Watch how the violin and string instruments make varieties of sound and music. Professor Richard Church, conductor of the University of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra, introduces the violin and other ...

At the heart of many of the world’s musical instruments is the same, simple component—a string stretched tight between two points. Plucked, bowed, or struck, each of an instrument’s strings creates ...

Silent warrior. Underdog. Middle voice. These are the generous words that describe the viola, the string instrument accustomed to the shadows, and to the relentless jokes. Violists rarely get a chance ...

Composers have been writing music for the group of instruments we call an orchestra for the last four centuries. Endlessly adaptable and always evolving, an orchestra can be made up of 20 players or ...

The viola is the middle voice of the string family. It is slightly larger than a violin and has a lower and deeper sound than a violin. Since the 18th century it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

FRAN SCOTT: I love this piece. In fact I think it was the first bitof classical music that I ever heard. GREG FOOT: Ah yes Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. It's got the best startto any piece of music ever ...

Matthew Gilbert grew up on a farm, studied literature in college and went on to get a master’s degree in theology. But his passion is violins. Creating new violins from generic-seeming pieces of wood, ...

Like most people these days, sound artist Ellen Fullman is sheltering in place. But she has an unusual roommate: a massive installation she calls the Long String Instrument. Filling the ground floor ...