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A violin is a "little viola", a violone is a "big viola" or a bass violin, and a violoncello (often abbreviated cello) is a "small violone" (or literally, a "small big viola"). (The violone is not part of the modern violin family; its place is taken by the modern double bass, an instrument with a mix of violin and viol characteristics.)
Viola close up of bridge. The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between 25 and 100 mm (1 and 4 in) longer than the body of a full-size violin (i.e., between 38 and 46 cm [15–18 in]), with an average length of 41 cm (16 in).
The viola da gamba is occasionally confused with the viola, the alto member of the modern violin family and a standard member of both the symphony orchestra and string quartet. In the 15th century, the Italian word " viola " was a generic term used to refer to any bowed instrument, or fiddle .
Members of the violin family are the easiest to identify in this way: with the violin corresponding to the soprano, the viola to the alto singer, violoncello to the tenor, and bass to the bass ranges of the human voice (historically, the violin family was made in more than just these four sizes: there were originally several sizes of violas, as ...
Bowing (Italian: arco) is a method used in some string instruments, including the violin, viola, cello, and the double bass (of the violin family), and the old viol family. The bow consists of a stick with a "ribbon" of parallel horse tail hairs stretched between its ends.
The origin of the violin family is unclear. [1] [2] Some say that the bow was introduced to Europe from the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world, [3] [4] [5] while others say the bow was not introduced from the Middle East but the other way around, and that the bow may have originated from more frequent contact between Northern and Western Europe.
The first violins are led by the concertmaster (leader in the UK); each of the other string sections also has a principal player (principal second violin, principal viola, principal cello, and principal bass) who play the orchestral solos for the section, lead entrances and, in some cases, determine the bowings for the section (the ...
Bass violin is the modern term for various 16th- and 17th-century bass instruments of the violin (i.e. viola da braccio) family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello . [ 1 ] Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern cello, but tuned to the same nominal pitches or sometimes one step lower.