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This article describes a procedural approach of holding the violin, right and left hand usage etc.The intent of the article is to provide information about the history of violin and the Violin artisans of carnatic music; and introduction on carnatic music and how to handle carnatic music on violin. The violin typically has four strings, usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow.
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Carnatic music, Karnāṭaka saṃgīta, or Karnāṭaka saṅgītam, is a system of music commonly associated with southern India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, as well as Sri Lanka.[1][2] It is one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Hindu traditions, the other subgenre being Hindustani music, which emerged as a distinct form because of Persian or Islamic influences from Northern India. The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in gāyaki (singing) style.
Although there are stylistic differences, the basic elements of śruti (the relative musical pitch), swara (the musical sound of a single note), rāga (the mode or melodic formulæ), and tala (the rhythmic cycles) form the foundation of improvisation and composition in both Carnatic and Hindustani music. Although improvisation plays an important role, Carnatic music is mainly sung through compositions, especially the kriti (or kirtanam) – a form developed between the 14th and 20th centuries by composers such as Purandara Dasa and the Trinity of Carnatic music. Carnatic music is also usually taught and learned through compositions.
Carnatic music is usually performed by a small ensemble of musicians, consisting of a principal performer (usually a vocalist), a melodic accompaniment (usually a violin), a rhythm accompaniment (usually a mridangam), and a tambura, which acts as a drone throughout the performance. Other typical instruments used in performances may include the ghatam, kanjira, morsing, venu flute, veena, and chitraveena. The greatest concentration of Carnatic musicians is to be found in the city of Chennai.[3] Various Carnatic music festivals are held throughout India and abroad, including the Madras Music Season, which has been considered to be one of the world's largest cultural events.[4][5]
- 3Important elements of Carnatic music
- 4Improvisation
- 5Compositions
- 7Learning Carnatic music
- 7.1Notations
- 8Performances of Carnatic music
Origins, sources and history
Like all art forms in Indian culture, Indian classical music is believed to be a divine art form which originated from the Devas and Devis (Hindu Gods and Goddesses),[6][7] and is venerated as symbolic of nāda brāhman.[8] Ancient treatises also describe the connection of the origin of the swaras, or notes, to the sounds of animals and birds and man's effort to simulate these sounds through a keen sense of observation and perception. The Sama Veda, which is believed to have laid the foundation for Indian classical music, consists of hymns from the Rigveda, set to musical tunes which would be sung using three to seven musical notes during Vedic yajnas.[7] The Yajur-Veda, which mainly consists of sacrificial formulae, mentions the veena as an accompaniment to vocal recitations.[9] References to Indian classical music are made in many ancient texts, including epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Yajnavalkya Smriti mentions वीणावादन तत्त्वज्ञः श्रुतीजातिविशारदः ताळज्ञश्चाप्रयासेन मोक्षमार्गं नियच्छति ( vīṇāvādana tattvajñaḥ śrutijātiviśāradaḥ tālajñaścāprayāsena mokṣamārgaṃ niyacchati, 'The one who is well versed in veena, one who has the knowledge of srutis and one who is adept in tala, attains liberation (moksha) without doubt').[10] Carnatic music is based as it is today on musical concepts (including swara, raga, and tala) that were described in detail in several ancient works, particularly the Bharata's Natya Shastra and Silappadhikaram by Ilango Adigal.[11]
Owing to Persian and Islamic influences in North India from the 12th century onwards, Indian classical music began to diverge into two distinct styles — Hindustani music and Carnatic music.[3] Commentaries and other works, such as Sharngadeva's Sangita Ratnakara, further elaborated on the musical concepts found in Indian classical music.[12] By the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a clear demarcation between Carnatic and Hindustani music;[13] Carnatic music remained relatively unaffected by Persian and Arabic influences. It was at this time that Carnatic music flourished in Vijayanagara, while the Vijayanagar Empire reached its greatest extent.[14]Purandara Dasa, who is known as the 'father (Pitamaha) of Carnatic music', formulated the system that is commonly used for the teaching of Carnatic music.[7][15]Venkatamakhin invented and authored the formula for the melakarta system of raga classification in his Sanskrit work, the Chaturdandi Prakasika (1660 AD).[13] Govindacharya is known for expanding the melakarta system into the sampoorna raga scheme – the system that is in common use today.
Carnatic music was mainly patronized by the local kings of the Kingdom of Mysore, Kingdom of Travancore, and the Maratha rulers of Tanjore[16] in the 18th through 20th centuries. Some of the royalty of the kingdoms of Mysore and Travancore were themselves noted composers and proficient in playing musical instruments, such as the veena, rudra veena, violin, ghatam, flute, mridangam, nagaswara and swarabhat.[17] Some famous court-musicians proficient in music were Veene Sheshanna (1852–1926)[18] and Veene Subbanna (1861–1939),[19] among others.
With the dissolution of the erstwhile princely states and the Indian independence movement reaching its conclusion in 1947, Carnatic music went through a radical shift in patronage into an art of the masses with ticketed performances organized by private institutions called sabhās. During the 19th century, the city of Chennai (then known as Madras) emerged as the locus for Carnatic music.[20]
Nature of Carnatic music
The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in a singing style (known as gāyaki).[21] Like Hindustani music, Carnatic music rests on two main elements: rāga, the modes or melodic formulæ, and tāḷa, the rhythmic cycles.[21]
Today, Carnatic music is presented by musicians in concerts or recordings, either vocally or through instruments. Carnatic music itself developed around musical works or compositions of phenomenal composers (see below).
Important elements of Carnatic music
Śruti
Śruti commonly refers to musical pitch.[22] It is the approximate equivalent of a tonic (or less precisely a key) in Western music; it is the note from which all the others are derived. It is also used in the sense of graded pitches in an octave. While there are an infinite number of sounds falling within a scale (or raga) in Carnatic music, the number that can be distinguished by auditory perception is twenty-two (although over the years, several of them have converged). In this sense, while sruti is determined by auditory perception, it is also an expression in the listener's mind.[23]
Swara
Swara refers to a type of musical sound that is a single note, which defines a relative (higher or lower) position of a note, rather than a defined frequency.[22] Swaras also refer to the solfege of Carnatic music, which consist of seven notes, 'sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni' (compare with the Hindustani sargam: sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni or Western do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti). These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadja, rishabha, gandhara, madhyama, panchama, dhaivata and nishada. Unlike other music systems, every member of the solfege (called a swara) has three variants. The exceptions are the drone notes, shadja and panchama (also known as the tonic and the dominant), which have only one form; and madhyama (the subdominant), which has two forms. A 7th century stone inscription in Kudumiyan Malai[24] in Tamil Nadu shows vowel changes to solfege symbols with ra, ri, ru etc. to denote the higher quarter-tones. In one scale, or raga, there is usually only one variant of each note present. The exceptions exist in 'light' ragas, in which, for artistic effect, there may be two, one ascending (in the arohanam) and another descending (in the avarohanam).
Raga system
A raga in Carnatic music prescribes a set of rules for building a melody – very similar to the Western concept of mode.[25] It specifies rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam), the scale of which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka (ornamentation), which phrases should be used or avoided, and so on. In effect, it is a series of obligatory musical events which must be observed, either absolutely or with a particular frequency.[26]
In Carnatic music, the sampoorna ragas (those with all seven notes in their scales) are classified into a system called the melakarta, which groups them according to the kinds of notes that they have. There are seventy-two melakarta ragas, thirty six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is shuddha (perfect fourth from the tonic), the remaining thirty-six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is prati (an augmented fourth from the tonic). The ragas are grouped into sets of six, called chakras ('wheels', though actually segments in the conventional representation) grouped according to the supertonic and mediant scale degrees. There is a system known as the katapayadi sankhya to determine the names of melakarta ragas.
Ragas may be divided into two classes: janaka ragas (i.e. melakarta or parent ragas) and janya ragas (descendant ragas of a particular janaka raga). Janya ragas are themselves subclassified into various categories.
Tala system
Tala refers to a fixed time cycle or metre, set for a particular composition, which is built from groupings of beats.[citation needed]Talas have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change within a song. They have specific components, which in combinations can give rise to the variety to exist (over 108), allowing different compositions to have different rhythms.[27]
Carnatic music singers usually keep the beat by moving their hands up and down in specified patterns, and using their fingers simultaneously to keep time. Tala is formed with three basic parts (called angas) which are laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam, though complex talas may have other parts like plutam, guru, and kaakapaadam. There are seven basic tala groups which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:
- Ata tala
- Dhruva tala
- Eka tala
- Jhampa tala
- Matya tala[citation needed]
- Rupaka tala
- Triputa tala
A laghu has five variants (called jaathis) based on the counting pattern. Five jaathis times seven tala groups gives thirty-five basic talas, although use of other angas results in a total of 108 talas.
Improvisation
Improvisation in raga is the soul of Indian classical music[28] – an essential aspect.[29] 'Manodharma Sangeetam' or 'kalpana Sangeetam' ('music of imagination') as it is known in Carnatic music, embraces several varieties of improvisation.[29][30]
The main traditional forms of improvisation in Carnatic music consist of the following:[31][32]
- Alapana
- Niraval
- Pallavi
- Ragam
- Swarakalpana
- Tanam
- Tani Avartanam
Raga Alapana
An alapana, sometimes also called ragam,[33] is the exposition of a raga or tone – a slow improvisation with no rhythm,[34] where the raga acts as the basis of embellishment.[26] In performing alapana, performers consider each raga as an object that has beginnings and endings and consists somehow of sequences of thought.[26]
The performer will explore the ragam and touch on its various nuances,[33] singing in the lower octaves first, then gradually moving up to higher octaves, while giving a hint of the song to be performed.[34]
Theoretically, this ought to be the easiest type of improvisation, since the rules are so few, but in fact, it takes much skill to sing a pleasing, comprehensive (in the sense of giving a 'feel for the ragam') and, most importantly, original raga alapana.
Niraval
Niraval, usually performed by the more advanced performers, consists of singing one or two lines of text of a song repeatedly, but with a series of melodic improvised elaborations.[35] Although niraval consists of extempore melodic variations, generally, the original patterns of duration are maintained;[36] each word in the lines of text stay set within their original place (idam) in the tala cycle.[37] The lines are then also played at different levels of speed which can include double speed, triple speed, quadruple speed and even sextuple speed.[38] The improvised elaborations are made with a view of outlining the raga, the tempo, and the theme of the composition.[citation needed]
Kalpanaswaram
Kalpanaswaram, also known as swarakalpana, consists of improvising melodic and rhythmic passages using swaras (solfa syllables).[39] Like niraval,[40] kalpanaswaras are sung to end on a particular swara in the raga of the melody and at a specific place (idam) in the tala cycle.[41]
Kalpanaswaras have a somewhat predictable rhythmical structure;[42] the swaras are sung to end on the samam (the first beat of the rhythmical cycle).[38] The swaras can also be sung at the same speed or double the speed of the melody that is being sung, though some artists sing triple-speed phrases too.[38]
Kalpanaswaram is the most elementary type of improvisation, usually taught before any other form of improvisation.
Tanam
Tanam is one of the most important forms of improvisation, and is integral to Ragam Tanam Pallavi.[43] Originally developed for the veena, it consists of expanding the raga with syllables like tha, nam, thom, aa, nom, na, etc.
Ragam Tanam Pallavi
Ragam, Tanam, and Pallavi are the principal long form in concerts,[43] and is a composite form of improvisation. As the name suggests, it consists of raga alapana, tanam, and a pallavi line. Set to a slow-paced tala, the pallavi line is often composed by the performer. Through niraval, the performer manipulates the pallavi line in complex melodic and rhythmic ways.[33] The niraval is followed by kalpanaswarams.
