Violins

Violin History:

Although Violins have ancient origins, they acquired most of their modern characteristics from Luthiers in 16th century Italy, where the instrument was a viol rather than today’s violin. It wasn’t until the Baroque period that the violin began to flourish with respected composers such as Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach using violins in many of their compositions. Since then the violin has gained much love and respect from around the world as both a solo and concert instrument. Violins are now played by musicians in a wide variety of musical genres including classical, jazz and folk.

The Violin is a four-stringed acoustic musical instrument that is played with a bow. It heads up the string family of instruments that also features the viola, cello and double bass. Sound is usually generated by using the bow, which consists of a stick featuring a strip of horse hair. Although there are many other techniques such as pizzicato (plucking the strings) to name one, the use of the bow (or arco) is the most common way to play the instrument. Rosin is rubbed on the bow hair to ensure its smooth progression across the violin strings and create necessary resonance.

Finding the right size Violin is crucial for comfortable playing. The best way to measure this would be hold your arm out straight and measure the distance from your neck to your wrist.