Monday, September 12, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
The Anatomy of a Violin
The Violin
The Scroll is a beautiful carving at the end of the neck.Traditionally violin scrolls are in the shape of a rolled up sheet of parchment, but some artists prefer something a little different.
The pegs is use to tune the violin. The four pegs, one for each string, are located between the scroll and the nut. They are inserted into the violin so that they extend through the peg box and just barely come out the other side. Each peg has a peg hole. A string is inserted through the hole, runs through the nut, over the fingerboard, across the bridge and is attached to the tailpiece. If we turn the pegs, we tighten or loosen the strings. The tighter we make a string, the higher the note. The looser we make the string the deeper the note.Pegs are traditionally made of ebony, but they can be made of either boxwood or rosewood. They can be plain or they can have ornaments or inlays on their heads. Some violins are a little easier to tune because they have a fine tuner on the tailpiece for the E String, or a tailpiece with fine tuners already installed for all the strings.This means that if you get the string close to in tune using the pegs, you can make minor adjustments with the fine tuner to make the string perfect.
The fingerboard is traditionally made of ebony. Ebony is a hard, dark wood from the tropics. It is usually black, although streaked ebony does exist. For this reason even an ebony fingerboard may be stained so that it appears uniformly black. The stain does not affect the performance of the fingerboard.The fingerboard is the black thing that runs from the scroll down toward the bridge. You put your fingers down on it to make the notes.The fingerboard is glued to the neck of the violin. It extends from a point just below the nut (a block of ebony right below the pegbox that holds the strings in place and keeps them from rubbing against the fingerboard), to a point about a third of the way down the body of the violin and slightly above it. It does not actually touch the body of the violin, but passes above the belly of the instrument.
The bridge supports the strings above the fingerboard from the nut, over the bridge to the tailpiece.Bridges are usually made of maple. This is a good wood in that it is strong enough to withstand the pressure tightening the strings will bring. It is also a good material to carry the vibrations from the strings to the belly of the violin. Some bridges have an insert of ebony where the E-string will go to prevent its digging into the bridge.Usually about 75% of the wood in the bridge is their for strength. The other 25% of the wood actually dampens the sound, but provides a portion of the tone the violin produces.A bridge needs to be fitted to the violin by carving its feet to match the curvature of the violin belly. It also needs to be adjusted so that it is the proper height for the violin, and it needs to be placed in the right place on the violin.The best guideline I can give is to place a bridge even with the slash in the f-holes. The feet of the bridge should be placed over the sound post and the bass bar.A violin bridge you will see that one side is flat, the other is slightly tapered. As you place the bridge on a violin, the tapered side will face the tailpiece. The flat side will face the scroll. The flat side should form a right angle with the violin's belly.
The front body of a violin is usually made of spruce. Other parts of the body are usually of maple.One thing that you will notice is the holes in the front of the violin. They are usually referred to as f-holes due to their shape. As described on other pages, the violinist draws the bow across the string. The vibrating string moves the bridge. The bridge transfers the vibration to the belly of the violin. This starts the process of sound production. It is the vibration of the entire body of the instrument that will produce the sound.
The fingerboard is traditionally made of ebony. Ebony is a hard, dark wood from the tropics. It is usually black, although streaked ebony does exist. For this reason even an ebony fingerboard may be stained so that it appears uniformly black. The stain does not affect the performance of the fingerboard.The fingerboard is the black thing that runs from the scroll down toward the bridge. You put your fingers down on it to make the notes.The fingerboard is glued to the neck of the violin. It extends from a point just below the nut (a block of ebony right below the pegbox that holds the strings in place and keeps them from rubbing against the fingerboard), to a point about a third of the way down the body of the violin and slightly above it. It does not actually touch the body of the violin, but passes above the belly of the instrument.