Tani Avartanam
Tani Avartanam refers to the extended solo that is played by the percussionists in a concert,[44] and is usually played after the main composition in a concert.[37] The percussionist displays the full range of his skills and rhythmic imagination during the solo, which may take from two to twenty minutes.[44]
Compositions
In contrast to Hindustani music of the northern part of India, Carnatic music is taught and learned through compositions, which encode many intricate musical details, also providing scope for free improvisation. Nearly every rendition of a Carnatic music composition is different and unique as it embodies elements of the composer's vision, as well as the musician's interpretation.
A Carnatic composition really has two elements, one being the musical element, the other being what is conveyed in the composition. It is probably because of this fact that most Carnatic music compositions are composed for singing. In addition to the rich musical experience, each composition brings out the knowledge and personality of the composer, and hence the words are as important as the musical element itself. This poses a special challenge for the musicians because rendering this music does not involve just playing or singing the correct musical notes; the musicians are expected to understand what was conveyed by the composer in various languages, and sing musical phrases that act to create the effect that was intended by the composer in his/her composition.
There are many types/forms of compositions.
Geethams and swarajatis (which have their own peculiar composition structures) are principally meant to serve as basic learning exercises.
Compositions more commonly associated with Indian classical dance and Indian devotional music have also been increasingly used in the Carnatic music repertoire. The performance of the Sanskritsloka, Tamilviruttam and Telugupadyamu or sisapadya forms are particularly unique. Though these forms consist of lyric-based verses, musicians improvise raga phrases in free rhythm, like an alapana,[35] so both the sound value, and the meaning of the text, guide the musician through elaborate melodic improvisations.[45] Forms such as the divya prabandham, thevaram and ugabhoga are often performed similarly, however, these forms can also have a set melody and rhythm like the devaranama, javali, padam, thillana and thiruppugazh forms.
The most common and significant forms in Carnatic music are the varnam and the kriti (or kirtanam).
Varnam
Varnams are short metric pieces which encapsulate the main features and requirements of a raga.[46] The features and rules of the raga (also known as the sanchaaraas of a raga) include how each note of the raga should be stressed, the scale of the raga, and so on.[47] All varnams consist of lyrics,[48] as well as swara passages, including a pallavi, an anupallavi, muktayi swaras, a charanam, and chittaswaras.[47]
Known for their complex structure, varnams are a fundamental form in Carnatic music.[48] Varnams are practised as vocal exercises in multiple speeds by performers of Carnatic music, to help develop voice culture, and maintain proper pitch and control of rhythm. In Carnatic music concerts, varnams are often performed by musicians as the opening item – acting as a warm up for the musicians,[49] and as a means of grabbing the attention of the audience.[47]
Kriti
Carnatic songs (kritis) are varied in structure and style, but generally consist of three units:
- Pallavi. This is the equivalent of a refrain in Western music, with 1 or 2 lines.
- Anupallavi. This is the second verse, also as 2 lines.
- Charana. The final (and longest) verse that wraps up the song. The Charanam usually borrows patterns from the Anupallavi. There can be multiple charanas.
This kind of song is called a keerthanam or a kriti. There are other possible structures for a kriti, which may in addition include swara passages named chittaswara. A chittaswara consists only of notes, and has no words. Still others have a verse at the end of the charana, called the madhyamakāla. It is sung immediately after the charana, but at double speed.
Prominent composers
There are many composers in Carnatic music. Purandara Dasa (1484–1564) is referred to as the Pitamaha (the father or grandfather) of Carnatic music as he formulated the basic lessons in teaching Carnatic music, and in honour of his significant contribution to Carnatic music. He structured graded exercises known as Swaravalis and Alankaras, and at the same time, introduced the RagaMayamalavagowla as the first scale to be learnt by beginners. He also composed Gitas (simple songs) for novice students.
The contemporaries Tyagaraja (1767– 1847), Muthuswami Dikshitar, (1776–1835) and Syama Sastri, (1762–1827) are regarded as the Trinity of Carnatic music because of the quality of Syama Sastri's compositions, the varieties of compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Tyagaraja's prolific output in composing kritis.[50]
Prominent composers prior to the Trinity of Carnatic music include Arunachala Kavi, Annamacharya, Narayana Theertha, Vijaya Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa, Gopala Dasa, Bhadrachala Ramadas, Sadasiva Brahmendra and Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi. Other composers are Swathi Thirunal, Gopalakrishna Bharathi, Neelakanta Sivan, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Mysore Vasudevachar, Koteeswara Iyer, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Subramania Bharathiyar, Kalyani Varadarajan, and Papanasam Sivan. The compositions of these composers are rendered frequently by artists of today.
Composers of Carnatic music were often inspired by religious devotion and were usually scholars proficient in one or more of the languages Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, or Telugu. They usually included a signature, called a mudra, in their compositions. For example, all songs by Tyagaraja (who composed in Telugu) have the word Tyagaraja in them, all songs by Muthuswami Dikshitar (who composed in Sanskrit) have the words Guruguha in them; songs by Syama Sastri (who composed in Telugu) have the words Syama Krishna in them; all songs by Purandaradasa (who composed in Kannada) have the words Purandara Vittala; while Gopalakrishna Bharathi (who composed in Tamil) used the signature Gopalakrishnan in his compositions. Papanasam Sivan, who has been hailed as the Tamil Tyagaraja of Carnatic music,[51] composed in Tamil and Sanskrit,[51] and used the signature Ramadasan in his compositions.
Learning Carnatic music
Carnatic music is traditionally taught according to the system formulated by Purandara Dasa. This involves varisais (graded exercises), alankaras (exercises based on the seven talas), geetams or simple songs, and Swarajatis. After the student has reached a certain standard, varnams are taught and later, the student learns kritis. It typically takes several years of learning before a student is adept enough to perform at a concert.
The learning texts and exercises are more or less uniform across all the South Indian states. The learning structure is arranged in increasing order of complexity. The lessons start with the learning of the sarali varisai (solfege set to a particular raga).
Carnatic music was traditionally taught in the gurukula system, where the student lived with and learnt the art from his guru (perceptor). From the late 20th century onwards, with changes in lifestyles and need for young music aspirants to simultaneously pursue a parallel academic career, this system has found few takers.
Musicians often take great pride in letting people know about their GuruParampara, or the hierarchy of disciples from some prominent ancient musician or composer, to which they belong. People whose disciple-hierarchies are often referred to are Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Syama Sastri, Swathi Thirunal and Papanasam Sivan, among others.
In modern times, it is common for students to visit their gurus daily or weekly to learn music. Though new technology has made learning easier with the availability of quick-learn media such as learning exercises recorded on audio cassettes and CDs, these are discouraged by most gurus who emphasize that face-to-face learning is best for students.
Notations
Notation is not a new concept in Indian music. However, Carnatic music continued to be transmitted orally for centuries without being written down. The disadvantage with this system was that if one wanted to learn about a kriti composed, for example, by Purandara Dasa, it involved the difficult task of finding a person from Purandara Dasa's lineage of students.
Written notation of Carnatic music was revived in the late 17th century and early 18th century, which coincided with rule of Shahaji II in Tanjore. Copies of Shahaji's musical manuscripts are still available at the Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjore and they give us an idea of the music and its form. They contain snippets of solfege to be used when performing the mentioned ragas.
Melody
Unlike classical Western music, Carnatic music is notated almost exclusively in tonic sol-fa notation using either a Roman or Indic script to represent the solfa names. Past attempts to use the staff notation have mostly failed. Indian music makes use of hundreds of ragas, many more than the church modes in Western music. It becomes difficult to write Carnatic music using the staff notation without the use of too many accidentals. Furthermore, the staff notation requires that the song be played in a certain key. The notions of key and absolute pitch are deeply rooted in Western music, whereas the Carnatic notation does not specify the key and prefers to use scale degrees (relative pitch) to denote notes. The singer is free to choose the actual pitch of the tonic note. In the more precise forms of Carnatic notation, there are symbols placed above the notes indicating how the notes should be played or sung; however, informally this practice is not followed.
To show the length of a note, several devices are used. If the duration of note is to be doubled, the letter is either capitalized (if using Roman script) or lengthened by a diacritic (in Indian languages). For a duration of three, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and followed by a comma. For a length of four, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and then followed by a semicolon. In this way any duration can be indicated using a series of semicolons and commas.
However, a simpler notation has evolved which does not use semicolons and capitalization, but rather indicates all extensions of notes using a corresponding number of commas. Thus, Sā quadrupled in length would be denoted as 'S,'.
Rhythm
The notation is divided into columns, depending on the structure of the tāḷaṃ. The division between a laghu and a dhrutam is indicated by a।, called a ḍaṇḍā, and so is the division between two dhrutams or a dhrutam and an anudhrutam. The end of a cycle is marked by a॥, called a double ḍaṇḍā, and looks like a caesura.
Performances of Carnatic music
Carnatic music is usually performed by a small ensemble of musicians, who sit on an elevated stage. This usually consists of, at least, a principal performer, a melodic accompaniment, a rhythm accompaniment, and a drone.[52]
Performances can be musical or musical-dramatic. Musical recitals are either vocal, or purely instrumental in nature, while musical-dramatic recitals refer to Harikatha.[52] But, irrespective of what type of recital it is, what is featured are compositions which form the core of this genre of music.
Instrumentation
The tambura is the traditional drone instrument used in concerts. However, tamburas are increasingly being replaced by śruti boxes, and now more commonly, the electronic tambura. The drone itself is an integral part of performances and furnishes stability – the equivalent of harmony in Western music.[53]
In a vocal recital, a concert team may have one or more vocalists as the principal performer(s). Instruments, such as the Saraswati veena and/or venu flute, can be occasionally found as a rhythmic accompaniment, but usually, a vocalist is supported by a violin player (who sits on his/her left). The rhythm accompanist is usually a mridangam player (who sits on the other side, facing the violin player). However, other percussion instruments such as the ghatam, kanjira and morsing frequently also accompany the main percussion instrument and play in an almost contrapuntal fashion along with the beats.
The objective of the accompanying instruments is far more than following the melody and keeping the beats. The accompaniments form an integral part of every composition presented, and they closely follow and augment the melodic phrases outlined by the lead singer. The vocalist and the violinist take turns while elaborating or while exhibiting creativity in sections like raga, niraval and kalpanaswaram.
Unlike Hindustani music concerts, where an accompanying tabla player can keep beats without following the musical phrases at times, in Carnatic music, the accompanists have to follow the intricacies of the composition since there are percussion elements such as eduppu in several compositions.
Some concerts feature a good bit of interaction with the lead musicians and accompanists exchanging notes, and accompanying musicians predicting the lead musician's musical phrases.
Contemporary concert content
A contemporary Carnatic music concert (called a kutcheri) usually lasts about three hours, and comprises a number of varied compositions. Carnatic songs are composed in a particular raga, which means that they do not deviate from the notes in the raga. Each composition is set with specific notes and beats, but performers improvise extensively. Improvisation occurs in the melody of the composition as well as in using the notes to expound the beauty of the raga.
Concerts usually begin with a varnam or an invocatory item which will act as the opening piece. The varnam is composed with an emphasis on swaras of the raga, but will also have lyrics, the saahityam. It is lively and fast to get the audience's attention. An invocatory item may usually follow the varnam.
After the varnam and/or invocatory item, the artist sings longer compositions called kirtanas (commonly referred to as kritis). Each kriti sticks to one specific raga, although some are composed with more than one raga; these are known as ragamalika (a garland of ragas).
After singing the opening kriti, usually, the performer sings the kalpanaswaram of the raga to the beat. The performer must improvise a string of swaras in any octave according to the rules of the raga and return to beginning of the cycle of beats smoothly, joining the swaras with a phrase selected from the kriti. The violin performs these alternately with the main performer. In very long strings of swara, the performers must calculate their notes accurately to ensure that they stick to the raga, have no awkward pauses or lapses in the beat of the song, and create a complex pattern of notes that a knowledgeable audience can follow.
