Strings

The strings are the biggest group in the symphonic orchestra. More than half of the instruments in the orchestra are strings. The family includes the violin, viola, cello (violoncello) and the double bass.

Players usually play string instrument with a bow. Another kind of playing the stringed family is by Pizzicato action, i.e. plucking the strings with the forefinger of the right hand, thus producing a guitar-like effect.

These instruments are descendants of the old viols which the troubadours used to play as they went about from place to place, performing in festive events. These instruments were of various shapes and sizes and were extremely crude.

The String Quartet is mostly important in the chamber music.

Stradivari

Throughout the centuries, changes and improvements were made, until at last the great Italian masters of the 17th century produced string instruments which were almost perferct. Until this day, no one has been able to improve on the instruments created in a little town of Cremona in Italy by Amati and his pupil Guarneri.

But the greatest of these craftsmen was his other pupil Stradivari, whose instruments are played by the luckiest of today's greatest artists. More than 1,100 instruments were produced in his family workshops, and over 600 of them (including 400 violins) are still in existence, and musicians are willing to pay millions for them. Past researchers thought that the secret of his skill was said to be in the varnish. But it is probably a combination of fine proportioning and aging which makes their sound so excellent.

Strings

Structure

Relative sizes

The String Quartet

Strings in the western classical music play harmonic parts

In the mid-eastern music they play the same part with all other instruments