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The Violinist
The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the pochette (musical instrument), pochette, but these are virtually unused. Most violins have a hollow wooden body, and commonly have four strings (music), strings (sometimes five-string violin, five), usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and are most commonly played by drawing a bow (music), bow across the strings. The violin can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (col legno). Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical music, Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiddle
A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with a Violin construction and mechanics#Bridge, bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a Timbre#Brightness, ''brighter'' tone than the deep tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional (Folk music, folk) styles, which are typically Music#Oral and aural tradition, aural traditions— ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral music, or to soprano C (C6) or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura soprano, coloratura, soubrette, lyric soprano, lyric, spinto soprano, spinto, and dramatic soprano, dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word ''wikt:sopra, sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as the soprano is the highest pitch human voice, often given to the leading female roles in operas. "Soprano" refers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz Violin
Jazz violin is the use of the violin or electric violin to improvise solo lines. Early jazz violinists included: Eddie South, who played violin with Jimmy Wade's Dixielanders in Chicago; Stuff Smith; and Claude "Fiddler" Williams. Joe Venuti was popular for his work with guitarist Eddie Lang during the 1920s. Improvising violinists include Stéphane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty. In jazz fusion, violinists may use an electric violin plugged into an instrument amplifier with electronic effects. Swing to bebop Jazz violin began in New Orleans in the early 1900s. Arrangements for ragtime orchestras had parts for violins in which they were as important as the other instruments. The violin was a lead instrument in the recordings of A. J. Piron, whose trumpeter Peter Bocage also played violin. Alphonso Trent and Andy Kirk employed violinists in their territory bands. Stuff Smith played violin as a member of Trent's band in the 1920s and tinkered with acoustic and electric mea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bluegrass Music
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in African American genres like blues and jazz and North European genres, such as Irish ballads and dance tunes. Unlike country, it is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments such as the fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar and upright bass. It was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Bill Monroe once described bluegrass music as, "It's a part of Methodist, Holiness and Baptist traditions. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound." Bluegrass features acoustic stringed instruments and emphasizes the off-beat. The off-beat can be "driven" (played close to the previous bass note) or "swung" (played farther from the previous bass note). N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, and double bass * Woodwinds, such as the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and occasional saxophone * Brass instruments, such as the French horn (commonly known as the "horn"), trumpet, trombone, cornet, and tuba, and sometimes euphonium * Percussion instruments, such as the timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, tam-tam and mallet percussion instruments Other instruments such as the piano, harpsichord, pipe organ, and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone as soloist instruments, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments, and guitars. A full-size Western orchestra may sometimes be called a or phil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chamber Music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part (in contrast to orchestral music, in which each string part is played by a number of performers). However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances. Because of its intimate nature, chamber music has been described as "the music of friends". For more than 100 years, chamber music was played primarily by amateur musicians in their homes, and even today, when chamber music performance has migrated from the home to the concert hall, many musicians, amateur and professional, still play chamber music for their own pleasure. Playing chamber music requires special skills, both musical and social, that differ from the skills required for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Classical Music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" can also be applied to List of classical and art music traditions, non-Western art musics. Classical music is often characterized by formality and complexity in its musical form and Harmony, harmonic organization, particularly with the use of polyphony. Since at least the ninth century, it has been primarily a written tradition, spawning a sophisticated music notation, notational system, as well as accompanying literature in music analysis, analytical, music criticism, critical, Music history, historiographical, musicology, musicological and Philosophy of music, philosophical practices. A foundational component of Western culture, classical music is frequently seen from the perspective of individual or com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Col Legno
In music for bowed string instruments, , or more precisely ; ), is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow across the strings. History The earliest known use of in Western music is to be found in a piece entitled "Harke, harke", from the ''First Part of Ayres'' (1605) by Tobias Hume, where he instructs the gambist to "drum this with the backe of your bow". Sound The percussive sound of battuto has a clear pitch element determined by the distance of the bow from the bridge at the point of contact. As a group of players will never strike the string in exactly the same place, the sound of a section of violins playing is dramatically different from the sound of a single violin doing so. The wood of the bow can also be drawn across the string – a technique called ("with the wood drawn"). This is much less common, and the plain marking is invariably interpreted to mean ''battuto'' rather than ''tratto''. The sound produced by is very quiet, with an o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 bowed string instruments it is a method of playing by plucking the strings with the fingers, rather than using the bow. This produces a very different sound from bowing, short and percussive rather than sustained. * On keyboard string instruments, such as the piano, pizzicato may be employed (although rarely seen in traditional repertoire, this technique has been normalized in contemporary music, with ample examples by George Crumb, Tōru Takemitsu, Helmut Lachenmann, and others) as one of the variety of techniques involving direct manipulation of the strings known collectively as " string piano". * On the guitar, it is a muted form of plucking, which bears an audible resemblance to pizzicato on a bowed string instrument with its relatively ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perfect Fifth
In music theory, a perfect fifth is the Interval (music), musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitch (music), pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval from the first to the last of the first five consecutive Musical note, notes in a diatonic scale. The perfect fifth (often abbreviated P5) spans seven semitones, while the Tritone, diminished fifth spans six and the augmented fifth spans eight semitones. For example, the interval from C to G is a perfect fifth, as the note G lies seven semitones above C. The perfect fifth may be derived from the Harmonic series (music), harmonic series as the interval between the second and third harmonics. In a diatonic scale, the dominant (music), dominant note is a perfect fifth above the tonic (music), tonic note. The perfect fifth is more consonance and dissonance, consonant, or stable, than any other interval except the unison and the octave. It occu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 strings may add a low F, low B♭, low E♭, or a soprano violin high A (sometimes a high B). The five-string violin was created to combine the pitch ranges of the violin and viola. Bobby Hicks, a noted bluegrass fiddler, popularized the five-string violin in 1963, first showcasing his modification during a performance in Las Vegas. José Herrando, wrote 6 Sonatas for the 5 string Violin (or 5 string Viola aka Grand Viola, or Viola Pomposa) and continuo. Due to the size limitations of a five-string violin, the low C string typically resonates with a slightly softer sound than the other strings. Five-string violas (aka Viola pomposa), normally tuned C, G, D, and A, and adding a high E string, have in the same tuning, but on a viola bod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strings (music)
In music, strings are long flexible structures on string instruments that produce sound through vibration. Strings are held under tension so that they can vibrate freely. The pitch (frequency) at which a string will vibrate is primarily related to its vibrating length (also called speaking length), its tension, and its mass per unit of length. A vibrating string produces very little sound by itself. Therefore, most string instruments have a soundboard to amplify the sound. There are two main kinds of strings; plain and wound. "Plain" strings are simply one piece of long cylindrical material, commonly consisted of nylon or gut. "Wound" strings have a central core, with other material being tightly wound around the string . Prior to World War II, strings of many instruments (including violins and guitars) were composed of a material known as catgut, a type of cord made from refined natural fibers of animal intestines. During the mid-twentieth century however, steel and nylo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