Performers then begin the main compositions with a section called raga alapana exploring the raga. In this, they use the sounds aa, ri, na, ta, etc. instead of swaras to slowly elaborate the notes and flow of the raga. This begins slowly and builds to a crescendo, and finally establishes a complicated exposition of the raga that shows the performer's skill. All of this is done without any rhythmic accompaniment, or beat. Then the melodic accompaniment (violin or veena), expounds the raga. Experienced listeners can identify many ragas after they hear just a few notes. With the raga thus established, the song begins, usually with lyrics. In this, the accompaniment (usually violin, sometimes veena) performs along with the main performer and the percussion (such as a mridangam). In the next stage of the song, they may sing niraval or kalpanaswaram again.
In most concerts, the main item will at least have a section at the end of the item, for the percussion to perform solo (called the tani avartanam). The percussion artists perform complex patterns of rhythm and display their skill. If multiple percussion instruments are employed, they engage in a rhythmic dialogue until the main performer picks up the melody once again. Some experienced artists may follow the main piece with a ragam thanam pallavi mid-concert, if they do not use it as the main item.
Following the main composition, the concert continues with shorter and lighter songs. Some of the types of songs performed towards the end of the concerts are tillanas and thukkadas – bits of popular kritis or compositions requested by the audience. Every concert that is the last of the day ends with a mangalam, a thankful prayer and conclusion to the musical event.
Audience
The audience of a typical concert will have some understanding of Carnatic music. It is also typical to see the audience tapping out the tala in sync with the artist's performance. As and when the artist exhibits creativity, the audience acknowledge it by clapping their hands. With experienced artists, towards the middle of the concert, requests start flowing in. The artist usually sings the requests, and it helps in exhibiting the artist's broad knowledge of the several thousand kritis that are in existence.
Festivals
Various music festivals featuring Carnatic music performances are held in India, and throughout the world.
With the city of Chennai (then known as Madras) emerging as the locus for Carnatic music during the 19th century,[20] its musicians founded the Tyagaraja Aradhana festival in 1846. The Aradhana festival is an annual death-anniversary celebration of the prolific Carnatic music composer, Tyagaraja. Held in the city of Thiruvayaru, thousands of musicians attend the festival to perform his compositions. Since its inception, other festivals were started in a similar manner throughout India and abroad, such as the Chembai Sangeetholsavam in the Indian city of Guruvayur, and the Aradhana in the US city of Cleveland.
The city of Chennai also holds a six-week-long grand 'Music Season', which has been described as the world's largest cultural event.[54] The Music Season was started in 1927, to mark the opening of the Madras Music Academy. It used to be a traditional month-long Carnatic music festival, but since then it has also diversified into dance and drama, as well as non-Carnatic art forms. Some concert organisers also feature their own Carnatic music festivals during the season. Thousands of performances are held by hundreds of musicians across various venues in the city.
See also
Notes
- ^Srinivasan, Anil. 'Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora: The new force spreading Carnatic music and dance worldwide'. Scroll.in. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^'Tamil of Sri Lanka Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Tamil of Sri Lanka'. encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ abCarnatic music. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 April 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
- ^The Music AcademyArchived 26 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Written by Malathi Rangaswamy, Secretary of Music Academy
- ^Nettl (2005), p38
- ^Moorthy (2001), p17
- ^ abc'History of Music, Origins'. The Carnatica Group. Carnatica.net. Retrieved 3 July 2007.
- ^'The Hindu : Sci Tech / Speaking Of Science : The music of we primates: Nada Brahmam'. hindu.com.
- ^'Veena in Yajurveda'. Archived from the original on 31 October 2006.
- ^YjS 3.115. 'Yajnavalkya on Music'.
- ^Singer, M. (1958). 'The Great Tradition in a Metropolitan Center: Madras'. The Journal of American Folklore. American Folklore Society. 71 (281): 347–388. doi:10.2307/538567. JSTOR538567.
- ^Moorthy (2001), p18
- ^ abSubramaniam, L. (1999). 'The reinvention of a tradition: Nationalism, Carnatic music and the Madras Music Academy, 1900–1947'. Indian Economic & Social History Review. 36 (2): 131–163. doi:10.1177/001946469903600201.
- ^Ries, R. E. (1969). 'The Cultural Setting of South Indian Music'. Asian Music. University of Texas Press. 1 (2): 22–31. doi:10.2307/833909. JSTOR833909.
- ^Theory of Music, Vasanthamadhavi P.183
- ^'Royal tribute to Thanjavur rulers'. The New Indian Express.
- ^Pranesh (2003), p54-55, p92, p162-163, p225-226
- ^Pranesh (2003), p108
- ^Pranesh (2003), p128
- ^ abHughes, S. P. (2002). 'The 'Music Boom' in Tamil South India: gramophone, radio and the making of mass culture'. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 22 (4): 445–473. doi:10.1080/0143968022000012129.
- ^ abBreyer, Barbara (1972). 'Composers and Tradition in Karnatik Music'. Asian Music. University of Texas Press. 3 (2): 42–51. doi:10.2307/833958. JSTOR833958.
- ^ ab'Royal Carpet: Glossary of Carnatic Terms S'. karnatik.com.
- ^Sound of India
- ^S. Santhanlingam, Kudumiyan Malai, Tamil Nadu Government Archeology Department publication, 1981
- ^'Royal Carpet: Glossary of Carnatic Terms M'. karnatik.com.
- ^ abcNettl, Bruno (1974). 'Thoughts On Improvisation: A Comparative Approach'. Musical Quarterly. LX: 9–12. doi:10.1093/mq/LX.1.1.
- ^'Royal Carpet: Glossary of Carnatic Terms T'. karnatik.com.
- ^MacCarthy, M. (1912). 'Some Indian Conceptions of Music'. Proceedings of the Musical Association. 38th Sess: 41–65. doi:10.1093/jrma/38.1.41.
- ^ abKassebaum, G. R. (1987). 'Improvisation in Alapana Performance: A Comparative View of Raga Shankarabharana'. Yearbook for Traditional Music. International Council for Traditional Music. 19: 45–64. doi:10.2307/767877. JSTOR767877.
- ^Kassebaum (2000), p17
- ^Higgins, J. B. (1973). 'untitled'. Asian Music. 4 (2): 27–35.
- ^Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), pp. 219–220.
- ^ abcWolf, R. (1999). 'untitled'. Asian Music. 30 (1): 199–203.
- ^ ab'Royal Carpet: Glossary of Carnatic Terms R'. karnatik.com.
- ^ abHiggins, J. B. (1987). 'Performing Arts in India: Essays on Music, Dance, and Drama'. Asian Music. 18 (2): 103–118. doi:10.2307/833942.
- ^Randel (2003), p562
- ^ abViswanathan & Cormack (1998), p232
- ^ abcHenry, E. O. (2002). 'The Rationalization of Intensity in Indian Music'. Ethnomusicology. Society for Ethnomusicology. 46 (1): 33–35. doi:10.2307/852807. JSTOR852807.
- ^Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), p219
- ^Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), p232
- ^Viswanathan & Cormack (1998), p221
- ^Solis & Nettl (2009), p188
- ^ abPalackal, J. J. (1998). 'untitled'. Yearbook for Traditional Music. 30: 207–207. doi:10.2307/768616.
- ^ abKassebaum (2000), 158
- ^Higgins, J. B. (1985). 'India'. Ethnomusicology. Society for Ethnomusicology. 29 (1): 162–166. doi:10.2307/852348. JSTOR852348.
- ^Nettl (2005), p189
- ^ abc'Royal Carpet: Glossary of Carnatic Terms V'. karnatik.com.
- ^ abBradnock (1992), p631
- ^Gupta (2006), p68
- ^'The golden era'. The Hindu.
- ^ ab'The Hindu : Focus on veena's exalted status'. hindu.com.
- ^ abL'Armand, A. K.; L'armand, Adrian (1983). 'One Hundred Years of Music in Madras: A Case Study in Secondary Urbanization'. Ethnomusicology. Society for Ethnomusicology. 27 (3): 411–438. doi:10.2307/850653.
- ^Rosenthal, E. (1931). 'Tyagaraja: A Great South Indian Composer'. Musical Quarterly. XVII: 14–24. doi:10.1093/mq/XVII.1.14.
- ^'Musical Musings'. Chennai, India: The Hindu. 3 February 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2007.
References
- Kassebaum, Gayatri Rajapur. ‘Karnatak raga’ (2000). In Arnold, Alison. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. New York & London: Taylor & Francis.
- Moorthy, Vijaya (2001). Romance of the Raga. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.
- Nettl, B. (2009). In Solis, Gabriel; Nettl, Bruno (2009). Musical Improvisation: Art, Education, and Society. University of Illinois Press.
- Pranesh, Meera Rajaram (2003). Musical Composers during Wodeyar Dynasty (1638–1947 A.D.). Bangalore: Vee Emm Publications.
- Randel, Don Michael (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music. United States: Harvard University Press.
- Viswanathan, T. & Cormack, Jody (1998). In Nettl, Bruno; Russell, Melinda. In the Course of Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press. ISBN0-226-57411-3.
Bibliography
- Charles Russel Day (1891). The Music and Musical Instruments of southern India and the Deccan. William Gibb (lllus.). Novello, Ewer & Co., London -.
- '[Carnatic music]'. Encyclopædia Britannica (15 ed.). 2005.
- Panchapakesa Iyer, A. S. (2003). Gānāmruta Varna Mālikā. Gānāmruta Prachuram.
External links
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- Carnatic music at Curlie
A standard modern violin shown from the front and the side | |
String instrument | |
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Other names | fiddle |
Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 321.322-71 (Composite chordophone sounded by a bow) |
Developed | Early 16th century |
Playing range | |
Related instruments | |
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Musicians | |
Builders |
Part of a series on |
Fiddle and Violin |
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Basic physics |
Fiddlers |
History of the violin |
Luthiers |
Musical styles |
Violin technique |
Violin construction |
Violin family |
Violinists |
The violin, sometimes known as a fiddle, is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are virtually unused. The violin typically has four strings, usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (col legno).
Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo instruments and in many varieties of folk music, including country music, bluegrass music and in jazz. Electric violins with solid bodies and piezoelectric pickups are used in some forms of rock music and jazz fusion, with the pickups plugged into instrument amplifiers and speakers to produce sound. Further, the violin has come to be played in many non-Western music cultures, including Indian music and Iranian music. The name fiddle is often used regardless of the type of music played on it.
The violin was first known in 16th-century Italy, with some further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries to give the instrument a more powerful sound and projection. In Europe, it served as the basis for the development of other stringed instruments used in Western classical music, such as the viola.[1][2][3]
Violinists and collectors particularly prize the fine historical instruments made by the Stradivari, Guarneri, Guadagnini and Amati families from the 16th to the 18th century in Brescia and Cremona (Italy) and by Jacob Stainer in Austria. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or equal it, though this belief is disputed.[4][5] Great numbers of instruments have come from the hands of less famous makers, as well as still greater numbers of mass-produced commercial 'trade violins' coming from cottage industries in places such as Saxony, Bohemia, and Mirecourt. Many of these trade instruments were formerly sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other mass merchandisers.
The parts of a violin are usually made from different types of wood. Violins can be strung with gut, Perlon or other synthetic, or steel strings. A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier or violinmaker. One who makes or repairs bows is called an archetier or bowmaker.
