Violin

The violin is a wooden string instrument played with a bow. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family, which also includes the viola, cello, and double bass. A violin has four strings and is held under the player's chin. It is used in many kinds of music, including classical, folk, country, and jazz.

A violin is about two feet long. The body is hollow and shaped a bit like an hourglass. It is usually made from spruce wood on top and maple wood on the back and sides. Two curved openings called f-holes are cut into the top. These let sound escape from inside the body.

The four strings are tuned to the notes G, D, A, and E. To play, the musician draws a bow across the strings with the right hand. The bow is a thin wooden stick strung with horsehair. Players rub a sticky substance called rosin on the hair so it can grip the strings. The left hand presses the strings against the neck to change the notes. A violin can play more than four full octaves, which is a huge range for such a small instrument.

The violin was invented in northern Italy in the early 1500s. The most famous violin maker in history was Antonio Stradivari, who lived in the town of Cremona. He built around 1,100 violins between about 1666 and 1737. Roughly 650 of them still exist today. A real Stradivarius violin can sell for millions of dollars. One sold in 2011 for nearly 16 million dollars, which is more than the price of most houses.

Why do these old violins sound so good? Nobody knows for sure. Some scientists think the secret is in the wood, which grew during a colder-than-normal stretch of European weather called the Little Ice Age. The slow growth made the wood denser. Others think it is the varnish, or the exact shape of the body. In careful tests, expert players sometimes cannot tell a Stradivarius from a good modern violin. The mystery is still being argued.

A violin can be loud and bright, soft and sad, or quick and dancing. In an orchestra, violins are usually the largest section, split into first and second violins. In bluegrass and country music, the same instrument is called a fiddle, even though it is exactly the same wooden box. The name often depends on the music being played, not the instrument itself.