Infomationpictures

The violin is the soprano member of the family, having the highest pitched strings - think 'little sister' with 'big sister' and 'bigger brother'. The violin is by far the more popular instrument and has perhaps the greatest musical repertoir of any instrument. I guess in this case little sis got all the good looks! The four strings of the violin, G, D, A. In western culture, Violins form a major part of an orchestra, divided into two groups, the 'first' and 'second' violins. The first chair in the first violin section is known as the concertmaster. In the chamber music scene, you will commonly find the violin in an ensemble consisting of 2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello. (kind of a close family get-together) Although orginating in western culture, use of the violin has spread into many cultures throughout the world. To the uninitiated, the violin may look fairly simple, but looks can be deceiving - this little sister is one sophisticated lady. I sat down to count the number of parts the instrument is made up from and got a number ranging from 50 to around 80 depending on what you want to call a 'part'. You may appreciate then why it takes a luthier in the order of a month full time to make a violin!