The highest ranking member of the violin family, the classical violin has four strings, a hollow body, an unfretted fingerboard and is played with a bow.

The violin's hourglass-shaped body is made up of several pieces of wood. The top and bottom of the carved carcass are fairly thick; the sides are thin pieces which are steamed and bent to a form, then allowed to dry until the form keeps (adheres). There is a 'sound post' which connects the top to the bottom of the violin, this spreads the vibrations of the instrument evenly, thus creating a good tone.

Affixed to the body is the neck of the instrument which in turn leads to the tuning pegs. The ends of the strings are carefully wound around the pegs. The violin ends in a wooden flourish called the scroll. The fingerboard, usually made of ebony, is glued to the neck. Your left hand rests here. The other end of the strings rest over the wooden bridge which is held to the body by the tension of the strings. The strings attach to the tailpiece past the bridge. At the rear left quarter of the body is the somewhat self-explanatory chin rest.

Strings and Sounds

The strings themselves were originally made from pig's gut, but today these strings are too expensive for most players. Modern strings are usually made with cores made from steel, titanium, nylon or similar materials and often have a steel coating.

The main sounds created by playing a violin are produced in three different ways.

Arco is created through the drawing at right angles of a wooden bow which is strung with horse hair. This friction, aided by the application of rosin (tree sap), rapidly vibrates the strings.

Pizzicato is created through the plucking of the strings with either hand. A similar method is used to play a guitar.

Con legno is created by playing with the wooden side of the bow.

The different notes crucial to making music are then made by using the player's left hand fingers. The strings are stopped along the fingerboard, varying the length of the vibrating strings, thereby creating various notes. This may appear to be a rather roundabout way of creating a tune, but it works for about half of the musical instrumentalists worldwide.

Along with violas, violoncellos, and double basses, violins make up the string section family of any orchestra.

Mixed Emotions

A well constructed, well played violin has the power to milk all the major human emotions¹

Many pieces of music have been written for violin. Here are a few classics well worth listening too. There are plenty of others.

• The Lark Ascending - Vaughan Williams

• Canon - Johann Pachelbel

• Fantasia On A Theme of Thomas Tallis - Vaughan Williams again

• Violin Concerto In D Major - Tchaikovsky

• Bach - violin concerti, especially the one for 2 violins.

• Bach - sonatas for keyboard and violin.

• Mozart - violin concerto no. 5 and Sinfonia Concertante for viola and violin.

• Beethoven - violin concerto, violin sonatas.

• Brahms - violin concerto.

• Mendelssohn - violin concerto.

• Berg - violin concerto.

Great Composers

Other brilliant composers have written music for the violin. Vivaldi and Haydn readily spring to mind. An exhaustive list of great composers is outside the scope of this article.

What's the Downside

Almost every style of music is enhanced by the use of violins. Alas, although the violin is a wonderful instrument there are drawbacks.

The violin (along with the cello) is without much doubt the most difficult of the mainstream instruments to learn to play well. This is due to the way notes are produced. Many young people struggling to master this initially terrible sounding instrument, may find themselves left behind by their musical friends.

Any list of excellent violinists will include.

• Niccolo Paganini²

• Yehudi Menuhin

• Tossy Spivakovsky

• Nigel Kennedy

Please feel free to listen to - and enjoy - your own favourite violinist.