The violin has come to be incorporated in many non-Western music cultures, including Indian music and Iranian music.

Electric violins with solid bodies and piezoelectric pickups are used in some forms of rock music and jazz fusion, with the pickups plugged into instrument amplifiers and speakers to produce sound.

Violins are also important in many varieties of folk music, including country music, bluegrass music, and in jazz. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo instruments. Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. It can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers ( pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow ( col legno). The violin typically has four strings, usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regular use. The longer the length of tube that is struck, the lower the pitch that is created.The violin, sometimes known as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. The chimes, or tubular bells, are struck with a mallet and sound like church bells when played. The metal tubes range from 1 to 2 ½ inches in diameter and from 4 to 6 feet in length. The percussion instruments are an international family, with ancestors from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe representing musical styles from many different cultures.Ĭhimes are a tuned instrument consisting of a set of 12 to 18 metal tubes hung from a metal frame. Untuned instruments produce a sound with an indefinite pitch, like the sound of a hand knocking on a door.

Tuned instruments play specific pitches or notes, just like the woodwind, brass and string instruments. Percussion instruments are classified as tuned or untuned. In the orchestra, the percussion section provides a variety of rhythms, textures and tone colors. With a name that means, “the hitting of one body against another,” instruments in the percussion family are played by being struck, shaken, or scraped.

Orchestra instrument pictures for kids