VIOLA VS VIOLIN
If I catch a glimpse of both instruments, they look
like twin. I might call viola as violin and other way around. But if we observe
the details, their differences on physical appearances are obvious. The wooden
materials and accessories such as case, bow, strings, tuner, chin and shoulder
rest might deceive us, but if we look further on their size, measurements and clef
I can tell they are totally different. Violin is smaller than viola and
measured in size of ¾ or 4/4 unlike viola that is measured in inch of 14” or
16”. The clef is the most crucial part of both instruments, if the instruments
are played, musicians can tell which one is viola or violin because viola has
alto C clef with the strings of CDGA whereas violin has high G strings GDAE. It
will be easier to distinguish both instruments.
I have ever wondered if viola and violin has different
method or technique to play. When I dig deeper I found that basically they are
played the same, but we should pay attention to the bow pressure we should put
on them. Since the viola is thicker and bigger, it needs more bow pressure than
violin. The sound produced by both instruments is also different. Viola is
slightly slower than violin. Regardless the method of both instruments, they
share the same ability to play many genres such as folks, classic and jazz.
When I watched the theme of violin videos, I
discovered many violinists make fun of violists. I wondered why. I wonder how
can viola had lower class than violin even though they comes from one family of
string instruments. I discovered that the position taken by each instruments
are totally different. They both have sections on orchestra. Usually violin has
2 sections and viola has 1 section. But the not range the played is different.
The viola note is four steps lower than the lowest not of the violin. It is the
main reasons that viola is used as harmonic type of instruments. Violin on the
other hand mostly plays the melody line in orchestral music because it can go
up higher up in note range than viola. The facts that violin can cover the high
note range qualifies it for a more solo type instrument. The sound produced by
viola is kind of thicker and somber while violin has shrill sounds. The reason
above makes the hierarchy of both instruments in Orchestra.
I believe both viola and violin has their own
uniqueness regardless the stereotype they had. I appreciate both violinist and
violist and wish one day become I can become one of them. It can be conclude
that viola and violin has differences and similarities on their
characteristics. Once we know about that we could easily find out which one is
viola or violin.
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