- 3Construction and mechanics
- 6Playing
- 6.2Left hand and pitch production
- 6.3Right hand and tone color
- 7Musical styles
Etymology
The word 'violin' was first used in English in the 1570s.[6] The word 'violin' comes from 'Italian violino, [a] diminutive of viola'. The term 'viola' comes from the expression for 'tenor violin' in 1797, from Italian viola, from Old Provençalviola, [which came from] Medieval Latinvitula' as a term which means 'stringed instrument,' perhaps [coming] from Vitula, Roman goddess of joy..., or from related Latin verb vitulari, 'to exult, be joyful.'[7] The related term 'Viola da gamba' means 'bass viol' (1724) is from Italian, literally 'a viola for the leg' (i.e. to hold between the legs).'[7] A violin is the 'modern form of the smaller, medieval viola da braccio.' ('arm viola')[6]
The violin is often called a fiddle, either when used in a folk music context, or even in Classical music scenes, as an informal nickname for the instrument.[8] The word 'fiddle' was first used in English in the late 14th century.[8] The word 'fiddle' comes from 'fedele, fydyll, fidel, earlier fithele, from Old English fiðele 'fiddle,' which is related to Old Norsefiðla, Middle Dutch vedele, Dutch vedel, Old High Germanfidula, German Fiedel, 'a fiddle;' all of uncertain origin.' As to the origin of the word 'fiddle', the '...usual suggestion, based on resemblance in sound and sense, is that it is from Medieval Latin vitula.'[8]
History
The earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked (for example, the Greek lyre). Two-stringed, bowed instruments, played upright and strung and bowed with horsehair, may have originated in the nomadic equestrian cultures of Central Asia, in forms closely resembling the modern-day MongolianMorin huur and the KazakhKobyz. Similar and variant types were probably disseminated along East-West trading routes from Asia into the Middle East,[9][10] and the Byzantine Empire.[11][12]
The direct ancestor of all European bowed instruments is the Arabicrebab (ربابة), which developed into the Byzantine lyra by the 9th century and later the European rebec.[13][14][15] The first makers of violins probably borrowed from various developments of the Byzantine lyra. These included the vielle (also known as the fidel or viuola) and the lira da braccio.[11][16]The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th-century northern Italy. The earliest pictures of violins, albeit with three strings, are seen in northern Italy around 1530, at around the same time as the words 'violino' and 'vyollon' are seen in Italian and French documents. One of the earliest explicit descriptions of the instrument, including its tuning, is from the Epitome musical by Jambe de Fer, published in Lyon in 1556.[17] By this time, the violin had already begun to spread throughout Europe.
The violin proved very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility; the French king Charles IX ordered Andrea Amati to construct 24 violins for him in 1560.[18] One of these 'noble' instruments, the Charles IX, is the oldest surviving violin. The finest Renaissance carved and decorated violin in the world is the Gasparo da Salò (c.1574) owned by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria and later, from 1841, by the Norwegian virtuoso Ole Bull, who used it for forty years and thousands of concerts, for its very powerful and beautiful tone, similar to that of a Guarneri.[19]'The Messiah' or 'Le Messie' (also known as the 'Salabue') made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716 remains pristine. It is now located in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford.[20]
The most famous violin makers (luthiers) between the 16th century and the 18th century include:
- The school of Brescia, beginning in the late 14th century with liras, violettas, violas and active in the field of the violin in the first half of the 16th century
- The Dalla Corna family, active 1510–1560 in Brescia and Venice
- The Micheli family, active 1530–1615 in Brescia
- The Inverardi family active 1550–1580 in Brescia
- The Gasparo da Salò family, active 1530–1615 in Brescia and Salò
- Giovanni Paolo Maggini, student of Gasparo da Salò, active 1600–1630 in Brescia
- The Rogeri family, active 1661-1721 in Brescia
- The school of Cremona, beginning in the second half of the 16th century with violas and violone and in the field of violin in the second half of the 16th century
- The Amati family, active 1550–1740 in Cremona
- The Guarneri family, active 1626–1744 in Cremona and Venice
- The Stradivari family, active 1644–1737 in Cremona[21]
- The Rugeri family, active 1650-1740 in Cremona
- Carlo Bergonzi (luthier) (1683-1747) in Cremona
- The school of Venice, with the presence of several makers of bowed instruments from the early 16th century out of more than 140 makers of string instruments registered between 1490–1630.[22]
- The Linarolo family, active 1505–1640 in Venice
- Matteo Goffriller, known for his celli, active 1685–1742 in Venice
- Pietro Guarneri, son of Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri and from Cremona, active 1717–1762 in Venice
- Domenico Montagnana, active circa 1700–1750 in Venice
- Santo Serafin, active before 1741 until 1776 in Venice
Significant changes occurred in the construction of the violin in the 18th century, particularly in the length and angle of the neck, as well as a heavier bass bar. The majority of old instruments have undergone these modifications, and hence are in a significantly different state than when they left the hands of their makers, doubtless with differences in sound and response.[23] But these instruments in their present condition set the standard for perfection in violin craftsmanship and sound, and violin makers all over the world try to come as close to this ideal as possible.
To this day, instruments from the so-called Golden Age of violin making, especially those made by Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù and Montagnana are the most sought-after instruments by both collectors and performers. The current record amount paid for a Stradivari violin is £9.8 million (US$15.9 million), when the instrument known as the Lady Blunt was sold by Tarisio Auctions in an online auction on June 20, 2011.[24]
Construction and mechanics
A violin generally consists of a spruce top (the soundboard, also known as the top plate, table, or belly), maple ribs and back, two endblocks, a neck, a bridge, a soundpost, four strings, and various fittings, optionally including a chinrest, which may attach directly over, or to the left of, the tailpiece. A distinctive feature of a violin body is its hourglass-like shape and the arching of its top and back. The hourglass shape comprises two upper bouts, two lower bouts, and two concave C-bouts at the waist, providing clearance for the bow. The 'voice' or sound of a violin depends on its shape, the wood it is made from, the graduation (the thickness profile) of both the top and back, the varnish that coats its outside surface and the skill of the luthier in doing all of these steps. The varnish and especially the wood continue to improve with age, making the fixed supply of old well-made violins built by famous luthiers much sought-after.
The majority of glued joints in the instrument use animal hide glue rather than common white glue for a number of reasons. Hide glue is capable of making a thinner joint than most other glues, it is reversible (brittle enough to crack with carefully applied force, and removable with very warm water) when disassembly is needed, and since fresh hide glue sticks to old hide glue, more original wood can be preserved when repairing a joint. (More modern glues must be cleaned off entirely for the new joint to be sound, which generally involves scraping off some wood along with the old glue.) Weaker, diluted glue is usually used to fasten the top to the ribs, and the nut to the fingerboard, since common repairs involve removing these parts. The purfling running around the edge of the spruce top provides some protection against cracks originating at the edge. It also allows the top to flex more independently of the rib structure. Painted-on faux purfling on the top is usually a sign of an inferior instrument. The back and ribs are typically made of maple, most often with a matching striped figure, referred to as flame, fiddleback, or tiger stripe.
The neck is usually maple with a flamed figure compatible with that of the ribs and back. It carries the fingerboard, typically made of ebony, but often some other wood stained or painted black on cheaper instruments. Ebony is the preferred material because of its hardness, beauty, and superior resistance to wear. Fingerboards are dressed to a particular transverse curve, and have a small lengthwise 'scoop,' or concavity, slightly more pronounced on the lower strings, especially when meant for gut or synthetic strings. Some old violins (and some made to appear old) have a grafted scroll, evidenced by a glue joint between the pegbox and neck. Many authentic old instruments have had their necks reset to a slightly increased angle, and lengthened by about a centimeter. The neck graft allows the original scroll to be kept with a Baroque violin when bringing its neck into conformance with modern standards.
The bridge is a precisely cut piece of maple that forms the lower anchor point of the vibrating length of the strings and transmits the vibration of the strings to the body of the instrument. Its top curve holds the strings at the proper height from the fingerboard in an arc, allowing each to be sounded separately by the bow. The sound post, or soul post, fits precisely inside the instrument between the back and top, at a carefully chosen spot near the treble foot of the bridge, which it helps support. It also influences the modes of vibration of the top and the back of the instrument.
The tailpiece anchors the strings to the lower bout of the violin by means of the tailgut, which loops around an ebony button called the tailpin (sometimes confusingly called the endpin, like the cello's spike), which fits into a tapered hole in the bottom block. Very often the E string will have a fine tuning lever worked by a small screw turned by the fingers. Fine tuners may also be applied to the other strings, especially on a student instrument, and are sometimes built into the tailpiece. The fine tuners enable the performer to make small changes in the pitch of a string. At the scroll end, the strings wind around the wooden tuning pegs in the pegbox. The tuning pegs are tapered and fit into holes in the peg box. The tuning pegs are held in place by the friction of wood on wood. Strings may be made of metal or less commonly gut or gut wrapped in metal. Strings usually have a colored silk wrapping at both ends, for identification of the string (e.g., G string, D string, A string or E string) and to provide friction against the pegs. The tapered pegs allow friction to be increased or decreased by the player applying appropriate pressure along the axis of the peg while turning it.
Strings
Strings were first made of sheep gut (commonly known as catgut, which despite the name, did not come from cats), or simply gut, which was stretched, dried, and twisted. In the early years of the 20th century, strings were made of either gut or steel. Modern strings may be gut, solid steel, stranded steel, or various synthetic materials such as perlon, wound with various metals, and sometimes plated with silver. Most E strings are unwound, either plain or plated steel. Gut strings are not as common as they once were, but many performers use them to achieve a specific sound especially in historically informed performance of Baroque music. Strings have a limited lifetime. Eventually, when oil, dirt, corrosion, and rosin accumulate, the mass of the string can become uneven along its length. Apart from obvious things, such as the winding of a string coming undone from wear, players generally change a string when it no longer plays 'true' (with good intonation on the harmonics), losing the desired tone, brilliance and intonation. String longevity depends on string quality and playing intensity.
Pitch range
A violin is tuned in fifths, in the notes G3, D4, A4, E5. The lowest note of a violin, tuned normally, is G3, or G below middle C. (On rare occasions, the lowest string may be tuned down by as much as a fourth, to D3.) The highest note is less well defined: E7, the E two octaves above the open string (which is tuned to E5) may be considered a practical limit for orchestral violin parts,[25] but it is often possible to play higher, depending on the length of the fingerboard and the skill of the violinist. Yet higher notes (up to C8) can be sounded by stopping the string, reaching the limit of the fingerboard, or by using artificial harmonics.
Acoustics
The arched shape, the thickness of the wood, and its physical qualities govern the sound of a violin. Patterns of the node made by sand or glitter sprinkled on the plates with the plate vibrated at certain frequencies, called Chladni patterns, are occasionally used by luthiers to verify their work before assembling the instrument.[26]
Sizes
Apart from the standard, full (4⁄4) size, violins are also made in so-called fractional sizes of 7⁄8, 3⁄4, 1⁄2, 1⁄4, 1⁄8, 1⁄10, 1⁄16, 1⁄32 and even 1⁄64. These smaller instruments are commonly used by young players, whose fingers are not long enough to reach the correct positions on full-sized instruments.
While related in some sense to the dimensions of the instruments, the fractional sizes are not intended to be literal descriptions of relative proportions. For example, a 3⁄4-sized instrument is not three-quarters the length of a full size instrument. The body length (not including the neck) of a full-size, or 4⁄4, violin is 356 mm (14.0 in), smaller in some 17th-century models. A 3⁄4 violin's body length is 335 mm (13.2 in), and a 1⁄2 size is 310 mm (12.2 in). With the violin's closest family member, the viola, size is specified as body length in inches or centimeters rather than fractional sizes. A full-size viola averages 40 cm (16 in). However, each individual adult will determine which size of viola to use.
Occasionally, an adult with a small frame may use a so-called 7⁄8 size violin instead of a full-size instrument. Sometimes called a lady's violin, these instruments are slightly shorter than a full size violin, but tend to be high-quality instruments capable of producing a sound that is comparable to that of fine full size violins. 5 string violin sizes may differ from the normal 4 string.
Mezzo violin
The instrument which corresponds to the violin in the violin octet is the mezzo violin, tuned the same as a violin but with a slightly longer body. The strings of the mezzo violin are the same length as those of the standard violin.
