For me, the difference is a little more lyrical. The violin is daytime, the viola is twilight, the cello midnight. As a fan of the magical hours of twilight, I love to hear a viola playing a melancholy air. (I happen to be a big fan of contralto voices, too - much more to my taste than sopranos.)
@@gunesgrigg9441 No, you're not a joke. I opted not to include the double bass because it's so rarely used as a solo instrument, and so the diurnal metaphor seemed irrelevant. If it does have a place there, it would be as a major component of the general ambience. No offence meant.
To me, quick thoughts, nigh poetic, but true: Violin : Sweeter Viola : Richer Cello : Lifting Double Bass : Grounding -- and it's really a large fretless viol, different family
Slightly wrong, the Double Bass (or more formally, the Contrabass) has routes in the Viol family, but it actually is part of the violin family. It has history in both families, so think of it as... the Contrabass is a half sibling or a cousin in the family. Edit: Long story short, it's both a "violin" and a "Viol" (which fun fact: the violin family is "also a family of viols", they're related, violin literally means "small Viol").
A true viola story: Once upon a time, a Frenchman made an ugly large violin and said: "Voila!" Later, his dyslexic newspaperman friend printed: "..... and the craftsman said: Viola!"
Actually, fun fact! The viola was invented before the violin. But nobody knows when, exactly, it was invented. I call the viola the Violin's big sister. Also, I play a 16.5 inch viola as a 13 year old kid because my arms are wayy too long for a violin
A true violin story: Once upon a time drunk luthier sold out all of his softwood supply and decided to build viola from two pieces of firewood remained after winter. He got something small and creaky now commonly known as violin.
I do not really know much about violas and violins, but as an alto singer in a choir I suddenly feel this weird connection to the viola. I know what it feels like to always support and to rarely get the leading role in a piece.
I love this joke! My sister played violin, and when I played high strings in teaching methods class, I chose viola. I wasn't very good at it, though, because I couldn't move the bow fast enough. (Not a deal breaker. My instrumental focus at the time was percussion.)
@@rositasanchez1186 I play piano, but I prefer the sounds that come from viola and cello myself; however, *my* daughter chose violin 😅🤷🏻♀️ What are we going to do. We raise them and this is how they thank us. 😂
As a long-time violist, I can say the difference between the two is that one is great and the other *thinks* it's great. I'll let you decide which is which :)
You summed it all up in a few seconds when you played C on the violin, and then C on the viola. The difference is phenomenal, I will never again confuse the two sounds. 04:00
I’ve always preferred the viola over the violin. It’s got a greater warmth, it’s less brash in the higher end. I believe the viola plays the solo in the Albinoni/Giazotto adagio in Gm. It’s hauntingly beautiful.
Agreed. Except in the hands of truly skilled players, the violin is horrifically thin and pretty squeak-awful. This lady obviously gets a rich tone from hers, but many don't
Why on Earth, my teacher made me have classes on a viola if it's actually harder to play than a violin? I wanted to learn the violin, but he said "here's a viola which I think it'd easier for u". I believed him bc I knew nothing about both instruments. Yet the viola is heavier and hurts one fingers more. Thank you, teacher for giving me a hard time.
I was in my orchestra class recently and while my class was warming up me and my best friend traded my Viola and her Violin just for fun, the funny part was that the other Viola player didn’t realize I had a Violin and was incredibly confused 😂 even us Viola players can’t tell the difference
@Sparticus Booker Step 1: find the bottle of Lithium. Step 2: take as directed by your doctor - no more, no less. Step 3: come back here and delete your hateful comment as it is not welcome and reflect badly on you. Step 4: be a better person - you as you are now ... sux
A violist was complaining to the conductor. "Joe the violinist reached over in the middle of the performance, and tweaked one of my tuning pegs!" "Well, that's a bit juvenile -- but seriously, what's the problem?" the conductor asked. The violist replied, "Joe won't tell me which one!"
No. Former violist here. I started learning viola because I was the only one in grade school orchestra who knew what a tenor clef was. I put up with viola jokes because of Two Set.
@Sparticus Booker Oh, how elitist of you. Keep assuming and insulting people you don't know, I am sure it benefits the classical music community greatly, separating the wheat from the chaff. I mean, it is not like music and its knowledge is for everyone, how silly to even think that.
ALLEN DC I hope not. We can learn a lot from this video. It’s not hate between viola and violin, but it is a huge amount of jokes. Everyone loves the viola too, without it the orchestra wouldn’t sound good. The same for violins. :) I learned a lot from this video and I think most of us Twoset fans do.
