KEMAN(VIOLIN)
The violin, also known as a fiddle, is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest,
highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola, the cello and the contrabass.
Someone who plays the violin is called a violinist or a fiddler. The violinist produces sound by drawing a bow across one or
more strings (which may be stopped by the fingers of the other hand to produce a full range of pitches), by plucking the strings
(with either hand), or by a variety of other techniques. The violin is played by musicians in a wide variety of musical genres,
including Baroque music, classical, jazz, folk music, rock and roll, and Soft rock. The violin has come to be played in many nonWestern music cultures all over the world.
The violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the type of music played on it. The word violin comes from
the Medieval Latin wordvitula, meaning stringed instrument;[1] this word is also believed to be the source of
the Germanic "fiddle".[2] The violin, while it has ancient origins, acquired most of its modern characteristics in 16thcentury Italy, with some further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries. Violinists and collectors particularly
prize the instruments made by the Gasparo da Salò, Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Stradivari, Guarneri and Amati families from the
16th to the 18th century in Brescia and Cremona and by Jacob Stainer in Austria. Great numbers of instruments have come from
the hands of "lesser" makers, as well as still greater numbers of mass-produced commercial "trade violins" coming from cottage
industries in places such asSaxony, Bohemia, and Mirecourt. Many of these trade instruments were formerly sold by Sears,
Roebuck and Co. and other mass merchandisers.
A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier. The parts of a violin are usually made from different types
of wood (although electric violins may not be made of wood at all, since their sound may not be dependent on
specific acoustic characteristics of the instrument's construction), and it is usually strung with gut, Perlon or other synthetic, or
steel strings.