Tuning
Violins are tuned by turning the pegs in the pegbox under the scroll, or by adjusting the fine tuner screws at the tailpiece. All violins have pegs; fine tuners (also called fine adjusters) are optional. Most fine tuners consist of a metal screw that moves a lever attached to the string end. They permit very small pitch adjustments much more easily than the pegs. By turning one clockwise, the pitch becomes sharper (as the string is under more tension) and turning one counterclockwise, the pitch becomes flatter (as the string is under less tension). Fine tuners on all four of the strings are very helpful when using those that have a steel core, and some players use them with synthetic strings as well. Since modern E strings are steel, a fine tuner is nearly always fitted for that string. Fine tuners are not used with gut strings, which are more elastic than steel or synthetic-core strings and do not respond adequately to the very small movements of fine tuners.
To tune a violin, the A string is first tuned to a standardpitch (usually 440 Hz). (When accompanying or playing with a fixed-pitch instrument such as a piano or accordion, the violin tunes to it.) The other strings are then tuned against each other in intervals of perfect fifths by bowing them in pairs. A minutely higher tuning is sometimes employed for solo playing to give the instrument a brighter sound; conversely, Baroque music is sometimes played using lower tunings to make the violin's sound more gentle. After tuning, the instrument's bridge may be examined to ensure that it is standing straight and centered between the inner nicks of the f-holes; a crooked bridge may significantly affect the sound of an otherwise well-made violin. After extensive playing, the holes into which the tuning pegs are inserted can become worn, which can lead the peg to slip under tension. This can lead to the pitch of the string dropping, or if the peg becomes completely loose, to the string completely losing tension. A violin in which the tuning pegs are slipping needs to be repaired by a luthier or violin repairperson. Peg dope or peg compound, used regularly, can delay the onset of such wear, while allowing the pegs to turn smoothly.
The tuning G–D–A–E is used for most violin music, both in Classical music, jazz and folk music. Other tunings are occasionally employed; the G string, for example, can be tuned up to A. The use of nonstandard tunings in classical music is known as scordatura; in some folk styles, it is called cross tuning. One famous example of scordatura in classical music is Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre, where the solo violin's E string is tuned down to E♭ to impart an eerie dissonance to the composition. Other examples are the third movement of Contrasts, by Béla Bartók, where the E string is tuned down to E♭ and the G tuned to a G♯, and the Mystery Sonatas by Biber, in which each movement has different scordatura tuning.
In Indian classical music and Indian light music, the violin is likely to be tuned to D♯–A♯–D♯–A♯ in the South Indian style. As there is no concept of absolute pitch in Indian classical music, any convenient tuning maintaining these relative pitch intervals between the strings can be used. Another prevalent tuning with these intervals is B♭–F–B♭–F, which corresponds to Sa–Pa–Sa–Pa in the Indian carnatic classical music style. In the North Indian Hindustani style, the tuning is usually Pa-Sa-Pa-Sa instead of Sa–Pa–Sa–Pa. This could correspond to F–B♭–F–B♭, for instance. In Iranian classical music and Iranian light music, the violin ls different tunings in any Dastgah, the violin is likely to be tuned (E–A–E–A) in Dastgah-h Esfahan or in Dastgāh-e Šur is (E–A–D–E) and (E–A–E–E), in Dastgāh-e Māhur is (E–A–D–A). In Arabic classical music, the A and E strings are lowered by a whole step i.e. G–D–G–D. This is to ease playing Arabic maqams, especially those containing quarter tones.
While most violins have four strings, there are violins with additional strings. Some have as many as seven strings. Seven strings is generally thought to be the maximum number of strings that can be put on a bowed string instrument, because with more than seven strings, it would be impossible to play a particular inner string individually with the bow. Instruments with seven strings are very rare. The extra strings on such violins typically are lower in pitch than the G-string; these strings are usually tuned to C, F, and B♭. If the instrument's playing length, or string length from nut to bridge, is equal to that of an ordinary full-scale violin; i.e., a bit less than 13 inches (33 cm), then it may be properly termed a violin. Some such instruments are somewhat longer and should be regarded as violas. Violins with five strings or more are typically used in jazz or folk music. Some custom-made instruments have extra strings which are not bowed, but which sound sympathetically, due to the vibrations of the bowed strings.
Bows
A violin is usually played using a bow consisting of a stick with a ribbon of horsehair strung between the tip and frog (or nut, or heel) at opposite ends. A typical violin bow may be 75 cm (30 in) overall, and weigh about 60 g (2.1 oz). Viola bows may be about 5 mm (0.20 in) shorter and 10 g (0.35 oz) heavier. At the frog end, a screw adjuster tightens or loosens the hair. Just forward of the frog, a leather thumb cushion, called the grip, and winding protect the stick and provide a strong grip for the player's hand. Traditional windings are of wire (often silver or plated silver), silk, or baleen ('whalebone', now substituted by alternating strips of tan and black plastic.) Some fiberglass student bows employ a plastic sleeve as grip and winding.
Bow hair traditionally comes from the tail of a grey male horse (which has predominantly white hair). Some cheaper bows use synthetic fiber. Solid rosin is rubbed onto the hair, to render it slightly sticky; when the bow is drawn across a string, the friction between them makes the string vibrate. Traditional materials for the more costly bow sticks include snakewood, and brazilwood (which is also known as Pernambuco wood). Some recent bow design innovations use carbon fiber (CodaBows) for the stick, at all levels of craftsmanship. Inexpensive bows for students are made of less costly timbers, or from fiberglass (Glasser).
Playing
Posture
The violin is played either seated or standing up. Solo players (whether playing alone, with a piano or with an orchestra) play mostly standing up (unless prevented by a physical disability such as in the case of Itzhak Perlman), while in the orchestra and in chamber music it is usually played seated. In the 2000s and 2010s, some orchestras performing Baroque music (such as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) have had all of their violins and violas, solo and ensemble, perform standing up.
The standard way of holding the violin is with the left side of the jaw resting on the chinrest of the violin, and supported by the left shoulder, often assisted by a shoulder rest (or a sponge and an elastic band for younger players who struggle with shoulder rests). The jaw and the shoulder must hold the violin firmly enough to allow it to remain stable when the left hand goes from a high position (a high pitched note far up on the fingerboard) to a low one (nearer to the pegbox). In the Indian posture, the stability of the violin is guaranteed by its scroll resting on the side of the foot.
While teachers point out the vital importance of good posture both for the sake of the quality of the playing and to reduce the chance of repetitive strain injury, advice as to what good posture is and how to achieve it differs in details. However all insist on the importance of a natural relaxed position without tension or rigidity. Things which are almost universally recommended is keeping the left wrist straight (or very nearly so) to allow the fingers of the left hand to move freely and to reduce the chance of injury and keeping either shoulder in a natural relaxed position and avoiding raising either of them in an exaggerated manner. This, like any other unwarranted tension, would limit freedom of motion, and increase the risk of injury.
Hunching can hamper good playing, because it throws the body off balance and makes the shoulders rise. Another sign that comes from unhealthy tension is pain in the left hand, which indicates too much pressure when holding the violin.
Left hand and pitch production
The left hand determines the sounding length of the string, and thus the pitch of the string, by 'stopping' it (pressing it) against the fingerboard with the fingertips, producing different pitches. As the violin has no frets to stop the strings, as is usual with the guitar, the player must know exactly where to place the fingers on the strings to play with good intonation (tuning). Beginning violinists play open strings and the lowest position, nearest to the nut. Students often start with relatively easy keys, such as A Major and G major. Students are taught scales and simple melodies. Through practice of scales and arpeggios and ear training, the violinist's left hand eventually 'finds' the notes intuitively by muscle memory.
Beginners sometimes rely on tapes placed on the fingerboard for proper left hand finger placement, but usually abandon the tapes quickly as they advance. Another commonly used marking technique uses dots of white-out on the fingerboard, which wear off in a few weeks of regular practice. This practice, unfortunately, is used sometimes in lieu of adequate ear-training, guiding the placement of fingers by eye and not by ear. Especially in the early stages of learning to play, the so-called 'ringing tones' are useful. There are nine such notes in first position, where a stopped note sounds a unison or octave with another (open) string, causing it to resonate sympathetically. Students often use these ringing tones to check the intonation of the stopped note by seeing if it is harmonious with the open string. For example, when playing the stopped pitch 'A' on the G string, the violinist could play the open D string at the same time, to check the intonation of the stopped 'A'. If the 'A' is in tune, the 'A' and the open D string should produce a harmonious perfect fourth.
Violins are tuned in perfect fifths, like all the orchestral strings (violin, viola, cello) except the double bass, which is tuned in perfect fourths. Each subsequent note is stopped at a pitch the player perceives as the most harmonious, 'when unaccompanied, [a violinist] does not play consistently in either the tempered or the natural [just] scale, but tends on the whole to conform with the Pythagorean scale.'[27] When violinists are playing in a string quartet or a string orchestra, the strings typically 'sweeten' their tuning to suit the key they are playing in. When playing with an instrument tuned to equal temperament, such as a piano, skilled violinists adjust their tuning to match the equal temperament of the piano to avoid discordant notes.
The fingers are conventionally numbered 1 (index) through 4 (little finger) in music notation, such as sheet music and etude books. Especially in instructional editions of violin music, numbers over the notes may indicate which finger to use, with 0 or O indicating an open string. The chart to the right shows the arrangement of notes reachable in first position. Not shown on this chart is the way the spacing between note positions becomes closer as the fingers move up (in pitch) from the nut. The bars at the sides of the chart represent the usual possibilities for beginners' tape placements, at 1st, high 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers.
Positions
The placement of the left hand on the fingerboard is characterized by 'positions'. First position, where most beginners start (although some methods start in third position), is the most commonly used position in string music. Music composed for beginning youth orchestras is often mostly in first position. The lowest note available in this position in standard tuning is an open G; the highest note in first position is played with the fourth finger on the E-string, sounding a B. Moving the hand up the neck, so the first finger takes the place of the second finger, brings the player into second position. Letting the first finger take the first-position place of the third finger brings the player to third position, and so on. A change of positions, with its associated movement of the hand, is referred to as a shift, and effective shifting maintaining accurate intonation and a smooth legato (connected) sound is a key element of technique at all levels. Often a 'guide finger' is used; the last finger to play a note in the old position continuously lightly touches the string during the course of the shift to end up on its correct place in the new position. In elementary shifting exercises the 'guide finger' is often voiced while it glides up and down the string, so the player can establish by ear whether they are landing in the correct place, however outside of these exercises it should rarely be audible (unless the performer is consciously applying a portamento effect for expressive reasons).
In the course of a shift in low positions, the thumb of the left hand moves up or down the neck of the instrument so as to remain in the same position relative to the fingers (though the movement of the thumb may occur slightly before, or slightly after, the movement of the fingers). In such positions, the thumb is often thought of as an 'anchor' whose location defines what position the player is in. In very high positions, the thumb is unable to move with the fingers as the body of the instrument gets in the way. Instead, the thumb works around the neck of the instrument to sit at the point at which the neck meets the right bout of the body, and remains there while the fingers move between the high positions.
A note played outside of the normal compass of a position, without any shift, is referred to as an extension. For instance, in third position on the A string, the hand naturally sits with the first finger on D♮ and the fourth on either G♮ or G♯. Stretching the first finger back down to a C♯, or the fourth finger up to an A♮, forms an extension. Extensions are commonly used where one or two notes are slightly out of an otherwise solid position, and give the benefit of being less intrusive than a shift or string crossing. The lowest position on the violin is referred to as 'half position'. In this position the first finger is on a 'low first position' note, e.g. B♭ on the A string, and the fourth finger is in a downward extension from its regular position, e.g. D♮ on the A string, with the other two fingers placed in between as required. As the position of the thumb is typically the same in 'half position' as in first position, it is better thought of as a backwards extension of the whole hand than as a genuine position.
