think of different sounding points as ''lanes'' in the highway. Various methods of attack with the bow produce different articulations. There are many bowing techniques that allow for every range of playing style. Many teachers, players, and orchestras spend a lot of time developing techniques and creating a unified technique within the group. These techniques include legato-style bowing (a smooth, connected, sustained sound suitable for melodies), collé, and a variety of bowings which produce shorter notes, including ricochet,
sautillé Playing the violin entails holding the instrument between the jaw and the collar bone (see below for variations of this posture). The strings are sounded either by drawing the bow across them (''arco''), or by plucking them (''pizzicato''). The ...
, martelé,
spiccato Spiccato is a bowing technique for string instruments in which the bow appears to bounce lightly upon the string. The term comes from the past participle of the Italian verb ''spiccare'', meaning "to separate". The terms '' martelé'', '' saltan ...
, and staccato.


Pizzicato

A note marked ''pizz.'' (abbreviation for ''
pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowe ...
'') in the written music is to be played by plucking the string with a finger of the right hand rather than by bowing. (The index finger is most commonly used here.) Sometimes in orchestra parts or virtuoso solo music where the bow hand is occupied (or for show-off effect), ''left-hand pizzicato'' will be indicated by a + (plus sign) below or above the note. In left-hand pizzicato, two fingers are put on the string; one (usually the index or middle finger) is put on the correct note, and the other (usually the ring finger or little finger) is put above the note. The higher finger then plucks the string while the lower one stays on, thus producing the correct pitch. By increasing the force of the pluck, one can increase the volume of the note that the string is producing. Pizzicato is used in orchestral works and in solo showpieces. In orchestral parts, violinists often have to make very quick shifts from arco to pizzicato, and vice versa.


Col legno

A marking of ''
col legno In music for bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite th ...
'' (
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
for "with the wood") in the written music calls for striking the string(s) with the stick of the bow, rather than by drawing the hair of the bow across the strings. This bowing technique is somewhat rarely used, and results in a muted percussive sound. The eerie quality of a violin section playing ''col legno'' is exploited in some symphonic pieces, notably the "Witches' Dance" of the last movement of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. Saint-Saëns's symphonic poem ''Danse Macabre'' includes the string section using the ''col legno'' technique to imitate the sound of dancing skeletons. "Mars" from Gustav Holst's "
The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...
" uses ''col legno'' to play a repeated rhythm in time signature.
Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
's ''
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra ''The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'', Op. 34, is a 1945 musical composition by Benjamin Britten with a subtitle ''Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell''. It was based on the second movement, "Rondeau", of the ''Abdelazer'' sui ...
'' demands its use in the "
Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
" Variation. Dmitri Shostakovich uses it in his Fourteenth Symphony in the movement 'At the Sante Jail'. Some violinists, however, object to this style of playing as it can damage the finish and impair the value of a fine bow, but most of such will compromise by using a cheap bow for at least the duration of the passage in question.


Detaché

A smooth and even stroke during which bow speed and weight are the same from beginning of the stroke to the end.


Martelé

Literally ''hammered'', a strongly accented effect produced by releasing each bowstroke forcefully and suddenly. Martelé can be played in any part of the bow. It is sometimes indicated in written music by an arrowhead.


Tremolo

Tremolo is the very rapid repetition (typically of a single note, but occasionally of multiple notes), usually played at the tip of the bow. Tremolo is marked with three short, slanted lines across the stem of the note. Tremolo is often used as a
sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...
in orchestral music, particularly in the
Romantic music era Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the ...
(1800-1910) and in opera music.


Mute or ''sordino''

Attaching a small metal, rubber, leather, or wooden device called a ''
mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...
'', or ''
sordino A mute is a device attached to a musical instrument which changes the instrument's tone quality (timbre) or lowers its volume. Mutes are commonly used on string and brass instruments, especially the trumpet and trombone, and are occasiona ...
'', to the bridge of the violin gives a softer, more mellow tone, with fewer audible
overtone An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...
s; the sound of an entire orchestral string section playing with mutes has a hushed quality. The mute changes both the loudness and the
timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...
("tone colour") of a violin. The conventional Italian markings for mute usage are ''con sord.'', or ''con sordino'', meaning 'with mute'; and ''senza sord.'', meaning 'without mute'; or ''via sord.'', meaning 'mute off'. Larger metal, rubber, or wooden mutes are widely available, known as ''practice mutes'' or ''hotel mutes''. Such mutes are generally not used in performance, but are used to deaden the sound of the violin in practice areas such as hotel rooms. (For practicing purposes there is also the mute violin, a violin without a sound box.) Some composers have used practice mutes for special effect, for example, at the end of
Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled '' Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...
's ''Sequenza VIII'' for solo violin.


