Musical Instruments: Violin Family

The violin family consists of four instruments; the violin, viola, cello and double bass. The strings can be plucked or played with a bow. Chords can be played on these instruments. Double stopping is playing two notes at a time using two strings, sometimes chords of three or four notes can be performed by drawing the bow or the finger over the strings one after the other. A string quartet is a group of stringed instruments consisting of violin I, violin II, a viola and a cello. All styles of music can be played on bowed string instruments such as classical, jazz and folk.

The violin is the smallest and has the highest pitch. The strings are G, D, A and E. Other notes are played by pressing the finger board. The higher on the finger board a performer plays, the higher the note will sound. When you play one of the strings without placing any fingers on the finger board it is called playing an open string. The violin is played by resting the violin on the shoulder. The violin uses the treble clef.

The next instrument larger than the violin is the viola. The strings are C, G, D and A. It is played the same way as the violin. The stretches between each note are larger. It ranges between the treble clef and the bass clef. The clef it uses is the alto clef.

The next size up is the cello. The strings are C, G, D and A, an octave lower than the viola. It uses the bass, tenor and treble clef depending how high or low the performer is playing. It is played in a downwards position with the performer sitting down, the instrument is held in place on the floor with a spike.

The largest is the double bass. This instrument is played the same way as the cello but the performer is standing up because of its size rather than sitting down as the performer would with the cello. Its strings are E, A, D and G. It is written in the bass clef but sounds an octave lower so this makes it a transposing instrument.

Below is a picture of the treble clef at the top, then the alto, the tenor, then the bass.


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Below is a string quartet consisting of two violins, a viola and a cello.


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Below shows a performer playing a double bass.


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Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, pp. 136 and 137.