This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Violin family is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
The Violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the sixteenth century.1 The modern violin family consists of the violin, viola and cello, along with the double bass2.
Instrument names in the ancestral violin family are all derived from the root viola, which is a derivative of the Medieval Latin word vitula (meaning "stringed instrument).3 A violin is a "little viola", a violone is a "big viola" or a bass violin, and a violoncello (often abbreviated cello) is a "small violone" (or, literally, a "small big viola"). (The violone is not part of the modern violin family; its place is taken by the modern double bass.)
The instruments of the ancestral violin family may be descended in part from the lira da braccio.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Violin | Viola | Cello (violoncello) | Double bass (Contrabass) |
|---|
Contents |
Characteristics
The playing ranges of the instruments in the modern violin family overlap each other, but the tone quality and physical size of each distinguishes them from one another. Both the violin and the viola are played under the jaw, the viola being the larger of the two instruments, with a playing range reaching a perfect fifth below the violin's. The cello is played sitting down with the instrument between the knees, and its playing range reaches an octave below the viola's. (The double bass is played standing or sitting on a stool, with a range that typically reaches a minor sixth, an octave, or a ninth below the cello's).
While the violin, viola and cello (originally the bass violin) are indisputable members of the ancestral violin, or viola da braccio family, the double bass's origins are sometimes called into question. The double bass is occasionally taken to be part of the viol family, due to its sloping shoulders, its tuning, and its sometimes flat back. Others say that these features are arbitrary, and point to the internal construction of the double bass, which is proportionately identical to the violin's, as a more weighty piece of evidence than the external features. Its origins aside, it has historically been used as the lowest member of the violin family since its "invention."
All string instruments share similar form, parts, construction, and function, and the viols bear a particularly close resemblance to the violin family. However, instruments in the ancestral violin family are set apart from viols by similarities in shape, in tuning practice, and in history. They have four strings each, are tuned in fifths (the bass is tuned in fourths), are not fretted, and have four rounded bouts.
Uses
The members of the ancestral violin family are the most used bowed string instruments in the world today. Although all share a place in classical music, they are also used (less often) in jazz, electronic music, rock, and other types of popular music, where they are often amplified, or simply created to be used as electric instruments. The violin is also used extensively in fiddle music, country music,and folk music. (The double bass plays an indispensable part in both classical and jazz music forms).
One of the most popular and standardized groupings in classical chamber music, the string quartet, is composed entirely of instruments from the ancestral violin family. This similarity in the manner of sound production allows string quartets to blend their tone colour and timbre more easily than less homogeneous groups. This is particularly notable in comparison to the standard wind quintet, which, although composed entirely of wind instruments, comprises four fundamentally different ways of producing musical pitch.
Notes
References
- Hoffman, Miles (1997). The NPR Classical Music Companion. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-70742-0.
- Witten, Laurence C., II (Oct., 1982). "The Surviving Instruments of Andrea Amati". Early Music Vol. 10,No. 4 (Oct., 1982): 487–494.
- The Complete Luthier's Library. A Useful International Critical Bibliography for the Maker and the Connoisseur of Stringed and Plucked Instruments. Bologna: Florenus Company. 1990. ISBN 88-85250-01-7.
- Harper, Douglas (Copyright 2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved on September 26, 2006.
See also
- Violin octet, an experiment in part to create an even more homogeneous blend of instruments related to the violin.
- String instrument
- String orchestra
- List of string instruments
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 28 September 2008, at 02:47.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Violin family".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.