The upper limit of the violin's range is largely determined by the skill of the player, who may easily play more than two octaves on a single string, and four octaves on the instrument as a whole. Position names are mostly used for the lower positions and in method books and etudes; for this reason, it is uncommon to hear references to anything higher than seventh position. The highest position, practically speaking, is 13th position. Very high positions are a particular technical challenge, for two reasons. Firstly, the difference in location of different notes becomes much narrower in high positions, making the notes more challenging to locate and in some cases to distinguish by ear. Secondly, the much shorter sounding length of the string in very high positions is a challenge for the right arm and bow in sounding the instrument effectively. The finer (and more expensive) an instrument, the better able it is to sustain good tone right to the top of the fingerboard, at the highest pitches on the E string.
All notes (except those below the open D) can be played on more than one string. This is a standard design feature of stringed instruments; however, it differs from the piano, which has only one location for each of its 88 notes. For instance, the note of open A on the violin can be played as the open A, or on the D string (in first to fourth positions) or even on the G string (very high up in sixth to ninth positions). Each string has a different tone quality, because of the different weights (thicknesses) of the strings and because of the resonances of other open strings. For instance, the G string is often regarded as having a very full, sonorous sound which is particularly appropriate to late Romantic music. This is often indicated in the music by the marking, for example, sul G or IV (a Roman numeral indicating to play on the fourth string; by convention, the strings are numbered from thinnest, highest pitch (I) to the lowest pitch (IV). Even without an explicit instructions in the score, an advanced violinist will use her/his discretion and artistic sensibility to select which string to play specific notes or passages.
Open strings
If a string is bowed or plucked without any finger stopping it, it is said to be an open string. This gives a different sound from a stopped string, since the string vibrates more freely at the nut than under a finger. Further, it is impossible to use vibrato fully on an open string (though a partial effect can be achieved by stopping a note an octave up on an adjacent string and vibrating that, which introduces an element of vibrato into the overtones). In the classical tradition, violinists will often use a string crossing or shift of position to allow them to avoid the change of timbre introduced by an open string. This is particularly true for the open E which is often regarded as having a harsh sound. However, there are also situations where an open string may be specifically chosen for artistic effect (particularly in modern music), in classical music which is imitating the drone of an organ (J. S. Bach, in his Partita in E for solo violin, achieved this), fiddling (e.g., Hoedown) or where taking steps to avoid the open string is musically inappropriate (for instance in Baroque music where shifting position was less common). In quick passages of scales or arpeggios an open E string may simply be used for convenience if the note does not have time to ring and develop a harsh timbre. In folk music, fiddling and other traditional music genres, open strings are commonly used for their resonant timbre.
Playing an open string simultaneously with a stopped note on an adjacent string produces a bagpipe-like drone, often used by composers in imitation of folk music. Sometimes the two notes are identical (for instance, playing a fingered A on the D string against the open A string), giving a ringing sort of 'fiddling' sound. Playing an open string simultaneously with an identical stopped note can also be called for when more volume is required, especially in orchestral playing. Some classical violin parts have notes for which the composer requests the violinist to play an open string, because of the specific sonority created by an open string.
Double stops, triple stops, chords and drones
Double stopping is when two separate strings are stopped by the fingers, and bowed simultaneously, producing a sixth, third, fifth, etc. harmony. Double-stops can be indicated in any position, though the widest interval that can be double-stopped naturally in one position is an octave (with the first finger on the lower string and the fourth finger on the higher string). Nonetheless, intervals of tenths or even more are sometimes required to be double-stopped in advanced playing, resulting in a very stretched left-hand position with both fingers extended. The term 'double stop' is often used to encompass sounding an open string alongside a fingered note.
Where three or four more simultaneous notes are written, the violinist will typically 'split' the chord, choosing the lower one or two notes to play first before promptly continuing onto the upper one or two notes. A 'triple stop' with three simultaneous notes is possible in some circumstances. The bow will not naturally strike three strings at once, but if there is sufficient pressure in the bowstroke the middle string can be bent down temporarily so all three can sound. This is accomplished with a heavy stroke, typically quite near the heel, and quite loud. Double stops in orchestra are divided between the players if they are not at ease with them, with half of the musicians playing the lower note and the other half playing the higher note. Sometimes, the composer will write 'divisi' when he intends the two lines to be played separately. Playing double stops is common when the violins do accompaniment and another instrument plays the melody.
In some Baroque music neither split-chord nor triple-stop is appropriate and violinists will arpeggiate all chords (and even what appear to be regular double stops), playing all notes individually as if they had been written as a slurred figure. In some musical styles, a sustained open string drone can be played during a passage mainly written on an adjacent string, to provide a basic accompaniment. This is more often seen in folk traditions than in classical music. However, in Baroque violins, triple-stopping came more naturally due to the bridge being less curved, so it could be played that way.
Vibrato
Vibrato is a technique of the left hand and arm in which the pitch of a note varies subtly in a pulsating rhythm. While various parts of the hand or arm may be involved in the motion, the end result is a movement of the fingertip bringing about a slight change in vibrating string length, which causes an undulation in pitch. Some violinists oscillate backwards, or lower in pitch from the actual note when using vibrato, since it is believed that perception favors the highest pitch in a varying sound.[30] Vibrato does little, if anything, to disguise an out-of-tune note; in other words, misapplied vibrato is a poor substitute for good intonation. Scales and other exercises meant to work on intonation are typically played without vibrato to make the work easier and more effective. Music students are often taught that unless otherwise marked in music, vibrato is assumed. However, it has to be noted that this is only a trend; there is nothing on the sheet music that compels violinists to add vibrato. This can be an obstacle to a classically trained violinist wishing to play in a style that uses little or no vibrato at all, such as baroque music played in period style and many traditional fiddling styles.
Vibrato can be produced by a proper combination of finger, wrist and arm motions. One method, called hand vibrato, involves rocking the hand back at the wrist to achieve oscillation, while another method, arm vibrato, modulates the pitch by rocking at the elbow. A combination of these techniques allows a player to produce a large variety of tonal effects. The 'when' and 'what for' and 'how much' of violin vibrato are artistic matters of style and taste. Different teachers, music schools and styles of music favour different vibrato styles. For example, overdone vibrato may become distracting. In acoustic terms, the interest that vibrato adds to the sound has to do with the way that the overtone mix[31] (or tone color, or timbre) and the directional pattern of sound projection change with changes in pitch. By 'pointing' the sound at different parts of the room[32][33] in a rhythmic way, vibrato adds a 'shimmer' or 'liveliness' to the sound of a well-made violin. Vibrato is, in a large part, left to the discretion of the violinist. Different types of vibrato will bring different moods to the piece, and the varying degrees and styles of vibrato are often characteristics that stand out in well-known violinists.
Vibrato trill
Vibrato can also be used for a fast trill. A trill initiated from just hammering the finger up and down on the fingerboard will create a harsher quality than with a vibrato trill. For example, if trilling on the first finger, the second finger is placed very slightly off the string and vibrato is implemented. The second finger will lightly touch the string above the first finger causing the pitch to change. This has a softer quality and many think it is nicer-sounding than a hammered trill. Note: this trill technique only works well for semi-tonal trills, it is far more difficult to vibrato trill for an interval of a tone or more.
Harmonics
Open strings (arco and pizzicato) A major scale (arco and pizzicato) | |
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Lightly touching the string with a fingertip at a harmonic node, but without fully pressing the string, and then plucking or bowing the string, creates harmonics. Instead of the normal tone, a higher pitched note sounds. Each node is at an integer division of the string, for example half-way or one-third along the length of the string. A responsive instrument will sound numerous possible harmonic nodes along the length of the string. Harmonics are marked in music either with a little circle above the note that determines the pitch of the harmonic, or by diamond-shaped note heads. There are two types of harmonics: natural harmonics and artificial harmonics (also known as false harmonics).
Natural harmonics are played on an open string. The pitch of the open string when it is plucked or bowed is called the fundamental frequency. Harmonics are also called overtones or partials. They occur at whole-number multiples of the fundamental, which is called the first harmonic. The second harmonic is the first overtone (the octave above the open string), the third harmonic is the second overtone, and so on. The second harmonic is in the middle of the string and sounds an octave higher than the string's pitch. The third harmonic breaks the string into thirds and sounds an octave and a fifth above the fundamental, and the fourth harmonic breaks the string into quarters sounding two octaves above the first. The sound of the second harmonic is the clearest of them all, because it is a common node with all the succeeding even-numbered harmonics (4th, 6th, etc.). The third and succeeding odd-numbered harmonics are harder to play because they break the string into an odd number of vibrating parts and do not share as many nodes with other harmonics.
Artificial harmonics are more difficult to produce than natural harmonics, as they involve both stopping the string and playing a harmonic on the stopped note. Using the octave frame (the normal distance between the first and fourth fingers in any given position) with the fourth finger just touching the string a fourth higher than the stopped note produces the fourth harmonic, two octaves above the stopped note. Finger placement and pressure, as well as bow speed, pressure, and sounding point are all essential in getting the desired harmonic to sound. And to add to the challenge, in passages with different notes played as false harmonics, the distance between stopping finger and harmonic finger must constantly change, since the spacing between notes changes along the length of the string.
The harmonic finger can also touch at a major third above the pressed note (the fifth harmonic), or a fifth higher (a third harmonic). These harmonics are less commonly used; in the case of the major third, both the stopped note and touched note must be played slightly sharp otherwise the harmonic does not speak as readily. In the case of the fifth, the stretch is greater than is comfortable for many violinists. In the general repertoire fractions smaller than a sixth are not used. However, divisions up to an eighth are sometimes used and, given a good instrument and a skilled player, divisions as small as a twelfth are possible. There are a few books dedicated solely to the study of violin harmonics. Two comprehensive works are Henryk Heller's seven-volume Theory of Harmonics, published by Simrock in 1928, and Michelangelo Abbado's five-volume Tecnica dei suoni armonici published by Ricordi in 1934.
Elaborate passages in artificial harmonics can be found in virtuoso violin literature, especially of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Two notable examples of this are an entire section of Vittorio Monti's Csárdás and a passage towards the middle of the third movement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. A section of the third movement of Violin Concerto No. 1 (Paganini) consists of double-stopped thirds in harmonics.
When strings are worn, dirty and old, the harmonics may no longer be accurate in pitch. For this reason, violinists change their strings regularly.
Right hand and tone color
The strings may be sounded by drawing the hair of the bow held by the right hand across them (arco) or by plucking them (pizzicato) most often with the right hand. In some cases, the violinist will pluck strings with the left hand. This is done to facilitate transitions from pizz to arco playing. It is also used in some virtuoso showpieces. Left hand pizzes are usually open strings. Pizz is used on all of the violin family instruments; however, the systematic study of advanced pizzicato techniques is most developed in jazz bass, a style in which the instrument is mostly played pizzicato.
The right arm, hand, and bow and the bow speed are responsible for tone quality, rhythm, dynamics, articulation, and most (but not all) changes in timbre. The player draws the bow over the string, causing the string to vibrate and produce a sustained tone. The bow is a wooden stick with tensioned horsetail hair, which has been rosined with a bar of rosin. The natural texture of the horsehair and the stickiness of the rosin help the bow to 'grip' the string, and thus when the bow is drawn over the string, the bow causes the string to sound a pitch.
Bowing can be used to produce long sustained notes or melodies. With a string section, if the players in a section change their bows at different times, a note can seem to be endlessly sustainable. As well, the bow can be used to play short, crisp little notes, such as repeated notes, scales and arpeggios, which provide a propulsive rhythm in many styles of music.
Bowing techniques
The most essential part of bowing technique is the bow grip. It is usually with the thumb bent in the small area between the frog and the winding of the bow. The other fingers are spread somewhat evenly across the top part of the bow. The pinky finger is curled with the tip of the finger placed on the wood next to the screw. The violin produces louder notes with greater bow speed or more weight on the string. The two methods are not equivalent, because they produce different timbres; pressing down on the string tends to produce a harsher, more intense sound. One can also achieve a louder sound by placing the bow closer to the bridge.