Musical styles


Classical music

Since the Baroque era, the violin has been one of the most important of all instruments in classical music, for several reasons. The tone of the violin stands out above other instruments, making it appropriate for playing a melody line. In the hands of a good player, the violin is extremely agile, and can execute rapid and difficult sequences of notes. Violins make up a large part of an
orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
, and are usually divided into two sections, known as the first and second violins. Composers often assign the melody to the first violins, typically a more difficult part using higher positions. In contrast, second violins play harmony, accompaniment patterns or the melody an octave lower than the first violins. A string quartet similarly has parts for first and second violins, as well as a
viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...
part, and a bass instrument, such as the
cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...
or, rarely, the
double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...
.


Jazz

The earliest references to
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
performance using the violin as a solo instrument are documented during the first decades of the 20th century. Joe Venuti, one of the first jazz violinists, is known for his work with guitarist Eddie Lang during the 1920s. Since that time there have been many improvising violinists including
Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the fi ...
,
Stuff Smith Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song " If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, al ...
,
Eddie South Edward Otha South (November 27, 1904 – April 25, 1962) was an American jazz violinist. Biography South studied classical music in Budapest, Paris, and Chicago. He turned to jazz because, as a Black musician, there was no room for him in class ...
,
Regina Carter Regina Carter (born August 6, 1966) is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter. Early life Carter was born in Detroit and was one of three children in her family. She began piano lessons at the age of t ...
,
Johnny Frigo Johnny Frigo (December 27, 1916 – July 4, 2007) was an American jazz violinist, bassist and songwriter. He appeared in the 1940s as a violinist before working as a bassist. He returned to the violin in the 1980s and enjoyed a comeback, recordin ...
, John Blake,
Adam Taubitz Adam Georg Taubitz (born 7 October 1967) is a German jazz and classical musician. He is perhaps best known for his work with the Berlin Philharmonic Jazz Group, which he established in 1999, and with the Aura Quartett. Life Adam's father sta ...
, Leroy Jenkins, and
Jean-Luc Ponty Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French jazz violinist and composer. Early life Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano. At sixteen, he was admitt ...
. While not primarily jazz violinists,
Darol Anger Darol Anger is an American violinist and founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Career Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman's mandol ...
and
Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American fiddle player and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards ...
have spent significant parts of their careers playing jazz. The Swiss-Cuban violinist
Yilian Cañizares Yilian Cañizares is a Cuban-Swiss musician who has been described as one of the most incredible talents of the new generation of Cuban musicians. Biography Yilian Cañizares was born in Havana, Cuba, and studied violin there, following the Rus ...
mixes jazz with Cuban music. Violins also appear in ensembles supplying orchestral backgrounds to many jazz recordings.


Indian classical music

The Indian violin, while essentially the same instrument as that used in Western music, is different in some senses. The instrument is tuned so that the IV and III strings (G and D on a western-tuned violin) and the II and I (A and E) strings are sa–pa (do–sol) pairs and sound the same but are offset by an octave, resembling common scordatura or fiddle cross-tunings such as G3–D4–G4–D5 or A3–E4–A4–E5. The tonic sa (do) is not fixed, but variably tuned to accommodate the vocalist or lead player. The way the musician holds the instrument varies from Western to Indian music. In Indian music the musician sits on the floor cross-legged with the right foot out in front of them. The scroll of the instrument rests on the foot. This position is essential to playing well due to the nature of Indian music. The hand can move all over the fingerboard and there is no set position for the left hand, so it is important for the violin to be in a steady, unmoving position.