The bridge supports the strings above the fingerboard from the nut, over the bridge to the tailpiece.Bridges are usually made of maple. This is a good wood in that it is strong enough to withstand the pressure tightening the strings will bring. It is also a good material to carry the vibrations from the strings to the belly of the violin. Some bridges have an insert of ebony where the E-string will go to prevent its digging into the bridge.Usually about 75% of the wood in the bridge is their for strength. The other 25% of the wood actually dampens the sound, but provides a portion of the tone the violin produces.A bridge needs to be fitted to the violin by carving its feet to match the curvature of the violin belly. It also needs to be adjusted so that it is the proper height for the violin, and it needs to be placed in the right place on the violin.The best guideline I can give is to place a bridge even with the slash in the f-holes. The feet of the bridge should be placed over the sound post and the bass bar.A violin bridge you will see that one side is flat, the other is slightly tapered. As you place the bridge on a violin, the tapered side will face the tailpiece. The flat side will face the scroll. The flat side should form a right angle with the violin's belly.
The front body of a violin is usually made of spruce. Other parts of the body are usually of maple.One thing that you will notice is the holes in the front of the violin. They are usually referred to as f-holes due to their shape. As described on other pages, the violinist draws the bow across the string. The vibrating string moves the bridge. The bridge transfers the vibration to the belly of the violin. This starts the process of sound production. It is the vibration of the entire body of the instrument that will produce the sound.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Choosing the Perfect Violin Size
Violins are available in 8 different sizes: 4/4 ( full size), 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/10, 1/16 and 1/32. Size 4/4 is the biggest and size 1/32 is the smallest. All adults, regardless of size, use the full size 4/4 violin.
You should ask for your teacher's recommendation. If you don't have a teacher, we would recommend using the neck/wrist approach for students not using full size; for students who are deciding whether to used size 3/4 or size 4/4, use the neck/mid-palm approach. The reason is it's always better to feel comfortable holding and playing the violin. However, in deciding between size 3/4 and size 4/4, if neck/mid-palm approach allows for size 4/4, then buying a size 4/4 could save you money since you don't have to buy another bigger size violin later. This is completely for practical reasons. You should still decide what best suits your need.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Violin Useful Information: How to take care of your Violin
Violin Useful Information: How to take care of your Violin: Basic Care: Do not store your violin in extreme hot or cold locations. If you live in a dry climate, you may want to consider using a h...
How to take care of your Violin
Basic Care:
Do not store your violin in extreme hot or cold locations. If you live in a dry climate, you may want to consider using a humidifier made for violins (excessive dryness can cause cracking or the seams of your violin to open).
Put a small amount of rosin on your bow before playing. Hold the rosin in your left hand, place the bow hairs flat on the rosin and slowly move the bow back and forth on the rosin.
Tighten your bow before playing by gently turning the tension screw. Avoid making the bow hairs too taut---the separation between the bow stick and hair should be about the width of a pencil.
Polish is rarely needed, and when necessary, only a commercial violin polish should be used. Cleaning the violin with furniture polish and/or water could damage the varnish and acoustics of the violin (water could also cause the violin seams to open).
After playing the violin, gently clean it with a soft cloth to remove rosin build-up on the strings.Keep a soft cloth in your violin case.Rosin will eat away the finish and leave it rough-looking.
Loosen the hair on your bow before putting it back in the case. If always kept tight, they will pull the bow out of the line.
ViolineShop
Do not store your violin in extreme hot or cold locations. If you live in a dry climate, you may want to consider using a humidifier made for violins (excessive dryness can cause cracking or the seams of your violin to open).
Put a small amount of rosin on your bow before playing. Hold the rosin in your left hand, place the bow hairs flat on the rosin and slowly move the bow back and forth on the rosin.
Tighten your bow before playing by gently turning the tension screw. Avoid making the bow hairs too taut---the separation between the bow stick and hair should be about the width of a pencil.
Polish is rarely needed, and when necessary, only a commercial violin polish should be used. Cleaning the violin with furniture polish and/or water could damage the varnish and acoustics of the violin (water could also cause the violin seams to open).
After playing the violin, gently clean it with a soft cloth to remove rosin build-up on the strings.Keep a soft cloth in your violin case.Rosin will eat away the finish and leave it rough-looking.
Loosen the hair on your bow before putting it back in the case. If always kept tight, they will pull the bow out of the line.
ViolineShop
 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)