- The violin produces the highest pitch of any instrument in the modern string family. For this reason, its sound stands out above other instruments. Its strings are shorter than other instruments in its family, making it easier to play notes in rapid succession with minimal hand and finger movement. As such, composers often assign it the melody and solo parts of a given piece of music.
- Violin concertos and sonatas are two of the most ubiquitous types of classical music. Though these forms are subject to ever-changing interpretation, traditionally speaking, violin concertos consist of three distinct movements in which one or two violins solo over an accompanying orchestra or chamber ensemble. They introduce a theme in their first movement, develop another in the second and revisit the first in the third. Violin sonatas differ from concertos in that a single piano, rather than an orchestra or ensemble, provides the accompaniment.
- While precise origins are unclear, the bowed string instruments serving as the violin's most direct progenitors first appeared in the late 14th century in Italy. By the 16th century, the violin played a prominent role in Italian Baroque music, according to Alan Kendall's "Chronicle of Classical Music." Until the 17th century, it was primarily used in consorts, or musical ensembles. In the mid-17th century, its role as a solo instrument began to take root, as evidenced famously in the music of Bach.
- A violin's sound is the result of the contact of the bow against the strings. The instrument's high pitch comes from the comparative shortness of its strings, which vibrate more rapidly than those of larger stringed instruments. The farther up on the neck the player presses a string, the higher the note the instrument plays when bowed. A violin with traditional tuning has its four strings set to perfect fifths. That is, with the lowest string tuned to G, the next highest to D, then A and E. These pitch differences allow the player to select a wide variety of notes by using short finger motions from string to string rather than large hand motions up and down the instrument's neck.
- Violins produce different sounds depending on playing technique. An accomplished player can produce an enormous array of sounds. A few simple examples include vibrato, tremolo and Col legno. Vibrato results when the player rocks the finger pressing the string while playing a note. This causes the pitch to pulse between two slightly different notes. A player creates tremolo by moving the bow rapidly back and forth on a string, repeating the same or sometimes different notes in quick succession. Col lengo is an Italian term meaning "with the wood." Here, the player produces a rattling sound by placing the wooden surface on the back of the bow against the string to play the note.
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