The Violin

What is a violin:                                                            The violin, the flute (also known as a fiddle), is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola, and the cello. 

Construction and Mechanics:

A violin generally consists of a spruce top (the soundboard, also known as the top plate,table, or belly), maple ribs and back, two endblocks, a neck, a bridge, a soundpost, four strings, and various fittings, optionally including a chinrest, which may attach directly over, or to the left of, the tailpiece. A distinctive feature of a violin body is its hourglass-like shape and the arching of its top and back. The hourglass shape comprises two upper bouts, two lower bouts, and two concave C-bouts at the waist, providing clearance for the bow.

History:

The earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked (e.g. the Greek lyre). 

Turkic and Mongolian horsemen from Inner Asia were probably the world’s earliest fiddlers. Their two-stringed upright fiddles were strung with horsehair strings, played with horsehair bows, and often feature a carved horse’s head at the end of the neck. The violins,violas, and cellos we play today, and whose bows are still strung with horsehair, are a legacy of the nomads.^[3]

It is believed that these instruments eventually spread to China, India, the Byzantine Empire and the Middle East, where they developed into instruments such as the erhu in China, the rebab in the Middle East, the lyra in the Byzantine Empire and the esraj in India. The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th-Century Northern Italy.

How to position your violin:

The violin should rest on the collarbone. The purpose of the chin rest is to protect the varnish, provide a secure and comfortable place for the jaw , and to adjust the distance from the jaw to the collarbone. Generally, flatter simpler chin rests are more comfortable than more contoured ones. A chamois skin or other non-slippery cloth may be used to cover the collarbone for comfort.

The violin resting lightly on the collarbone and the jaw resting gently on the chin rest establish two stable points of contact with the instrument.