# Violin or viola



## Jaws

I find the violin easier to play than the viola. Is this why there are fewer viola players than violin players?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

No it's because people are conservative. They don't realise how much better and more beautifully rich sounding violas are compared to those annoying squeaky little violins.


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## Taneyev

Problem is that major part of viola players are frustrated violinists, and so they play the viola as it was a violin, like Primrose. Only thing they got is to sound exactly as a viola played as a violin.


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## Ukko

The details get complicated - and controversial. The Big Picture shows that the violin is the soprano member of the family. Sopranos get the big parts. Altos get to sing along. It's an ego thing, _Jaws_.


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## MaestroViolinist

Yes, I think that is why there are more violinists. How do you mean harder though? Do you mean physically, or is it because you have read two different clefs?

I couldn't play the viola, I have enough neck troubles playing the violin, but it has become better since I got a new, higher shoulder rest.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Viola isn't that much harder to play, but it's worth the extra effort.


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## Krummhorn

"The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer. " 
― Victor Borge

:lol:

Personally though - I much prefer the richer sounds of the viola - especially (in my case) when accompanied by a pipe organ.


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## MaestroViolinist

Odnoposoff said:


> Problem is that major part of viola players are frustrated violinists, and so they play the viola as it was a violin, like Primrose. Only thing they got is to sound exactly as a viola played as a violin.


Too true, too true. And often composers write music for the viola that goes too high, and violas don't sound as good when they go too high.


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## PetrB

The Viol Family
Violin ~ Soprano
Viola ~ Alto
Violincello ~ Extraordinary lyric bass-baritone, tenor, etc.
Violinbasso ~ Bass

Just as for voice, each has their range, and particular quality. Just as with the voice, not one is 'easier' than any other.

The instruments should be played, and composed for, each with their individual ranges and qualities in mind.

There. Up to you. I very much prefer the contemporary viola, with its lower register and richer and slightly more disperse tone than the contemporary violin. That is a personal and subjective preference.

None of them, to play well at a high professional level, are at all 'easy.' Good Lord.


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## Jaws

MaestroViolinist said:


> Yes, I think that is why there are more violinists. How do you mean harder though? Do you mean physically, or is it because you have read two different clefs?
> 
> .


I started on the viola and then when I started the violin, I just found it easier. Bowing, fingering, sound, were all much easier, having said that, I am really an oboist so that might have something to do with it?


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## Ukko

PetrB said:


> The Viol Family
> Violin ~ Soprano
> Viola ~ Alto
> Violincello ~ Extraordinary lyric bass-baritone, tenor, etc.
> Violinbasso ~ Bass
> [...]


Are you using the 'commonly accepted' terminology? Somewhere I read that the viol family is the one once contained in the "chest of viols". Whoever wrote that named the more modern group 'the violin family'. I'd like to get this straight, so I have an inkling of _something_ that people talk about.


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## Clementine

Keep in mind that most string players start when they're young, and they want to play what they can hear and see. The violins and cellos are on the outside of the orchestra, and most children probably wouldn't know the difference between a violin and viola anyways. 

As much as I love the viola though, I'd say violin. My favorite sound of the viola is the throaty lower register. The middle section is kind of indistinguishable in sound (when played with other strings), and the high register isn't very strong, like violin or cello. From my experience, the higher you play on the viola, the more it sounds like it's being muted. Violin on the other hand has a full range of wonderful sounds, from the rich lower register, to the soaring high register. If we add in cello though, that takes the cake with it's wonderful range.


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## MaestroViolinist

Jaws said:


> I started on the viola and then when I started the violin, I just found it easier. Bowing, fingering, sound, were all much easier, having said that, I am really an oboist so that might have something to do with it?


I have no idea, I've never played the oboe.  Come to think of it, I haven't really tried the viola either. I always thought it was a too-inbetween-instrument. I prefer the violin and cello. But that's just me.


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## MaestroViolinist

PetrB said:


> None of them, to play well at a high professional level, are at all 'easy.' Good Lord.


 Exactly.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

MaestroViolinist said:


> I have no idea, I've never played the oboe.  Come to think of it, I haven't really tried the viola either. I always thought it was a too-inbetween-instrument. I prefer the violin and cello. But that's just me.


That's exactly the reason why I don't like the middle register of the piano. It's too "in-between" the low and high registers.


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## MaestroViolinist

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> That's exactly the reason why I don't like the middle register of the piano. It's too "in-between" the low and high registers.


Whoo! Someone else who agrees!


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## Moira

I don't do the whole "I prefer" thing for the most part. However, when an instrument is incorrectly tuned or the notes are played sharp or flat, the higher it is, the more it screams at me. Notes that are bad don't hurt as much in the lower registers. This is true of all the instrument families. A bass singer can sing without ever hitting a correct note and it wouldn't 'bother' my hearing, but when a soprano does it it physically hurts my ears.


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## jurianbai

of course its harder, what you do think you like with a steak, a fork or trident?


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