Fiddle vs Violin Music Appreciation 101 By Daryl Marsh

Overview Are they the same? History Parts Why named differently? Differences? Examples of each

They Look the Same Fiddle Violin

But are they the same? Merriam-Webster defines a violin as; a bowed stringed instrument having four strings tuned at intervals of a fifth and a usual range from G below middle C upward for more than 41⁄2 octaves and having a shallow body, shoulders at right angles to the neck, a fingerboard without frets, and a curved bridge Merriam-Webster defines a fiddle as; a bowed stringed instrument having four strings tuned at intervals of a fifth and a usual range from G below middle C upward for more than 41⁄2 octaves and having a shallow body, shoulders at right angles to the neck, a fingerboard without frets, and a curved bridge

So are they the same? Same number of strings Played with a bow Played off the shoulder Made with the same materials

Yes, they are the same…..

History of the Fiddle Traced back to the lyra, sometime around 10 th century 11 th and 12 th century writers interchanged the words lyra and fiddle Many countries developed their own stringed instruments

History of Violin Early 16th century – As we know the violin today Cremona, Italy Famous makers – Amati – Stradivari – Guarneri – Salo

Parts of violin/fiddle

Pegbox – the part of the violin that holds the tuning pegs Bridge - device for supporting the strings on a stringed instrument and transmitting the vibration of those strings to some other structural component of the instrument in order to transfer the sound to the surrounding air. Fine Tuners - used with solid metal or composite strings that may be difficult to tune with pegs alone F-Holes - allows some of the vibrations which have been set in motion inside the instrument to travel outside the instrument.

So why the different names? They come from the same Latin root Violin comes from Romance language Fiddle comes from the German language Name comes down to the type of music being played – Violin plays Classical and Jazz – Fiddle plays everything else Does a violinist get mad when you call him a fiddler?

Differences? Fiddlers – customize their instruments – Cut down bridges to make them flat – Uses steel strings – Soundpost modified – Larger shoulder rests – 5 strings Violinists – tend to make no modifications – Use gut or synthetic strings

Fiddle Playing Mikayla Roach – Video taken when she was 9 years old – started when she was 6 – Has a band and travels the midwest

Violin Playing Leonidas Kavakos – Began playing at age 5 – plays the "Abergavenny" Stradivarius of 1724

Interesting quotes I found 'The violin sings, the fiddle dances‘ ‘The difference between a fiddle and violin is about $5000’ "Music is the essence of order and leads to all that is good, just, and beautiful." Plato "The music comes from the fiddler's heart, through his strings and straight into your heart." Father John Angus Rankin, Cape Breton musician

Tribute I ran across this video of an old song sung by a few big names in country music. One of them being Johnny Cash. Since the main instrument in the song is a fiddle, I thought I’d include it here as a tribute to Johnny Cash

Sources The Violin. (2010, December 28). Retrieved May 4, 2012, from 9 Year old Fiddler: year-old-fiddler-mikayla-roach-orange-blossom-special/ Fein, A. (2011, December 11). The History of the Violin. Retrieved May 4, 2012, from The Violin Shop: violin.html Joshel. (2006, July 22). More History of the Fiddle. Retrieved May 4, 2012, from Fiddle Music: fiddle.html Leonidas Kavakos. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2012, from Wikipedia: