Violin

The violin is a stringed musical instrument comprising four strings tuned a fifth apart. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola, cello and double bass. The lowest string (and hence the lowest note) is the G just below middle C, then in ascending order D, A and E.

The other strings just fill out the lower harmonies, woodwinds provide pleasantly contrasting timbres, the brass is for added power when you need it and the percussion creates crisper edges and the occasional crash, but there would be no orchestra without the violin at its heart. Or would there?

Perhaps it was true once, but certainly since the beginning of the 20th century composers have begun to treat the sections of the orchestra as equal partners and distribute the music accordingly. It is also a fact that in the modern professional orchestra all the players are virtues and so less reliance need be placed on the traditionally more agile violins

And what of the sound? The rich low notes can be very vocal and can be easily used to ‘tug the heart strings’. They can play very fast and also very high, but it is the endless sustain that characterizes all string instruments that enables the violins, in particular, when they all play together, to create a floating effect which is responsible for some of the most sublime moments in music.

Indeed it is primarily because people love the effect of massed string sounds that orchestras are so large (the violin is the most numerous of all the strings, with as many as 30 being used for a large orchestral work).