The sounding point where the bow intersects the string also influences timbre (or 'tone colour'). Playing close to the bridge (sul ponticello) gives a more intense sound than usual, emphasizing the higher harmonics; and playing with the bow over the end of the fingerboard (sul tasto) makes for a delicate, ethereal sound, emphasizing the fundamental frequency. Dr. Suzuki referred to the sounding point as the Kreisler highway; one may think of different sounding points as lanes in the highway.
Various methods of attack with the bow produce different articulations. There are many bowing techniques that allow for every range of playing style and many teachers, players, and orchestras spend a lot of time developing techniques and creating a unified technique within the group. These techniques include legato-style bowing (a smooth, connected, sustained sound suitable for melodies), collé, and a variety of bowings which produce shorter notes, including ricochet, sautillé, martelé, spiccato, and staccato.
Pizzicato
A note marked pizz. (abbreviation for pizzicato) in the written music is to be played by plucking the string with a finger of the right hand rather than by bowing. (The index finger is most commonly used here.) Sometimes in orchestra parts or virtuoso solo music where the bow hand is occupied (or for show-off effect), left-hand pizzicato will be indicated by a + (plus sign) below or above the note. In left-hand pizzicato, two fingers are put on the string; one (usually the index or middle finger) is put on the correct note, and the other (usually the ring finger or little finger) is put above the note. The higher finger then plucks the string while the lower one stays on, thus producing the correct pitch. By increasing the force of the pluck, one can increase the volume of the note that the string is producing. Pizzicato is used in orchestral works and in solo showpieces. In orchestral parts, violinists often have to make very quick shifts from arco to pizzicato, and vice versa.
Col legno
A marking of col legno (Italian for 'with the wood') in the written music calls for striking the string(s) with the stick of the bow, rather than by drawing the hair of the bow across the strings. This bowing technique is somewhat rarely used, and results in a muted percussive sound. The eerie quality of a violin section playing col legno is exploited in some symphonic pieces, notably the 'Witches' Dance' of the last movement of Berlioz'sSymphonie Fantastique. Saint-Saëns's symphonic poem Danse Macabre includes the string section using the col legno technique to imitate the sound of dancing skeletons. 'Mars' from Gustav Holst's 'The Planets' uses col legno to play a repeated rhythm in 5
4 time signature. Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra demands its use in the 'Percussion' Variation. Dmitri Shostakovich uses it in his Fourteenth Symphony in the movement 'At the Sante Jail'. Some violinists, however, object to this style of playing as it can damage the finish and impair the value of a fine bow, but most of such will compromise by using a cheap bow for at least the duration of the passage in question.
Detaché
A smooth and even stroke during which bow speed and weight are the same from beginning of the stroke to the end.[34]
Martelé
Literally hammered, a strongly accented effect produced by releasing each bowstroke forcefully and suddenly. Martelé can be played in any part of the bow. It is sometimes indicated in written music by an arrowhead.
Tremolo
Tremolo is the very rapid repetition (typically of a single note, but occasionally of multiple notes), usually played at the tip of the bow. Tremolo is marked with three short, slanted lines across the stem of the note. Tremolo is often used as a sound effect in orchestral music, particularly in the Romantic music era (1800-1910) and in opera music.
Mute or sordino
Attaching a small metal, rubber, leather, or wooden device called a mute, or sordino, to the bridge of the violin gives a softer, more mellow tone, with fewer audible overtones; the sound of an entire orchestral string section playing with mutes has a hushed quality. The mute changes both the loudness and the timbre ('tone colour') of a violin. The conventional Italian markings for mute usage are con sord., or con sordino, meaning 'with mute'; and senza sord., meaning 'without mute'; or via sord., meaning 'mute off'.
Larger metal, rubber, or wooden mutes are widely available, known as practice mutes or hotel mutes. Such mutes are generally not used in performance, but are used to deaden the sound of the violin in practice areas such as hotel rooms. (For practicing purposes there is also the mute violin, a violin without a sound box.) Some composers have used practice mutes for special effect, for example, at the end of Luciano Berio's Sequenza VIII for solo violin.
Musical styles
Classical music
Since the Baroque era, the violin has been one of the most important of all instruments in classical music, for several reasons. The tone of the violin stands out above other instruments, making it appropriate for playing a melody line. In the hands of a good player, the violin is extremely agile, and can execute rapid and difficult sequences of notes.
Violins make up a large part of an orchestra, and are usually divided into two sections, known as the first and second violins. Composers often assign the melody to the first violins, typically a more difficult part using higher positions, while second violins play harmony, accompaniment patterns or the melody an octave lower than the first violins. A string quartet similarly has parts for first and second violins, as well as a viola part, and a bass instrument, such as the cello or, rarely, the double bass.
Jazz
The earliest references to jazzperformance using the violin as a solo instrument are documented during the first decades of the 20th century. Joe Venuti, one of the first jazz violinists, is known for his work with guitarist Eddie Lang during the 1920s. Since that time there have been many improvising violinists including Stéphane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Eddie South, Regina Carter, Johnny Frigo, John Blake, Adam Taubitz, Leroy Jenkins, and Jean-Luc Ponty. While not primarily jazz violinists, Darol Anger and Mark O'Connor have spent significant parts of their careers playing jazz.The Swiss-Cuban violinist Yilian Cañizares mixes jazz with Cuban music.[35]
Violins also appear in ensembles supplying orchestral backgrounds to many jazz recordings.
Indian classical music
The Indian violin, while essentially the same instrument as that used in Western music, is different in some senses.[36] The instrument is tuned so that the IV and III strings (G and D on a western-tuned violin) and the II and I (A and E) strings are sa–pa (do–sol) pairs and sound the same but are offset by an octave, resembling common scordatura or fiddle cross-tunings such as G–D–G–D or A–E–A–E. The tonic sa (do) is not fixed, but variably tuned to accommodate the vocalist or lead player. The way the musician holds the instrument varies from Western to Indian music. In Indian music the musician sits on the floor cross-legged with the right foot out in front of them. The scroll of the instrument rests on the foot. This position is essential to playing well due to the nature of Indian music. The hand can move all over the fingerboard and there is no set position for the left hand, so it is important for the violin to be in a steady, unmoving position.
Popular music
Up through at least the 1970s, most types of popular music used bowed string sections. They were extensively used in popular music throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. With the rise of swing music, however, from 1935 to 1945, the string sound was often used to add to the fullness of big band music. Following the swing era, from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, strings began to be revived in traditional pop music. This trend accelerated in the late 1960s, with a significant revival of the use of strings, especially in soul music. Popular Motown recordings of the late 1960s and 1970s relied heavily on strings as part of their trademark texture. The rise of disco music in the 1970s continued this trend with the heavy use of string instruments in popular disco orchestras (e.g., Love Unlimited Orchestra, Biddu Orchestra, Monster Orchestra, Salsoul Orchestra, MFSB).[citation needed]
With the rise of electronically created music in the 1980s, violins declined in use, as synthesized string sounds played by a keyboardist with a synthesizer took their place. However, while the violin has had very little usage in mainstream rock music, it has some history in progressive rock (e.g., Electric Light Orchestra, King Crimson, Kansas, Gentle Giant). The 1973 album Contaminazione by Italy's RDM plays violins off against synthesizers at its finale ('La grande fuga').[citation needed] The instrument has a stronger place in modern jazz fusion bands, notably The Corrs. The fiddle is sometimes a part of British folk rock music, as exemplified by the likes of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.[citation needed]
The popularity of crossover music beginning in the last years of the 20th century has brought the violin back into the popular music arena, with both electric and acoustic violins being used by popular bands. Dave Matthews Band features violinist Boyd Tinsley. The Flock featured violinist Jerry Goodman who later joined the jazz-rock fusion band, The Mahavishnu Orchestra. James' Saul Davies, who is also a guitarist, was enlisted by the band as a violinist. For their first three albums and related singles, the British group No-Man made extensive use of electric and acoustic solo violin as played by band member Ben Coleman (who played violin exclusively).[citation needed]
Pop-Punk band Yellowcard has made a mainstay of violin in its music. Violinist Sean Mackin has been a member of the band since 1997. Los Salvadores also combine punk and ska influences with a violin.[citation needed]Doom metal band My Dying Bride have used violin as a part of their line-up throughout many of their albums.[citation needed] The violin appears prominently in the music of Spanish folk metal group Mägo de Oz (for example, in their 1998 hit 'Molinos de viento'). The violinist (Carlos Prieto a.k.a. 'Mohamed') has been one of the group's most popular members with fans since 1992.[citation needed] The instrument is also used often in symphonic metal, particularly by bands such as Therion, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Haggard, and Epica, although it can also be found in Gothic Metal bands such as Tristania and Theater of Tragedy.[citation needed] The alternative rock band Hurt's vocalist plays violin for the band, making them one of few rock bands to feature violin without hiring a session worker.[citation needed] The folk metal band Ithilien use violin extensively along their discography.[37]Progressive metal band Ne Obliviscaris feature a violin player, Tim Charles, in their line-up.[38]
Independent artists, such as Owen Pallett, The Shondes, and Andrew Bird, have also spurred increased interest in the instrument.[39]Indie bands have often embraced new and unusual arrangements, allowing them more freedom to feature the violin than many mainstream musical artists. It has been used in the post-rock genre by bands such as A Genuine Freakshow, Sigur Rós, Zox, Broken Social Scene, and A Silver Mt. Zion. The electric violin has even been used by bands like The Crüxshadows within the context of keyboard based music.[citation needed]Lindsey Stirling plays the violin in conjunction with electronic/dubstep/trance rifts and beats.[40][citation needed]
Eric Stanley improvises on the violin with hip hop music/pop/classical elements and instrumental beats.[41][42] The successful indie rock and baroque pop band Arcade Fire use violins extensively in their arrangements.[43]Indian, Turkish, and Arabic pop music is filled with the sound of violins, both soloists and ensembles.[citation needed]
Folk music and fiddling
Like many other instruments used in classical music, the violin descends from remote ancestors that were used for folk music. Following a stage of intensive development in the late Renaissance, largely in Italy, the violin had improved (in volume, tone, and agility), to the point that it not only became a very important instrument in art music, but proved highly appealing to folk musicians as well, ultimately spreading very widely, sometimes displacing earlier bowed instruments. Ethnomusicologists have observed its widespread use in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
When played as a folk instrument, the violin is usually referred to in English as a fiddle (although the term fiddle can be used informally no matter what the genre of music). Worldwide, there are various stringed instruments such as the wheel fiddle and Apache fiddle that are also called 'fiddles'. Fiddle music differs from classical in that the tunes are generally considered dance music,[44] and various techniques, such as droning, shuffling, and ornamentation specific to particular styles are used. In many traditions of folk music, the tunes are not written but are memorized by successive generations of musicians and passed on[44] in what is known as the oral tradition. Many old-time pieces call for cross-tuning, or using tunings other than standard GDAE. Some players of American styles of folk fiddling (such as bluegrass or old-time) have their bridge's top edge cut to a slightly flatter curve, making techniques such as a 'double shuffle' less taxing on the bow arm, as it reduces the range of motion needed for alternating between double stops on different string pairs. Fiddlers who use solid steel core strings may prefer to use a tailpiece with fine tuners on all four strings, instead of the single fine tuner on the E string used by many classical players.
Arabic music
As well as the Arabic rababah, the violin has been used in Arabic music.
