The Violin
The violin is made out of ebony and wood because they use ebony for the fingerboard because of its hardness but the strings that are on the violin can either be: metal, sheep intestines or synthetic strings. The box of the violin is shaped like an hour glass which is connected to the fingerboard and at the top of the fingerboard is a scroll of pegs in, the violins four long strings wind around the pegs and run down the fingerboard but slightly above it. It is played by the violinist holding the instrument under the chin being supported by the left shoulder. The strings sounds are being made by either the player drawing the bow across them or sometimes by plucking them. The left hand controls the sounding length of the strings by stopping them against the fingerboard which produces different notes.
The sound of a violin can be changed due to the amount of bow pressure you apply to the strings when using the bow. But they can also be changed by vibrato which is where the player will shake their fingers to produce notes that waver above and below a central target note, harmonics which is where you can obtain a harmonic effect by lightly pressing a finger on the string in one of several different positions between the stopped end of the string and the bridge whilst pulling the bow lightly but quickly and using a mute which is when you attach a rubber clip over the bridge however there a different types of mutes that have different ways of being put on the violin.
The highest note that a violin can play is E7, the E two octaves above the open string may be considered a practical limit for the orchestral violin parts but it is sometimes possible to play higher but just depending on the length of the fingerboard and skill of the violinist. The lowest note that a violin can play while being tuned normally is G3 or G below middle C. However on extremely rare occasions the lowest string may be tuned down by as much as a fourth to D3 The violin belongs to the string section of the orchestra and can be located wherever the conductor wants it. However if it is just a strings orchestra then they will most likely be on the front row.
I don’t think that there is more than one way to play a violin but you can try different postures or holding it in different ways to ty to create a different sound. A violins sound is produced when the player draws the bow over the strings sending vibrations through the whole instrument from there the bridge of the violin transmits those vibrations to the back and front plate of the instrument, causing the entire body to serve as a resonating chamber and then amplifying the sound produced. The violin was first invented in the early16th century in Italy the earliest evidence of their existence was when they were painted in some artworks by Gaudenzio Ferrari from the 1930’s though his only had three strings. There were lots of different stringed instruments that evolved over time then, but in the 16th century there were a wide variety of instruments that the modern violin and its family had evolved from. The pitch range of a violin while using normal tuning goes from a low G under middle C which is also called G3 all the way up to G8.
Feedback WWW – Lots of detailed information about the instrument and its use in the Orchestra EBI – Insert a YouTube clip into your presentation to show us what the Violin sounds like Grade – B Mr O’Sullivan