A violin is a bowed string instrument and is the smallest instrument in the violin family which includes the viola and cello. It is also called a fiddle no matter what kind of music is played on it. It has 4 strings, G, D, A, and E. Music is produced by drawing the bow across these strings, with the fingers of the other hand pressing on the strings to make other notes.The first modern violin was made in the 16th century. It was brought to Europe from the Middle East. It immediately became popular with street musicians and nobles. In the 18th century some changes were made to the length and shape of the neck. The most popular old violins are the Stradivari. These violins are made of high-quality parts and produce beautiful music. The most ever paid for a Stradivarius was $3,544,000.
A violin is made up of many parts. The wood parts can be made of maple wood. The sound of a violin varies depending what kind of wood it is made of. Parts of a violin include the scroll, the decoratively carved piece of wood at the end of the violin; the peg-box, the hollowed-out wooden box that houses the tuning pegs; the neck, which sticks out from the main body and hosts the fingerboard where the fingers are placed to change the pitches in the notes; the body; the F-holes, the two identical holes on opposing sides of the bridge; the bridge, a delicate device used to hole the strings up made of wood; the tailpiece, the black piece of hard plastic that anchors the strings at the end of the violin; and the chin-rest, a wooden or plastic device used to keep the violinist's chin in place. The stings are made of steel, though they can also be made of stretched, dried, and twisted sheep's gut.
There are many sizes of violins. There are 4/4, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/10, 1/16, and even a 1/32. The extremely small sizes are for little students, as young as age three. A 4/4 is a full-sized violin that has a body that is around 14 inches long. The fractional sizes have nothing to do with the instrument size. For instance, a 3/4 is not three-quarters the size of a full-size. A 3/4 has a body length of 13 inches and a 1/2 has a body length of 12 inches. Violins smaller than 1/2 are very hard to find and are not normally of good quality. Sizes vary slightly between makers.
A violin is played using a bow. A bow is a long stick with a ribbon of horsehair strung between the tip and the frog, the end of the bow. On the frog end there is a screw, which is used to tighten or loosen the bow hair. The bow hair is taken from the tail of a white (technically, a grey) horse. Rubbing the bow with rosin, a sap from pine trees that has been dried into a hard block, causes the hair to grip the strings and make them vibrate, therefore making music.
There are two ways to play the violin. One is bowing, which is drawing the bow across the strings. The second is pizzicato, which is plucking the string with the fingers, producing a guitar-like sound.
Proper positioning is needed to play the violin. If standing, one must have the feet slightly spread apart and the left foot slightly in front of the right. Equal weight must be on both feet. The left arm, which is holding the violin if the person is right-handed, must be relaxed, and the elbow, which is bent must be under the violin. The left hand, if bowing, is at the top of the neck below the peg-box, and the fingers are placed on the top of the finger-board. The right hand is holding the bow, with the middle and ring finger wrapped around the frog, the pinkie arched on the screw, the index curved sideways on the stick, and the thumb slightly in front of the frog bent outwards, the tip touching the bottom of the stick.