Popular music

Up through at least the 1970s, most types of popular music used bowed string sections. They were extensively used in popular music throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. With the rise of swing music, however, from 1935 to 1945, the string sound was often used to add to the fullness of
big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
music. Following the swing era, from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, strings began to be revived in
traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standard ...
music. This trend accelerated in the late 1960s, with a significant revival of the use of strings, especially in
soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...
. Popular Motown recordings of the late 1960s and 1970s relied heavily on strings as part of their trademark texture. The rise of disco music in the 1970s continued this trend with the heavy use of string instruments in popular disco orchestras (e.g.,
Love Unlimited Orchestra The Love Unlimited Orchestra was a 40-piece string-laden orchestra formed by American singer Barry White, and serving as a backing unit for White and for female vocal trio Love Unlimited. From the early 1970s on, they also recorded several sing ...
,
Biddu Biddu Appaiah (born 8 February 1944) is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro d ...
Orchestra, Monster Orchestra,
Salsoul Orchestra The Salsoul Orchestra was the backing band of session musicians for many acts on the New York City label Salsoul Records and, under its own name, recorded several hit singles and albums between 1975 and 1982. History The orchestra was formed i ...
,
MFSB MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom ...
). With the rise of electronically created music in the 1980s, violins declined in use, as synthesized string sounds played by a keyboardist with a synthesizer took their place. However, while the violin has had very little usage in mainstream
rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
, it has some history in
progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...
(e.g., Electric Light Orchestra,
King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
,
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
,
Gentle Giant Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-inst ...
). The 1973 album '' Contaminazione'' by Italy's RDM plays violins off against synthesizers at its finale ("La grande fuga"). The instrument has a stronger place in modern jazz fusion bands, notably
The Corrs The Corrs are an Irish family band that combine pop rock with traditional Irish themes within their music. The group consists of the Corr siblings, Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle, mandolin, ukulele), Sharon (violin, keyboards, vocals), Carol ...
. The fiddle is sometimes a part of
British folk rock British folk rock is a form of folk rock which developed in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s, and was at its most significant in the 1970s. Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the ...
music, as exemplified by the likes of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. The popularity of
crossover music Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audience. This can be seen, for example, (especially in the United States) when a song appears on two or more of the record charts which track differi ...
beginning in the last years of the 20th century has brought the violin back into the popular music arena, with both electric and acoustic violins being used by popular bands.
Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...
features violinist
Boyd Tinsley Boyd Calvin Tinsley (born May 16, 1964) is an American violinist and mandolinist who is best known for having been a member of the Dave Matthews Band. Early life Tinsley was raised in a musical family. His father was a choir director and his un ...
. The Flock featured violinist
Jerry Goodman Jerry Goodman (born March 16, 1949) is an American violinist who played electric violin with The Flock and the jazz fusion ensemble Mahavishnu Orchestra. Career Jerry Goodman was born on March 16, 1949, in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were ...
who later joined the
jazz-rock fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyb ...
band, The Mahavishnu Orchestra.
James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...
' Saul Davies, who is also a
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
ist, was enlisted by the band as a violinist. For their first three albums and related singles, the British group
No-Man No-Man are an English art pop duo, formed in 1987 as No Man Is an Island (Except the Isle of Man) by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. The band has so far produced seven studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes ...
made extensive use of electric and acoustic solo violin as played by band member Ben Coleman (who played violin exclusively). Pop-Punk band
Yellowcard Yellowcard is an American rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use of a violin ...
has made a mainstay of violin in its music. Violinist Sean Mackin has been a member of the band since 1997. Los Salvadores also combine punk and ska influences with a violin. Doom metal band
My Dying Bride My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford. Since their inception in 1990, they have released 13 studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. Alo ...
have used violin as a part of their line-up throughout many of their albums. The violin appears prominently in the music of Spanish
folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...
group Mägo de Oz (for example, in their 1998 hit " Molinos de viento"). The violinist (Carlos Prieto a.k.a. "Mohamed") has been one of the group's most popular members with fans since 1992. The instrument is also used often in symphonic metal, particularly by bands such as Therion, Nightwish,
Within Temptation Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded in April 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. They have been classified by critics as gothic metal and symphonic metal, although each album contains other inf ...
, Haggard, and
Epica Epica or EPICA may refer to: * Epica (band), a Dutch symphonic metal band * ''Epica'' (Kamelot album), 2003 * ''Epica'' (Audiomachine album), 2012 * The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) * The Epica Awards (International Adver ...
, although it can also be found in Gothic Metal bands such as Tristania and
Theater of Tragedy Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which influenced the gothic metal genre. History Formation (1993) Theatre of Tragedy was founded on 2 October 19 ...
. The
alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...
band Hurt's vocalist plays violin for the band, making them one of few rock bands to feature violin without hiring a session worker. The
folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...
band
Ithilien Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. The third volume of ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Return of the King'', is largel ...
use violin extensively along their discography.
Progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...
band Ne Obliviscaris feature a violin player, Tim Charles, in their line-up. Independent artists, such as
Owen Pallett Michael James Owen Pallett (born September 7, 1979) is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their erstwhile moniker of Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album '' He Poos Clouds''. Palle ...
, The Shondes, and
Andrew Bird Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing music ...
, have also spurred increased interest in the instrument.
Indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...
bands have often embraced new and unusual arrangements, allowing them more freedom to feature the violin than many mainstream musical artists. It has been used in the post-rock genre by bands such as A Genuine Freakshow, Sigur Rós, Zox,
Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the oth ...
, and A Silver Mt. Zion. The
electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...
has even been used by bands like
The Crüxshadows The Crüxshadows is an American dark wave and dark synthpop band currently based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. The band has an international following of fans and has toured North America, Europe, and Asia. History The band was o ...
within the context of keyboard based music.
Lindsey Stirling Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling pe ...
plays the violin in conjunction with electronic/dubstep/trance rifts and beats. Eric Stanley improvises on the violin with hip hop music/pop/classical elements and instrumental beats. The successful
indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
and baroque pop band
Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member ...
use violins extensively in their arrangements.
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
, Turkish, and
Arabic pop Arabic pop music or Arab pop music is a subgenre of pop music and Arabic music. Arabic pop is mainly produced and originated in Cairo, Egypt; as Egyptian music genre is by far the most widespread within the region. Also Beirut, Lebanon, and Gul ...
music is filled with the sound of violins, both soloists and ensembles.


