How is Violin Played?
The violin is one of the most beautiful instruments, considered to have a romantic, melodic, and expressive sound. In recent years the violin’s popularity has grown, especially thanks to violinists who have crossed over from classical to pop genres, following the footsteps of Grammy Award-Winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari. A generation of talented violinists, such as D. Sharp, Ezinma, and Brian King Joseph, among many others, have made the violin seen and listened to, more than ever, outside of the classical world. As a result of its new popularity, more and more people have become interested in violin music while wondering how a violin is played?
In order to understand how the violin is played, first, we need to know that, unlike the guitar, which is also a strings instrument, you do not pluck the violin, instead, you use a bow to produce sound. The hair of the violin bow is made out of horsehair which is strong, durable, and can produce the perfect sound. The classical violin has four strings: E, A, D, and G, and if it is an electric violin you might find an additional low C string.
To simplify things: watch this short episode of Sesame Street, where violinist Miri Ben-Ari shows Abby Cadabby how to play the violin.
How to play on violin?
It might not be the easiest instrument to pick up and play but there are indeed many benefits to playing the violin. Now that we understand what produces the violin sound let’s discuss how to play the violin. The most important thing is your pasture. Violinist Miri Ben-Ari likes to compare her violin pasture to Qigong practice “stand up tall and relax. keep your feet about hip distance apart, balance your weight evenly on both feet. your legs should feel grounded and your knees relaxed. Always use the natural weight of the arms when you move in order to play effortlessly”.
Sounds easy right? Let me break down even more how to play violin for beginners in a few technical simple steps.
8 simple steps - how to play the violin
Get a violin (violin comes in different sizes)
Take out the violin, tighten the bow (not too tight), and apply rosin without touching the bow’s hair.
Stand up tall, hold the violin with your left hand, hold the bow with your right hand.
Turn your head to the left and place the violin under your chin, beginners may hold the violin to the right of the fingerboard.
Grab the bow (the same way you would pick up an apple) without touching the bow hair. Make sure your hand is relaxed, your index finger placed on the grip pad (the black sticker), and the thumb is placed on the bow’s “frog”. Your pinky is in charge of the balance, your middle and ring fingers are the “huggers”. There are other ways to hold the bow but this covers the basics
Put the bow over the strings, place it between the bridge and the fingerboard.
Move the bow over the strings using just enough weight to produce sound.
Press your left-hand fingers down the fingerboard and over the strings to change notes.
Violin tip: if you press the bow too hard or slide the bow, not between the bridge and the fingerboard the sound may become scratchy or squeaky.
How to play the violin notes?
While the right hand (the bow hand) is in charge of producing the violin sound, the left hand is in charge of playing the notes. People often wonder if the violin is hard to learn. Unlike the guitar, the violin is a bowed instrument, there are no frets to show where to place the fingers, it requires a lot of practice and also good ears.
I hope this blog gave you a basic understanding of how the violin is played. Keep in mind that it takes years of practice to finesse a violin sound. There are other components that can affect the violin sound such as the quality of the violin, the bow, strings which I am covering in other blogs, and of course: the violinist.