Electric violins
Electric violins have a magnetic or piezoelectricpickup that converts string vibration to an electric signal. A patch cable or wireless transmitter sends the signal to an amplifier of a PA system. Electric violins are usually constructed as such, but a pickup can be added to a conventional acoustic violin. An electric violin with a resonating body that produces listening-level sound independently of the electric elements can be called an electro-acoustic violin. To be effective as an acoustic violin, electro-acoustic violins retain much of the resonating body of the violin, and often resemble an acoustic violin or fiddle. The body may be finished in bright colors and made from alternative materials to wood. These violins may need to be hooked up to an instrument amplifier or PA system. Some types come with a silent option that allows the player to use headphones that are hooked up to the violin. The first specially built electric violins date back to 1928 and were made by Victor Pfeil, Oskar Vierling, George Eisenberg, Benjamin Miessner, George Beauchamp, Hugo Benioff and Fredray Kislingbury. These violins can be plugged into effect units, just like an electric guitar, including distortion, wah-wah pedal and reverb. Since electric violins do not rely on string tension and resonance to amplify their sound they can have more strings. For example, five-stringed electric violins are available from several manufacturers, and a seven string electric violin (with three lower strings encompassing the cello's range) is also available.[45] The majority of the first electric violinists were musicians playing jazz fusion (e.g., Jean-Luc Ponty) and popular music.
Violin authentication
Violin authentication is the process of determining the maker and manufacture date of a violin. This process is similar to that used to determine the provenance of art works. As significant value may be attached to violins made either by specific makers or at specific times and locations, forgery and other methods of fraudulent misrepresentation can be used to inflate the value of an instrument.
See also
Notes
- ^Singh, Jhujhar. 'Interview: Kala Ramnath'. News X. YouTube. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^Allen, Edward Heron (1914). Violin-making, as it was and is: Being a Historical, Theoretical, and Practical Treatise on the Science and Art of Violin-making, for the Use of Violin Makers and Players, Amateur and Professional. Preceded by An Essay on the Violin and Its Position as a Musical Instrument. E. Howe. Accessed 5 September 2015.
- ^Choudhary, S.Dhar (2010). The Origin and Evolution of Violin as a Musical Instrument and Its Contribution to the Progressive Flow of Indian Classical Music: In search of the historical roots of violin. Ramakrisna Vedanta Math. ISBN978-9380568065. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ^Belluck, Pam (April 7, 2014). 'A Strad? Violinists Can't Tell'. New York Times. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
- ^Christopher Joyce (2012). 'Double-Blind Violin Test: Can You Pick The Strad?'. NPR. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
- ^ ab'Violin'. www.etymonline.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^ ab'Viola'. www.etymonline.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^ abc'Fiddle'. www.etymonline.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust, Silk Road Story 2: Bowed Instruments, Smithsonian Center for Folk life and Cultural Heritage [1] (accessed 2008-09-26)
- ^Hoffman, Miles (1997). The NPR Classical Music Companion: Terms and Concepts from A to Z. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN978-0618619450.
- ^ abGrillet 1901, p. 29
- ^Margaret J. Kartomi: On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments. Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology, University of Chicago Press, 1990
- ^'Rabab'. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
- ^'Lira | musical instrument'. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
- ^Panum, Hortense (1939). 'The stringed instruments of the Middle Ages, their evolution and development'. London: William Reeves: 434.
- ^Arkenberg, Rebecca (October 2002). 'Renaissance Violins'. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
- ^Deverich, Robin Kay (2006). 'Historical Background of the Violin'. ViolinOnline.com. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
- ^Bartruff, William. 'The History of the Violin'. Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
- ^It is now in the Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum in Bergen, Norway.
- ^'Violin by Antonio Stradivari, 1716 (Messiah; la Messie, Salabue)'. Cozio.com. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^Kennedy, Michael (2017). The Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford University Press.
- ^Pio Stefano (2012). Viol and Lute Makers of Venice 1490 -1630. Venice, Italy: Venice Research. p. 441. ISBN9788890725203.
- ^Richard Perras. 'Violin changes by 1800'. Retrieved 2006-10-29.
- ^'Stradivarius violin sold for £9.8m at charity auction'. BBC News. 2011-06-21. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
- ^Piston, Walter (1955). Orchestration, p.45.
- ^Laird, Paul R. 'Carleen Maley Hutchins' Work With Saunders'. Violin Society of America. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
- ^Seashore, Carl (1938). Psychology of Music, 224. quote in Kolinski, Mieczyslaw (Summer - Autumn, 1959). 'A New Equidistant 12-Tone Temperament', p.210, Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 12, No. 2/3, pp. 210-214.
- ^Eaton, Louis (1919). The Violin. Jacobs' Band Monthly, Volume 4. p. 52. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
- ^Bissing, Petrowitsch. Cultivation of the Violin Vibrato Tone. Central States Music Publishing Company. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
- ^Applebaum, Samuel (1957). String Builder, Book 3: Teacher's Manual. New York: Alfred Publishing. p. 4. ISBN978-0-7579-3056-0.. 'Now we will discipline the shaking of the left hand in the following manner: Shake the wrist slowly and evenly in 8th notes. Start from the original position and for the second 8th note the wrist is to move backward (toward the scroll). Do this in triplets, dotted 8ths and 16ths, and 16th notes. A week or two later, the vibrato may be started on the Violin. ... The procedure will be as follows: 1. Roll the finger tip from this upright position on the note, to slightly below the pitch of this note.'
- ^Schleske, Martin. 'The psychoacoustic secret of vibrato'. Archived from the original on 7 February 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
Accordingly, the sound level of each harmonic will have a periodically fluctuating value due to the vibrato.
- ^Curtin, Joseph (April 2000). 'Weinreich and Directional Tone Colour'. Strad Magazine. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
In the case of string instruments, however, not only are they strongly directional, but the pattern of their directionality changes very rapidly with frequency. If you think of that pattern at a given frequency as beacons of sound, like the quills of a porcupine, then even the slight changes in pitch created by vibrato can cause those quills to be continually undulating.
- ^Weinreich, Gabriel (December 16, 1996). 'Directional tone color'(PDF). Acoustical Society of America. Retrieved June 16, 2019. |quote=The effect can be visualized in terms of a number of highly directional sound beacons, all of which the vibrato causes to undulate back and forth in a coherent and highly organized fashion. It is obvious that such a phenomenon will help immensely in fusing sounds of the differently directed partials into a single auditory stream; one may even speculate that it is a reason why vibrato is used so universally by violinists—as compared to wind players, from the sound of whose instruments directional tone color is generally absent.}}
- ^Fischer, Simon (1999). 'Detache'. Strad. 110: 638 – via Music Index.
- ^'Die Sängerin und Geigerin Yilian Cañizares in Moods'. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 16 September 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ^Bhattacharya, Suryasarathi (December 10, 2017). 'Violin virtuoso Dr L Subramaniam on how Indian classical music took on the world stage'. First Post.
- ^'Ithilien - discography, line-up, biography, interviews, photos'. www.spirit-of-metal.com. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
- ^'Ne Obliviscaris'.
- ^Golden, Brian (December 5, 2017). 'Andrew Bird Brings His Sweeping Symphony of Sounds to Chicago'. Chicago Magazine.
- ^Self, Brooke (April 9, 2011). 'Lindsey Stirling—hip hop violinist'. Her Campus. Archived from the original on 2014-12-05.
- ^Tietjen, Alexa. 'Get Your Life From This Violin Freestyle Of Fetty Wap's 'Trap Queen''. vh1.com. VH1. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ^Martinez, Marc (October 3, 2010). 'Eric Stanley: Hip Hop Violinist'. Fox 10 News (Interview). Phoenix: KTSP-TV. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ^Template:Https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/may/17/arcade-fire-10-of-the-best
- ^ abHarris, Rodger (2009). 'Fiddling'. okhistory.org. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
- ^'7String Violin Harlequin finish'. Jordan Music. Archived from the original on 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
References
- Viol and Lute Makers of Venice 1490–1630, by Stefano Pio (2012), Venezia Ed. Venice research, ISBN978-88-907252-0-3
- Violin and Lute Makers of Venice 1640–1760, by Stefano Pio (2004), Venezia Ed. Venice research, ISBN978-88-907252-2-7
- Liuteri & Sonadori, Venice 1750–1870, by Stefano Pio (2002), Venezia Ed. Venice research, ISBN978-88-907252-1-0
- The Violin Forms of Antonio Stradivari, by Stewart Pollens (1992), London: Peter Biddulph. ISBN0-9520109-0-9
- Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching, by Ivan Galamian (1999), Shar Products Co. ISBN0-9621416-3-1
- The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques, by Patricia and Allen Strange (2001), University of California Press. ISBN0-520-22409-4
- The Violin: Its History and Making, by Karl Roy (2006), ISBN978-1-4243-0838-5
- The Fiddle Book, by Marion Thede (1970), Oak Publications. ISBN0-8256-0145-2
- Latin Violin, by Sam Bardfeld, ISBN0-9628467-7-5
- The Canon of Violin Literature, by Jo Nardolillo (2012), Scarecrow Press. ISBN0-8108-7793-7
- The Violin Explained - Components Mechanism and Sound by James Beament (1992/1997), Clarendon Press. ISBN0-19-816623-0
- Antonio Stradivari, his life and work, 1644-1737', by William Henry Hill; Arthur F Hill; Alfred Ebsworth Hill (1902/1963), Dover Publications. 1963. OCLC172278. ISBN0-486-20425-1
- An Encyclopedia of the Violin, by Alberto Bachmann (1965/1990), Da Capo Press. ISBN0-306-80004-7
- Violin - And Easy Guide, by Chris Coetzee (2003), New Holland Publishers. ISBN1-84330-332-9
- The Violin, by Yehudi Menuhin (1996), Flammarion. ISBN2-08-013623-2
- The Book of the Violin, edited by Dominic Gill (1984), Phaidon. ISBN0-7148-2286-8
- Violin-Making as it was, and is, by Edward Heron-Allen (1885/1994), Ward Lock Limited. ISBN0-7063-1045-4
- Violins & Violinists, by Franz Farga (1950), Rockliff Publishing Corporation Ltd.
- Viols, Violins and Virginals, by Jennifer A. Charlton (1985), Ashmolean Museum. ISBN0-907849-44-X
- The Violin, by Theodore Rowland-Entwistle (1967/1974), Dover Publications. ISBN0-340-05992-3
- The Early Violin and Viola, by Robin Stowell (2001), Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-62555-6
- The Complete Luthier's Library. A Useful International Critical Bibliography for the Maker and the Connoisseur of Stringed and Plucked Instruments by Roberto Regazzi, Bologna: Florenus, 1990. ISBN88-85250-01-7
- The Violin, by George Dubourg (1854), Robert Cocks & Co.
- Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries, by Robin Stowell (1985), Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-23279-1
- History of the Violin, by William Sandys and Simon Andrew (2006), Dover Publications. ISBN0-486-45269-7
- The Violin: A Research and Information Guide, by Mark Katz (2006), Routledge. ISBN0-8153-3637-3
- Per gli occhi e 'l core. Strumenti musicali nell'arte by Flavio Dassenno, (2004) a complete survey of the brescian school defined by the last researches and documents.
- Gasparo da Salò architetto del suono by Flavio Dassenno, (2009) a catalogue of an exhibition that gives information on the famous master life and work, Comune di Salò, Cremonabooks, 2009.
- Grillet, Laurent (1901). 'Les ancetres du violon v.1'. Paris.
Further reading
- Lalitha, Muthuswamy (2004). Violin techniques in Western and South Indian classical music: a comparative study. Sundeep Prakashan. ISBN9788175741515.
- Schoenbaum, David, The Violin: A Social History of the World's Most Versatile Instrument, New York, New York : W.W. Norton & Company, December 2012. ISBN9780393084405.
- Templeton, David, Fresh Prince: Joshua Bell on composition, hyperviolins, and the future, Strings magazine, October 2002, No. 105.
- Young, Diana. A Methodology for Investigation of Bowed String Performance Through Measurement of Violin Bowing Technique. PhD Thesis. M.I.T., 2007.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Violin. |
- Harrison, Robert William Frederick (1911). 'Violin' . Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). pp. 102–107.
- Researches into the early history of the violin family (Carl Engel, 1883) - (Authentication required.)