Folk music and fiddling

Like many other instruments used in classical music, the violin descends from remote ancestors that were used for
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. Following a stage of intensive development in the late
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
, largely in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, the violin had improved (in volume, tone, and agility), to the point that it not only became a very important instrument in art music, but proved highly appealing to folk musicians as well, ultimately spreading very widely, sometimes displacing earlier bowed instruments.
Ethnomusicologists Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...
have observed its widespread use in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. When played as a folk instrument, the violin is usually referred to in English as a ''fiddle'' (although the term ''fiddle'' can be used informally no matter what the genre of music). Worldwide, there are various stringed instruments such as the wheel fiddle and
Apache fiddle The Apache fiddle (Apache: tsii' edo'a'tl, "wood that sings") is a bowed string instrument used by the indigenous Apache people of the southwestern United States. The instrument consists of a plant stalk, such as that of the agave or mescal plant ...
that are also called "fiddles". Fiddle music differs from classical in that the tunes are generally considered dance music, and various techniques, such as droning, shuffling, and ornamentation specific to particular styles are used. In many traditions of folk music, the tunes are not written but are memorized by successive generations of musicians and passed on in what is known as the
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...
. Many old-time pieces call for cross-tuning, or using tunings other than standard GDAE. Some players of American styles of folk fiddling (such as bluegrass or old-time) have their bridge's top edge cut to a slightly flatter curve, making techniques such as a "double shuffle" less taxing on the bow arm, as it reduces the range of motion needed for alternating between
double stop In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass. On instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle it is common and often employed. In performin ...
s on different string pairs. Fiddlers who use solid steel core strings may prefer to use a
tailpiece A tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually opposite the end with the tuning mechanism (the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.). Function and construction The tailpiece anchors t ...
with fine tuners on all four strings, instead of the single fine tuner on the E string used by many classical players.


Arabic music

As well as the Arabic rababah, the violin has been used in Arabic music.


