Violin family
The
Violin family of
instruments was developed in
Italy in the
17th Century. It comprises three instruments: the
violin,
viola and the
cello. Although usually associated with the violin family, the
double bass's origins are generally believed to be of the
viol family, as may be seen by its sloping shoulders compared to the violin.
Image:Violin_VL100.jpg|ViolinImage:Bratsche.jpg|ViolaImage:Cello front side.jpg|CelloImage:AGK bass1 full.jpg|Bass (in viol family)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 violin family are set apart 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.
|
Violin, viola, and cello bow frogs (top to bottom) |
Along with the double bass, they 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,
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.
One of the most popular and standardized groupings in classical
chamber music, the
string quartet, is composed entirely of instruments from the 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.
*
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
