An Introduction to the Violin

Violins are among the most versatile musicalmerely painted to look like ebony. Traditionally,
instruments, evidenced by their use in manyviolin strings were made of gut, but they are
different musical genres. Some types of musicusually made of metal now. The violin is played by
that commonly feature violins are classical music,pressing the strings against the fingerboard with
pop, bluegrass, country, and jazz.the left hand while rubbing a bow across the
A violin is the smallest of the stringed instruments.strings with the right hand. The bow is a long
Other stringed instruments include the viola andwooden rod with stands of horsehair tied to each
the cello. It has four strings, tuned, from low toend. A violin bow looks similar to a bow used to
high, G D A E, each note being a perfect fifth ofshoot arrows, but is much smaller. Violinists usually
the one below it. A violin looks like a hollowplay one note on one string at a time, but they
wooden box with a long neck protruding fromcan play chords by holding down and bowing
one end. The body of the violin is usually made ofmore than one string at once. Some pieces of
a couple of different types of wood. The top ofmusic require the violinist to pluck the strings with
the violin, also called the belly, is customarily madethe fingers of the right hand rather than bow
of spruce, which is a strong type of softwood.them, producing a short, staccato sound.Violins
The sides and back are made of maple, which ishave been in use for many centuries and are still
harder and more durable than spruce. Ebony iscommon is contemporary music. The sounds
most commonly used for the fingerboard, butproduced by a violin can compliment many other
sometimes ivory is used. Some less expensivemusical instruments and enrich a piece of music.
models have other types of wood that are