Electric violins

Electric violins have a magnetic or
piezoelectric Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word '' ...
pickup that converts string vibration to an electric signal. A patch cable or wireless transmitter sends the signal to an amplifier of a
PA system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...
. Electric violins are usually constructed as such, but a pickup can be added to a conventional acoustic violin. An electric violin with a resonating body that produces listening-level sound independently of the electric elements can be called an ''electro-acoustic violin''. To be effective as an acoustic violin, electro-acoustic violins retain much of the resonating body of the violin, and often resemble an acoustic violin or fiddle. The body may be finished in bright colors and made from alternative materials to wood. These violins may need to be hooked up to an
instrument amplifier An instrument amplifier is an electronic device that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal of a musical instrument into a larger electronic signal to feed to a loudspeaker. An instrument amplifier is used with musical ins ...
or
PA system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...
. Some types come with a silent option that allows the player to use headphones that are hooked up to the violin. The first specially built
electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...
s date back to 1928 and were made by Victor Pfeil, Oskar Vierling, George Eisenberg,
Benjamin Miessner Benjamin Franklin Miessner (July 27, 1890 – March 25, 1976) was an American radio engineer and inventor. He is most known for his electronic organ, electronic piano, and other musical instruments. He was the inventor of the Cat's whisker detect ...
, George Beauchamp,
Hugo Benioff Victor Hugo Benioff (September 14, 1899 – February 29, 1968) was an American seismologist and a professor at the California Institute of Technology. He is best remembered for his work in charting the location of deep earthquakes in the Pacific ...
and Fredray Kislingbury. These violins can be plugged into
effect unit An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in ele ...
s, just like an
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
, including
distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signa ...
,
wah-wah pedal A wah-wah pedal, or simply wah pedal, is a type of electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The ped ...
and
reverb Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abs ...
. Since electric violins do not rely on string tension and resonance to amplify their sound they can have more strings. For example, five-stringed electric violins are available from several manufacturers, and a seven string electric violin (with three lower strings encompassing the
cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...
's range) is also available. The majority of the first electric violinists were musicians playing jazz fusion (e.g.,
Jean-Luc Ponty Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French jazz violinist and composer. Early life Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano. At sixteen, he was admitt ...
) and popular music.


Violin authentication

Violin authentication is the process of determining the maker and manufacture date of a violin. This process is similar to that used to determine the provenance of art works. This can be an important process as significant value may be attached to violins made either by specific makers or at specific times and locations. Forgery and other methods of fraudulent misrepresentation can be used to inflate the value of an instrument.


See also

*
Baroque violin A Baroque violin is a violin set up in the manner of the baroque period of music. The term includes original instruments which have survived unmodified since the Baroque period, as well as later instruments adjusted to the baroque setup, and mode ...
*
Bass violin Bass violin is the modern term for various 16th- and 17th-century bass instruments of the violin (i.e. ''viola da braccio'') family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern cell ...
* Cello rock *
Hardanger fiddle A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than ...
*''
Kontra , et, Kolmekeelne vioola , image= Haromhuros bracsa.png , image_capt=A ''kontra'' shown from the front and the side , background=string , hornbostel_sachs= , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= g – d – a , r ...
'' *'' Låtfiol'' *
List of solo violin pieces This is a non exhaustive compilation of pieces for solo violin. See also the entries on violin and the List of compositions for violin and orchestra and list of compositions for violin and piano. Ordering is by surname of composer. A *Anonymo ...
*''
Nyckelharpa A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to chang ...
'' * Paganini *
Rabeca The rabeca or rabeca chuleira is a fiddle originating in Portugal, commonly used in Portugal, Northeastern Brazil, where it is most commonly used in Brazilian forró music, and Cape Verde. It is descended from the medieval rebec. History The rab ...
*
Ravanahatha A ravanahatha (variant names: ''ravanhatta'', ''rawanhattha'', ''ravanastron'', ''ravana hasta veena'') is an ancient bowed, stringed instrument, used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and surrounding areas. It has been suggested as an ancestor of t ...
*
Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ...
* String instruments * Stroh violin * Violin acoustics *
Violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...
*
Violin making and maintenance Making an instrument of the violin family, also called lutherie, may be done in different ways, many of which have changed very little in nearly 500 years since the first violins were made. Some violins, called "bench-made" instruments, are made ...
*
Violin sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed fo ...
*
Five-string violin A five-string violin is a variant of violin with an extra string tuned below the violin's usual range. In addition to the G, D, A, and E strings of a standard violin, a five-string violin typically includes a lower C string. Violins with 6 or more ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

