The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. A violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the type of music played on it. The word "violin" comes from the Middle Latin word vitula, meaning "stringed instrument";[1] this word is also believed to be the source of the Germanic "fiddle".[2] The violin, while it has ancient origins, acquired most of its modern characteristics in 16th-century Italy, with some further modifications occurring in the 18th century. Violinists and collectors particularly prize the instruments made by the Stradivari, Guarneri and Amati families from the 16th to the 18th century in Cremona.
Someone who plays the violin is called a violinist or a fiddler. He or she produces sound from a violin by either drawing a bow (normally held in the right hand) across one or more strings (which may be stopped by the fingers of the other hand to produce a full range of pitches), plucking the strings (with either hand), or a variety of other techniques. The violin is played by musicians in a wide variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz, folk and traditional, and rock and roll. The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th century in Northern Italy.
A violin typically 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 soundpost, four strings, and various fittings, optionally including a chinrest, which may attach directly over, or to the left of, the tailpiece. A distinctive feature of a violin body is its "hourglass" 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" of a violin depends on its shape, the wood it is made from, the graduation (the thickness profile) of both the top and back, and the varnish which coats its outside surface. The varnish and especially the wood continue to improve with age, making the fixed supply of old violins much sought-after.
The standard way of holding the violin is with the left side of the jaw resting on the chinrest of the violin, and supported by the left shoulder, often assisted by a shoulder rest. The left hand regulates the sounding length of the string by stopping it against the fingerboard with the fingertips, producing different pitches.
As the violin has no frets to stop the strings, the player must know exactly where to place the fingers on the strings to play with good intonation. Through practice and ear training, the violinist's left hand finds the notes intuitively by muscle memory. Beginners sometimes rely on tapes 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 sounds a unison or octave with another (open) string, causing it to vibrate sympathetically.
The fingers are conventionally numbered 1 (index) through 4 (little finger). Especially in instructional editions of violin music, numbers over the notes may indicate which finger to use, with "0" indicating "open" string.
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. Moving the hand up the neck, so the first finger takes the place of the second finger, brings 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. 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, although when a violinist has progressed to the point of being able to use the entire range of the instrument, references to particular positions become less common. Position names are mostly used for the lower positions and in method books; for this reason, it is uncommon to hear references to anything higher than fifth position. The lowest position on a violin is half-position, where the first finger is a half-step away from the nut. This position is less frequently used. The highest position, practically speaking, is 15th position.
Bowing or plucking an open string—that is, a string played without any finger stopping it—gives a different sound from a stopped string, since the string vibrates more freely at the nut than under a finger. Other than the low G (which can be played in no other way), open strings are generally avoided in some styles of classical playing. This is because they have a somewhat harsher sound and it is not possible to directly use vibrato on an open string.
Double stopping is when two separate strings are stopped by the fingers, and bowed simultaneously, producing a chord. Vibrato is a technique of the left hand and arm in which the pitch of a note varies in a pulsating rhythm. While various parts of the hand or arm may be involved in the motion, the end result is a movement of the fingertip bringing about a slight change in vibrating string length. Vibrato can be produced by a proper combination of finger, wrist and arm motions. One method, called "hand vibrato," involves rocking the hand back at the wrist to achieve oscillation, while another method, "arm vibrato," modulates the pitch by rocking at the elbow. A combination of these techniques allows a player to produce a large variety of tonal effects.
Since the Baroque era, the violin has been one of the most important of all instruments in classical music, for several reasons. Violins make up a large part of an orchestra, and are usually divided into two sections, known as the first and second violins. Composers often assign the melody to the first violins, while 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 part, and a bass instrument, such as the cello or, rarely, the double bass.
String instruments have the ability to play in any pitch which, in the hands of great players, leads to wonderful range of harmonic colouring, making it possible for the instruments to be very expressive. This ability is at its finest in the string quartet literature where seamless changes from key to key and chord to chord create a kind of perfect harmonic world where even thirds ring with full resonance.
The earliest references to jazz performance using the violin as a solo instrument are documented during the first decades of the 20th century. The first great jazz violinist was Joe Venuti who is best known for his work with guitarist Eddie Lang during the 1920s. Since that time there have been many superb improvising violinists including Regina Carter, Johnny Frigo, John Blake and Jean-Luc Ponty.
Up to the 1970s, most types of popular music used bowed strings. The hugely popular Motown recordings of the 1960s and 1970s relied heavily on strings as part of their trademark texture. Earlier genres of pop music, at least those separate from the rock and roll movement, tended to make use of fairly traditional orchestras, sometimes large ones; examples include the American "Crooners" such as Bing Crosby. This carried through into 1970s disco music such as "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor.
The rise of electronically created music in the 1980s saw a decline in their use, as synthesized string sections took their place. However, while the violin has very little usage in rock music, it has some history in progressive rock and has a stronger place in modern fusion bands, notably The Corrs. The popularity of crossover music 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 features violinist Boyd Tinsley. The Flock featured violinist Jerry Goodman who later joined the jazz-rock fusion band, The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Yellowcard featured the instrument with a role equal to the guitar in many of their songs. Smashing Pumpkins are well-known for their violin.
Indian and Arabic pop music is filled with the sound of violins, both soloists and ensembles.
The violin is a very important part of South Indian classical music (Karnatic music). It is believed to have been introduced to the South Indian tradition by Baluswamy Dikshitar. Though primarily used as an accompaniment instrument, the violin has become popular as a solo instrument in the orchestration An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electric signal output of its sound, and is generally considered to be a specially constructed instrument which can either be: a electro-acoustic violin capable of producing both acoustic sound and electric signal or an electric violin capable of producing only electric signal