Lucía Fernández Castaño

THE HISTORY OF THE VIOLIN

The violin is now one of the most popular instruments in the world. Old violins tend to
be sought after over mass produced factory violins by intermediate and advanced
players because of their superior craftsmanship, resonance, and because the tone and
timbre of the violin is thought to mature over the lifetime of the instrument. The most
famous violin maker is the 'Golden Age' luthier Antonio Stradivari, whose violins now
sell for millions of dollars.

The modern violin it’s believed that was created by the Italian luthier Andrea Amati
around the year 1555, bowed stringed instruments were invented long before this date.
For this reason, it can be helpful to think of the violin as an instrument that has evolved
over time, rather than as a perfected product that was instantaneously invented.

The oldest surviving violin is named Charles IX, which was made by Andrea Amati in
1564, which in some respects supports the theory that Amati did indeed create the first
standard modern violins, or at least provides physical evidence to justify this claim.

The violin became a popular instrument in Europe with both low class and high class
instrumentalists due to its small size, versatility, and its sweet, melodic tone.

There was an important evolution in the history of the violin and was during the late
18th and early 19th Century, the violin underwent some significant technical changes.
The fingerboard of the violin was made longer, and it was also set at more of an angle
to support the tension of the strings being increased. The increased tension of the
strings, coupled with the change in the fingerboard, resulted in the violin having an
increased range and sound projection.
 Lucía Fernández Castaño

The violin became a key instrument used to play traditional songs in Celtic, Irish, gypsy,
and Hungarian music, and was later used to play country/western, bluegrass, blues and
jazz as these genres emerged over time.

GRAPELLI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_lrTmLknNA&t=360s

CZARDAS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJphp3nU1PA

IRISH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W_feaIdTEA

PARTS OF THE VIOLIN:

 Lucía Fernández Castaño

- Scroll: The scroll of the violin is the very top of the instrument above the pegbox.
The scroll can be identified by its characteristic curl design.
- Tuning pegs: The tuning pegs and pegbox are located at the top of the
instrument by the scroll. This is where the strings are attached at the top. The
majority of tuning is performed by tightening the peg.
- Nut: The nut is the connector between the peg box and the fingerboard.
- Strings: The strings on the violin are tuned G,D,A,E from lowest to highest.
Strings are made from a variety of different metals (mainly aluminium, steel and
gold for the E-string)
- Neck: The neck of the instrument is the part of the violin that carries most of the
stress of the strings. It is the long wooden piece behind the fingerboard, which the
fingerboard is glued to. The neck of modern violins is more slender and longer than
the neck of the baroque violins.
- The fingerboard: is the smooth black playing surface glued to the neck of the
violin underneath the strings.
- F holes: After the vibration from the string reverberates within the body of the
violin, the sound waves are directed out of the body through the F holes.
- The bridge of the violin comes in varying angles of curvature. A smaller angle
makes it easier to play double or triple stops (playing two or three strings at the
same time.) Whereas more curved bridges make it easier to hit the right notes
without scraping across a wrong string. Classical violinists tend to have more
curved bridges.
- Fine tuners can be found either on all four strings, or just the E string. Fine
tuners are essentially a screw that presses down a lever that then tightens the
string fractionally.
- The tailpiece is what the strings are attached to at the bottom of the
instrument, closest to the players chin.ç
- The chin rest is an additional invention that supports the players chin when
they are playing the violin. The chin rest is important because it helps the player to
hold the violin, which means that the left hand can then move freely up and down
the fingerboard.
 Lucía Fernández Castaño

PARTS OF THE BOW:

The hair of the bow is the part that touches the string when playing.
The screw is on the end of the frog which tightens and loosens the hair.
The stick of the bow is usually made of wood, sometimes with a metal core. The
stick needs to be supple and bendy to be able to support the tightening and
loosening of the bow hair
The pad of the bow assists the player in holding the bow.