🎻 Strings family
Violin
🔊 How it makes sound
The bow is strung with horsehair coated in sticky rosin. When you pull it, the hair grips and lets go of the string hundreds of times a second, making it vibrate. The bridge passes the vibration to the wooden body, and the sound comes out through the f-holes.
🎼 Range and clef
From the G below middle C up to very high notes, about four octaves. Reads the treble clef. Open strings: G, D, A, E.
🎨 Its timbre colour
Bright and singing, like a voice. It can be sweet, fiery, sad or playful.
Timbre is the "colour" of a sound, the idea from Lesson 0. A violin and a flute can play the same note, but you can still tell them apart!
🎻 Parts of the violin
Scroll and pegs at the top for tuning; the fingerboard where your left fingers press; the bridge standing on the belly; f-holes; the chinrest; and fine tuners on the tailpiece. Inside, a little soundpost carries the sound from front to back. Luthiers call it the "soul".
🎻 Where it came from
Violins appeared in northern Italy about 500 years ago. Makers in Cremona such as Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri made instruments that players still use today.
🎻 Ways to play
Arco means with the bow. Pizzicato means plucked. You can also play two strings at once (double stops), slide (glissando), or wobble a note with vibrato.
🎻 In the orchestra
There are first and second violins, often 20 or more players. The leader sits nearest the audience and helps everyone play together.
🎧 Listen to
Vivaldi: "Spring" from The Four Seasons
💡 Fun fact
A violin is made of about 70 pieces of wood, and the best ones are over 300 years old.