Parts of the violin and basics of sound production.

As anyone who is passionate about something, I wanted to take some time and talk to you about my passion. I wanted to show you pictures of beautiful violins, play recordings of the greatest artists of the violin, tell you the most inspirational stories I know, and share my appreciation of all the beauty music brings to our world! But then I thought, you probably don’t need that. If you are here, I assume you already share my passion. And you are eager to start playing yourself. So without further ado, let’s get started: Let’s talk a little bit about how the sound of the violin is made and along with this, we will review the parts of the violin. So, here is the violin, and here is the bow. In a very simplified explanation, the way we create sound is by drawing the bow over the strings. Once the strings start vibrating, this makes the bridge vibrate. This part is very important and you need to remember it, it’s called the bridge, we will be using it a lot when we talk about sound production and sound quality. The bridge makes the top plate of the violin vibrate, then the soundpost - this little tiny piece of wood inside of the violin is the soundpost, the soundpost transmits the vibrations to the back plate of the violin, so now everything is vibrating. As I am describing this it seems like a long process, but it actually happens incredibly quickly, as the sound vibrations in the wood travel with the speed of around 3000 meters per second, depending on the density of the wood. So, the moment you draw the bow, or pluck a string, in a fraction of a second, this whole process happens and the whole box starts vibrating. As soon as the box of the violin starts vibrating, the air inside is pushed to vibrate with the same frequency. The air moves out through the F holes. This part is another one you need to remember - the F holes, they are these holes on the top, in the shape of the letter f. The sound comes out from here and moves toward the listener. So, the parts of the violin we mentioned so far: the strings, the bridge, the soundpost, and the F holes. Also important one is the fingerboard - this long, black piece of wood, where we put our fingers. When we press a string on the fingerboard, we are stopping the string to vibrate with a different length. For example, the whole length of the string is from the bridge, to the nut: that’s another important part to remember - the nut, it is this little piece of wood at the end of the fingerboard. So when we bow the open string, it vibrates with the whole length, from the bridge - to the nut. However, if we press the string, it vibrates from the point we have pressed, to the bridge, so now we are creating a different length for the string to vibrate. Shorter strings vibrate faster and create higher pitch, or higher sound, higher notes. Longer strings - vibrate slower and sound with a lower sound, lower pitch, lower notes.  We will talk more about this when we actually start playing. Another important part we have to mention is the scroll, it has no particular importance for the sound, but it is a beautiful ornament and very prominent part of the violin. These are the tuning pegs, this is where we tighten and loosen the strings so they are tuned in a particular way. Most of you will have fine tuners - one or more: these are located on the tail piece and they change the pitch of the strings very gradually, so you can fine tune it easier. Again, fine tuners and tail piece. You don’t have to remember these for now, as we are not going to talk about them often, but if you remember them, it’s a bonus:) Fine tuners, tail piece. OK, lets revise the other parts of the violin we talked about. Strings, bridge, soundpost, F holes. Fingerboard, nut, scroll, tuning pegs, fine tuners, tail piece. Lets look at the bow: It is a wooden stick, made in a very particular shape, so it has a slight curve in the middle. This curve, as you will see, is very important for some of the bow techniques. It has horse hair, which you probably know, covered with a layer of rosin, for better friction. When we move the bow over the strings, it’s the hair that actually touches the strings and make them vibrate. See, the horse hair has a special surface. If you look it under a microscope it is not smooth, but just the opposite, quite rough. It has a surface that looks like the shingles on the roof of a house, or little teeth if you would. These little teeth catch the string, pull it slightly, and as they release, the string starts vibrating. Then the next one catches the string again, pulls and releases, and the string starts vibrating again. This process repeats many times, very quickly, when we move the bow and we hear it as a constant sound. So, the hair is attached to the tip of the bow, and on the other side - to the frog. So that’s the frog, this is the tip. The hair is tighten and loosen by the screw at the end of the bow. We tighten the hair each time before we start playing: it should be tight enough so the stick doesn’t touch the strings when we play, but it should not be as tight as to make the stick almost straight. The bow should always be slightly curved. And also, don’t forget to loosen it each time before you put the violin away, so there is no stress on the tip of the bow while you are not using it. That’s all you need to know about the violin and the bow for now. As I start explaining how we play, I will be giving you more information. The next lecture is about the bow hold. Here is a quick tip: get a pencil. See you in the next video.