Love fiddles. Hate violins. ???

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How is that possible? It's the same instrument, and yet it sounds so different when used to play different kinds of music. I don't notice such an extreme difference with other instruments. The piano sounds the same, no matter what kind of music is played on it.

Maybe violin players and fiddle players use different kinds of strings? Or different types of bows? I know from playing guitar that minor variations in the instrument can have a noticeable effect on the timbre . . .

There's the viola and then there's the violin. I don't hear much of a difference except the type of music that is being played. The viola is slightly larger than the fiddle. So it has a deeper sound. Fiddles don't use different strings. The fiddle strings are thinner than the viola strings.

"What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle?",
"No one cries when they spill beer on a fiddle."

a Wiki on the subject:

A violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the kind of music being played with it. The word "violin" is derived from Italian and the word "fiddle" is native to English. The two words are etymologically related, both ultimately deriving from the same Germanic word.[1]

Historically, the word fiddle also referred to a predecessor of today's violin. Like the violin, it tended to have four strings, but came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Another family of instruments which contributed to the development of the modern fiddle are the viols, which are held between the legs and played vertically, and have fretted fingerboards.

One very slight difference between "fiddles" and ordinary violins may be seen in American (e.g., bluegrass and old-time music) fiddling: in these styles, the top of the bridge may be cut so that it is very slightly less curved. This reduces the range of right-arm motion required for the rapid string-crossings found in some styles, and is said to make it easier to play double stops and shuffles (bariolage), or to make triple stops possible, allowing one to play chords.

Most classical violinists prefer a more rounded curve to the top of the bridge, which allows them to articulate each note more easily and clearly. In practice, most instruments are fitted with a rounded bridge to better accommodate the shape of the fingerboard. (One exception is the 3-string kontra or bracsa, a viola used in Hungarian and Transylvanian folk music fitted with a flat bridge to allow all three strings to be played simultaneously.) In any case, the difference between "round" and "flat" is not great; about a quarter or half a millimeter variation in the height of one or two strings. As a violin's bridge is relatively easy to replace, modifying the bridge does not permanently make a violin into a fiddle.

It is also more common to see an instrument described as a fiddle if it has steel strings rather than gut or synthetic, and fine tuners on all four strings; it is very uncommon to see four fine tuners on instruments played by classical musicians. (Fine tuners are small screw mechanisms attached to the tailpiece, which make small tuning adjustments easier.) As with the bridge, this configuration is easy to change from "violin" to "fiddle", and causes no irreversible changes to the instrument.

In construction, fiddles and violins are exactly the same. Various clichés describe the difference: "When you are buying it, it's a fiddle. When you are selling it, it's a violin," "The violin sings, the fiddle dances," "A fiddle is a violin with attitude," or, in answer to the musical joke, According to Branson performer Shoji Tabuchi, the difference lies "in how you fiddle around with it." As might be expected from the differences between classical and folk music, violinists tend to be formally trained and fiddlers tend to be informally trained, although crossing over is not uncommon.

When playning a violin as a "fiddle," you don't often move your fingers higher than first position (where they are closest to the scroll), there are constant string crossing and double stops often performed in a rougher style, so you hear some grit, and the bow crossing from one string to the next is audible in a way that you employ a great deal of technique for it not to be when trying to get the impossibly pure, clear sweet tones of a classical violin.

This is a generalization, of course. But essentially, though some might prefer a different cut or different type of strings, they are the exact same instrument: it's how you play them that differentiates between the two- when I studied violin seriously, it was not that hard to whip off some fast impressive sounding fiddle if it was ever required of me. It impressed people, and was so easy by comparison.


The viola is the violin's cousin: it sounds completely different from either, and is a 5th lower.

had a violin for about a year; tried to teach myself how to play it...after that, gave it up. It's a precision instrument, you can't just glom your fingers all over it and get music like on a guitar...

Aha! Perhaps it's those "impossibly clear sweet tones" that I don't care for. I know this is a bit peculiar. My mother loves classical violin music and appreciates these tones.

I hadn't given much thought to the viola vs. violin question (except for knowing the difference) because I've never heard anything other than classical music played on a viola. And I don't know if I've ever heard a viola played by itself. I'm used to hearing them played along with other instruments.

I think it must be that I just don't like those higher pitched notes on bowed string instruments. I enjoy cellos and anything that produces lower pitched notes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-JKlx2dml0[/youtube]

I was at this concert, this dude was fabulous.

Merle

it's pretty much all been said.

My favorite fiddle is actually a viola I call a 3/4 viola (even though there is no official 3/4 size like the violin). I found it in a pawn shop many years ago.

I've always gotten compliments on it's sound. It was several years after I found it that I learned it was a viola not a fiddle, but I tune it to fiddle tuning anyway and it plays just fine.

I do have a fiddle/violin too. I don't play that as much.

I finally took lessons while living in Fairbanks, at UAF with Kathleen Butler-Hopkins... a wonderful lady!
Kathleen Butler-Hopkins
Wish I had been a better student.
I remember I almost dropped my fiddle the first time I played before the music professors for my final... it was some Suzuki piece, I was in my socks (never liked wearing shoes), and I was around 34 y.o.

Anyway, she told me that the difference between a great violinist and a not-so-great one is how quickly the expert corrects their finger position. I found that an intersting concept to think about.

Kim, you should try the fiddle sometime, you might be surprised how easy it can be to play.
I have had little kids up to adults pick up my fiddle at home and try it out.
Bowing is the hardest thing for people to pick up on when starting, but once that's figured out... then it's finger position, note changes...

Next time you pass through Humboldt county holler at me (everybody passes through humoboldt county don't they? ) and we'll jam. I have guitars too, and a mandolin, banjo...

I'm the opposite: I like violins but hate fiddles! XD

I don't differentiate between fiddle and violin.
I have heard classical musicians call the same instrument by both terms.
I do have to say that I cannot recall ever hearing an old timey fiddler or bluegrass fiddler call their instrument a violin.

Reminds me of when I or someone else calls a kilt a skirt and we get brow-beaten for it because, "A kilt is NOT a SKIRT!

But in the dictionary it says a kilt is a skirt!

Violin.. Fiddle... I don't care.. I just like the instrument and what so many people can do with it!

Yes, that is interesting. I bet it could apply to just about any instrument. In fact, it could lead to the generalization that a great musician is just a person who makes a conscious effort to be aware of their mistakes and correct them quickly. Or something along those lines . . .



Sounds like fun! I have tried playing the cello before. I had a friend who was a cellist and we used to play together. When I played her cello, it sounded all right to me, but she wasn't so impressed.

I've always associated "violin" with classical music and "fiddle" with old cowboy music.

I know they are the same instrument...but you hardly ever hear a classical player say "fiddle" or a cowboy say "violin". Well, thats from my experience anyway.

love the song with the fiddler about the devil and a goldminer who is mining gold and he wants his soul : devil went to georgia

So what do you see in the picture? Two Fiddles, two violins, or a fiddle and a violin?

You live in california and hang your instruments on the wall?!

Yeah... just like the music stores