*''Viol and Lute Makers of Venice 1490–1630'', by Stefano Pio (2012), Venezia Ed. Venice research, *''Violin and Lute Makers of Venice 1640–1760'', by Stefano Pio (2004), Venezia Ed. Venice research, *''Liuteri & Sonadori, Venice 1750–1870'', by Stefano Pio (2002), Venezia Ed. Venice research, *''The Violin Forms of Antonio Stradivari'', by Stewart Pollens (1992), London: Peter Biddulph. *''Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching'', by Ivan Galamian (1999), Shar Products Co. *''The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques'', by Patricia and Allen Strange (2001), University of California Press. *''The Violin: Its History and Making'', by Karl Roy (2006), * ''The Fiddle Book'', by Marion Thede (1970), Oak Publications. *''Latin Violin'', by Sam Bardfeld, *''The Canon of Violin Literature'', by Jo Nardolillo (2012), Scarecrow Press. *''The Violin Explained - Components Mechanism and Sound'' by James Beament (1992/1997), Clarendon Press. *'' Antonio Stradivari, his life and work, 1644-1737', by William Henry Hill; Arthur F Hill; Alfred Ebsworth Hill (1902/1963), Dover Publications. 1963. . *''An Encyclopedia of the Violin'', by Alberto Bachmann (1965/1990), Da Capo Press. *''Violin - And Easy Guide'', by Chris Coetzee (2003), New Holland Publishers. *''The Violin'', by Yehudi Menuhin (1996), Flammarion. *''The Book of the Violin'', edited by Dominic Gill (1984), Phaidon. *''Violin-Making as it was, and is'', by
Edward Heron-Allen Edward Heron-Allen FRS (born ''Edward Heron Allen'') (17 December 1861 – 28 March 1943) was an English polymath, writer, scientist and Persian scholar who translated the works of Omar Khayyam. Life Heron-Allen was born in London, the young ...
(1885/1994), Ward Lock Limited. *''Violins & Violinists'', by Franz Farga (1950), Rockliff Publishing Corporation Ltd. *''Viols, Violins and Virginals'', by Jennifer A. Charlton (1985), Ashmolean Museum. *''The Violin'', by Theodore Rowland-Entwistle (1967/1974), Dover Publications. *''The Early Violin and Viola'', by Robin Stowell (2001), Cambridge University Press. * ''The Complete Luthier's Library. A Useful International Critical Bibliography for the Maker and the Connoisseur of Stringed and Plucked Instruments'' by Roberto Regazzi, Bologna: Florenus, 1990. *''The Violin'', by George Dubourg (1854), Robert Cocks & Co. *''Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries'', by Robin Stowell (1985), Cambridge University Press. *''History of the Violin'', by William Sandys and Simon Andrew (2006), Dover Publications. *''The Violin: A Research and Information Guide'', by Mark Katz (2006), Routledge. *''Per gli occhi e 'l core. Strumenti musicali nell'arte'' by Flavio Dassenno, (2004) a complete survey of the brescian school defined by the last researches and documents. *''Gasparo da Salò architetto del suono'' by Flavio Dassenno, (2009) a catalogue of an exhibition that gives information on the famous master life and work, Comune di Salò, Cremonabooks, 2009. *


Further reading

* * Schoenbaum, David
''The Violin: A Social History of the World's Most Versatile Instrument''
New York, New York : W.W. Norton & Company, December 2012. . * Templeton, David

Strings magazine, October 2002, No. 105. * Young, Diana
''A Methodology for Investigation of Bowed String Performance Through Measurement of Violin Bowing Technique''
PhD Thesis. M.I.T., 2007.


External links



*
Researches into the early history of the violin family
(Carl Engel, 1883) - (Authentication required.)
A New History of Violin Playing: The Vibrato and Lambert Massart's Revolutionary Discovery (Zdenko Silvela 2001)
{{Authority control 16th-century introductions Necked box lutes C instruments Articles containing video clips Folk music instruments Italian inventions String section