No. 242 - Violin Versus Viola

My daughter's homework today consisted of answering twelve questions about things she learned on her first day and things she would like to learn during the school year. She listed "learn to play a violin" as one of her goals that she would like to accomplish this year. She told me that I should learn about the differences between a violin and a viola because they are very similar. She thought the differences were that one was darker (in color) and the other was lighter, one was bigger and the other was smaller, and one played higher notes and the other lower notes.

I learned that size does matter and it is certainly the main difference. The viola is the bigger one, but not by much. It is usually 16-17 inches in body length compared to the violin at 13-14 inches.

The violin and viola also have different strings. They both have an A, D, and G string but the viola has a lower C string and the violin has a higher E string. The sound of the strings will also be deeper on the viola since it is bigger and has a lower range of notes than the violin.

It does not appear that the choice of wood grain/color is one of the differences.

But as Meatloaf once said, "Two out of three ain't bad."