Parts Of A Violin: The Basics

Playing the violin may not be as easy as you think if you are not well
acquainted with its basic parts. That is why, if you are trying to
learn how to play the violin, you must first educate yourself with
what its basic parts are. It may not be necessary that you learn it
from a violin instructor or from someone who is an expert in playing
it. You can simply get it from music books or by going online and
search through various search engines using the keywords "violin
parts". But since you're already here, you might as well continue
reading on because below are the basic parts of a violin.

Now, think of the violin as similar to a human body. Why so? Because
the parts of a violin are named just like some human body parts such
as the body, neck, belly, back and ribs. The front plate, ribs, and
the backplate are the timber parts of the body. These are often made
from either sycamore or well seasoned maple for the ribs, neck, and
back, while for the belly, spruce is used. Since these materials are
grown slowly at high altitudes, these have tight cellulose structure
which is just right in order to generate the necessary resonance.

But aside from the timber parts, the body is also composed of a
soundhole, which is also known as F hole, and a soundpost. The F hole
is named as such because its shape is like an F in Italics. Its main
use is to allow sound to come out of the violin. The soundpost, on the
other hand, is there mainly to support the pressure inside the violin.

After the body, let's go to the remaining parts of the violin. These
include the scroll, tuning pegs, pegbox, fingerboard, bridge,
tailpiece, and nut. The scroll is the one you can see at the top of
the violin. Its purpose is mainly for decorative and not for
functional. The pegbox, on the other hand, is where the tuning pegs
are inserted. These pegs are adjusted from time to time to make sure
the violin is tuned. And just like the pegs, the fingerboard and the
bridge also play a vital function to make the violin produce excellent
sound. The former is a strip of wood on the neck of the violin where
you can see the strings.

As you play the violin, you need to press down the strings to it in
order to change the pitch. The latter, on the other hand, is important
because it vibrates as the strings vibrate, creating quality sound.
And speaking of strings, a violin is mainly composed of four strings,
the G, D, A, and E. These strings are often made of stranded synthetic
core wound with various metals and are tuned a fifth apart.

So, to sum everything, these are the basic parts of a violin: body,
neck, belly, back, ribs, soundhole, soundpost, scroll, tuning pegs,
pegbox, fingerboard, bridge, tailpiece, nut, and strings. Now that you
know all these, you can start learning the basics of how to play the
violin. Again, you can do your search online for how to's if you want
to learn on your own.

But if you are really serious about starting a career or something out
of it, you might as well get professional lessons. Labels: