the difference between a violin and a fiddle

[James Smith]

(No, I don't play, but the other five members of my
family play one or more of the stringed instruments.)
A violin player holds the instrument firmly under the
chin and provides only intermittent support - if any -
 with the left hand, a fiddle player rests the
instrument against the chest or shoulder and supports
it with the left hand, making all but the simplest of
fingerings difficult. Most modern "fiddlers" are
violin players.  Fiddlers might also play while
supporting the instrument on their knee like a viola
di gamba, predecessor of the modern viola: picture a
small cello supported on the knee rather than the
floor.

What's the difference between a violin and a viola? -
about five minutes burning time.


--- Johanna N Franklin <johannaf+ at ANDREW.CMU.EDU>
wrote:
>     I always heard that the difference between a
> violin and a fiddle was
> that a violin has a case.
>
>     Johanna, who has to finish transcribing a
> conversation now
>
> Excerpts from mail: 16-Oct-100 Re: the psychology of
> Gray/.. by "Peter
> A. McGraw"@LINFIE
> > The best example I ever heard of a similar
> phenomenon was on a music
> > program on NPR co-hosted by the conductor of the
> Baltimore Symphony (I
> > think that's the orchestra--and I can't remember
> the conductor's name, but
> > I think it starts with Z).  Speaking of how
> professional violinists refer
> > to their instrument as a "fiddle," and also
> discussing the difference in
> > style between country fiddling and classical
> violin playing, he recalled
> > once asking a class what they saw as the
> difference between a violin and a
> > fiddle.  One student answered: "A violin has
> strings; a fiddle has strangs."


=====
James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
SLC, UT                        |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.

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