Violin

The violin is a wooden stringed instrument that is used in a wide variety of musical genres. The smallest and highest pitched instrument in the string family, the violin is closely associated with classical music and typically serves as the lead instrument in most orchestras. When used to play folk music, the violin is commonly referred to as a fiddle. Since the time it was first developed in the sixteenth century, the design of the violin has remained largely unchanged. As has been the case for centuries, the modern violin is composed of a wooden body, gut or synthetic strings, and a small wedge of carved wood called a bridge that supports the strings. When a bow is drawn across the strings, the resulting vibrations are transmitted into the violin's interior, which is called the sound box, and sound is produced. Thanks to its great versatility, the violin is one of the world's most widely used and recognizable musical instruments.

Brief History

The historical roots of the violin can be traced back to medieval stringed instruments such as the rebec, the vielle, and early three-stringed violins. The first violins to be made in what would eventually become their modern form were produced in the Italian towns of Brescia and Cremona in the sixteenth century. Around 1550, Andrea Amati, an artisan from Cremona, began making a redesigned version of the violin. In addition to adding a fourth string, Amati established a standard size and shape for the violin and other similar instruments. The violins made by Amati and his Cremonese contemporaries were especially popular with professional musicians and were widely used for playing lively dance music. In the seventeenth century, the Amati school of violinmaking was continued and further refined by Nicolò Amati, the grandson of Andrea and the only Cremonese violinmaker to survive the plague that swept through the city around 1630. The younger Amati passed down his family's techniques to subsequent generations and ensured that the Amati violin would remain the leading standard for years to come.

One of the most well-known Cremonese violinmakers to emerge from the Amati school was Antonio Stradivari. Indeed, it was through Stradivari that Cremonese violinmaking reached its height. In the late seventeenth century, Stradivari carefully crafted violins that deviated from the Amati design. Specifically, he implemented different sound hole shapes, applied softer varnish, and built longer, narrower bodies. Early in the eighteenth century, Stradivari returned to using a shorter and wider body design and, in doing so, perfected his so-called "grand design." In time, Stradivari's instruments came to be seen as the finest violins available and were highly sought after by professional musicians. Moreover, his design replaced the Amati violin as the standard model for the manufacture of future instruments.

While still based on the Stradivari model, the contemporary violin does have some key differences as it continued to be developed over the years. Typically, modern violins have a longer and thicker neck that bends as it moves outward from the body, a lengthened fingerboard, and chin rests, among other things. In addition, today's violins usually feature steel strings instead of gut strings. Different types of electric violins have also been available since the 1930s.

Overview

Like other instruments of its kind, the violin is designed to produce sound through the vibration of strings. In effect, it is the violin's unique design and key component parts that make this possible. Of greatest importance are the violin's four strings, which run the length of the instrument from top to bottom and are tightly stretched so that they vibrate when moved. Violin strings can be made of gut, steel, or some other synthetic material and represent the notes G, D, A, and E. The largest part of the violin is its hollow, hourglass-shaped body. Attached to the top of the body is the neck and fingerboard. The neck is a long piece of wood that extends out from the body. The fingerboard, a flat piece of wood glued to the top of the neck, is where the musician presses down on the strings to produce different notes. Above the neck is the pegbox, which is where the strings are attached. Using the pegs that stick out from the pegbox, the musician can adjust the strings' tightness and tuning. On the top side of the body, there are two openings called f-holes. When a violin is played, its sound comes out of these holes. As the strings run from the top of the violin to the bottom, they pass over the bridge, which is a small wedge of carved wood that stops the strings' vibrations and allows them to move into the body of the violin. After the bridge, the strings continue down the violin and connect to the tailpiece. Finally, a chin rest that the musician uses to support the violin while playing is attached to the lower portion of the body.

Playing the violin also requires the use of a bow. Violin bows are typically made of two main parts: the stick and the horsehair. The stick is a thin piece of wood that gives the bow its shape and strength, while the horsehair is a thin string made from the actual hair of a horse's tail that is attached at either end of the stick. When a musician plays the violin, he or she rubs the horsehair against the violin's strings to produce vibrations.

Although the violin is in some ways a complex instrument, the action through which its sound is produced is relatively simple. In essence, the musician makes sound by running the bow against one or more of the strings. The horsehair is coated in an adhesive substance known as rosin that allows the strings to stick slightly to the bow. This, in turn, causes the strings to move in a slip-stick motion during which the string momentarily travels with the bow before slipping backward and catching the bow again. These tiny movements happen hundreds or even thousands of time per second and lead to the production of vibrations. However, because the strings do not move any air, they do not produce any sound themselves. Rather, the vibrations caused by the movement of the strings are transmitted into the violin's body. Inside the body, which serves as a resonating chamber, the vibrations are amplified and sound is emitted through the f-holes.

Bibliography

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Geggel, Laura. "How the Violin Got Its Shape." Live Science, 8 Oct. 2014, www.livescience.com/48204-violin-shape-evolution.html. Accessed 31 Oct. 2016.

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