STRINGED COUSINS

                                                  STRINGED COUSINS

Well, it is a small attempt to embark on a new theme “Musical Instruments” . The cousins we try to look at belong to the Violin family ; they essentially differ by name , size, the fetures of strings and the tonal quality that they can render. They are , Violin, Viola, Cello and Bass; normally ‘cello’ is pronounced ‘chelo’. Despite differences , they can blend well to harmonize musical notes due to their similarity of construction. Also, the order in which, they are listed, corresponds to their increasing size [physical dimension] .

Violin is the smallest and bass the largest among these cousins. All generate musical notes by strumming or bow-play on select strings at a time. The bows meant for each kind varies from its respective cousins too by size and fibre clusters to help play on Violin/ Viola/ Cello/ Bass. Obviously, the technique of playing these instruments is similar and not identical due to differences in Finger-Bow co-ordination and the position in which they are held while playing.    

Instruments of the ‘Violin family’ are the most used in World to-day. Of them, Violin and Bass [ Double Bass ] are more widely employed than Viola or Cello.Violin finds place in all forms of music like folk, Country and what goes by the name fiddle music on a global consideration.. In Indian cinema, practically every song uses a minimum of half-a-dozen violins and the number my widely differ from this optimum. In view of their rich similarity, members of the Violin family enjoy a far greater confluence by their tonal quality that enjoys greater homogeneity. Therefore, their timbre readily merges in producing a wider range of freedom over tonal shift. In music tradition using the members of the family , a term “string quartet” is used; it signifies a cluster of  2      Violins, A Viola and A Cello making a team of four.

Like their physical dimensions, the type, size of strings also differ among the cousins. While the strings vary  in length through the cousins , the string thickness [size] also differs.   The string dimensions or their variance causes difference in the tonal feature of each instrument. Cello and Bass have thick long strings while the Violin and Viola have short, thin strings; So, Viola and Violin  deliver higher notes while the Bass and Cello deliver low, deep notes.

The player generally tucks Violin /Viola between the chin  and the shoulder The Cello is planted between the legs of the player. The bass is held on a ‘stand’ and the player stands to play the instrument .

It is quite interesting to learn that physical size variations of players is no hindrance to play any instrument of the  violin family since each of therm is marketed in different sizes to help the player of any personal size, lest the best skill of some players should be squandered by inappropriate man-machine size constraint.

Prof. K. Raman