The Melancholy Music of the Violin
The violin is a member of the string instrument group. It has four strings that must be tuned precisely in order to produce the desired sound. The violin is a fairly temperamental instrument that easily falls out of tune and must be tuned perfectly or the sound will be off. It is possibly the combination of having to learn how to tune this instrument properly, hold the hand on the neck of the violin right and use the bow properly that this particular instrument is often seen as one of the more difficult ones to learn. The violin is often referred to as the fiddle, which is its informal title. In the past the strings of the violin were made of animal gut or catgut and the hairs on the bow were made of horse hair. Today, the strings are often made out of steel or other metals and the bows are still made with horse hair.
While the violin may not have a history as long or old as wind instruments or percussion instruments do, it has still existed for a long time. Throughout most of its history, the violin remained more or less the same in use and appearance until the 1700s. Continue Reading »