@@xandraxandra1437 It's a huge mistake to think that all twosetters hate viola. They don't. It doesn't really matter to me what twoset think of violas. That is their opinion, not mine. I can make up my own mind, don't need others to tell me what to think or how to think. I like their videos because they are honest and fun, and that is something I really appreciate, but I will never ever let anyone tell me what to think. Ever.
@@chomo54andbabyaisha97 I didn’t tell you what to think. I just wrote what I thought about the video and the post. Don’t create something of this it isn’t please.
Interesting to know. I don’t play any instruments (I’m more of a singer) but I never really like how high pitched the violin is cuz it sounds squeaky to me. I love the sound of the viola and cello though.
Great explanations, modeling, and descriptions that clearly identify differences which as a former viola student in school, I enjoyed your playing of the "lovely viola!" So true it has different role by providing a unique richness and is influential in teaching me about melodic harmonies. Great video!
Wikipedia has an article "Viola Concerto" that lists quite a few works for viola soloists. Most of the concertos are very old. Alessandro Rolla wrote 20 -- Does anyone ever play them?
I'm going to troll this a little lol. Violist by preference and violinist for pay. Violino (violin in Italian) means little viola. The violin wasn't invented for soloistic playing... It was actually meant to accompany the Tenor voice in SATB compositions of the 16th and 17th century. Viola as it were, were two different instruments. Alto and Tenor. The tenor voice during the Renaissance was the most important, not the soprano. One of the best Stads -in terms of preservation- is the Medici Tenor. Its also the only work of Strad that has the original bridge, along with neck, and fingerboard. Renaissance music was built on and viewed with wildly different theories. The violin didn't take off until the mid 1600s. In part because of the easier size, however as the structure of music advanced, new keys became more avaliable... and therefore more posh. F major was the first key, and later C and G then Bb etc... Viola is in C... making F, C, and G readily avaliable. Violin is in G... C, D, and A are often the easiest. However, just because the key became avaliable, doesn't mean it could be easily used. The tuning system in the early stages of music were all over the place. Making complex harmonic structure just not possible. Once the "theory" of Renaissance went out of style, and the Baroque took over, the use of colorful diminution in soprano lines became all the rage. Combined with progressing theories of harmony, counterpoint etc... there were many practical reasons to keep the moving line in one voice and the the easiest instrument to do that with. (Remember... cellos were still held between the legs with no endpin) Anyway... Bachs 6th Brandenburg Concerto is thought to be an earlier composition of his, and is a bit of a political piece so to speak. He was "bitting his thumb" at the French and Italian schools that preferred Keyboard and Violin over all other voices. Viola technique is real, and its also different from violin technique. And once properly studied, will help make larger violas accessible, even for Paganini pieces. Viola is also a near exact match with the range of the human voice. On a personal note... I describe the strings like this: The Bass are like the mountains, hills and valleys, the celli are like the oceans and seas , the violins are like the sky and the wind and viola is the salt of the earth.
For clarification, there really is no such thing as a "full sized" viola. Viola body sizes vary dramatically and are generally based on the arm length of the player. They can range from 15 inches to 17 and 1/2 inches in general, of course the bigger the instrument, the more physically challenging to play and all violists must choose a size that works for their own body so that they can be comfortable on the instrument. Additionally, the square vs. rounded frog on a bow has nothing to do with the violin vs. viola comparison either, it is simply the preference of the bow maker stylistically.
When I was a music student (my applied specialty being percussion), my university was hosting a string festival, and I saw this young high strings musician walking around the music area. I asked him if he played viola, and he got so snotty that no, he played violin. Well, how was I supposed to know?! Realistically, looking at the kid, it was a big instrument next to him. Since there are different-sized instruments, it's not like I could tell from looking. He sure had the stereotyped rotten temperament, that's for sure. Anyhow, I played viola a bit and wasn't good at it. This video makes me miss it and wonder if I would maybe be good now. (I play electric bass now because I also took orchestral bass in methods class. I have no problem with wider spans of notes.) Thanks for posting. :)
I've actually been pondering learning viola. I'm primarily a low brass player and dabble in bass guitar, so I generally prefer lower/mellower instruments by default. Always had an interest in double bass, but, already having large brass instruments like tuba and euphonium, I shifted my attention to smaller instruments and learned the viola (as well as tenor guitar) has the same string tuning as cello yet an octave up. Plus, I recently picked up alto trombone, which, unbeknownst to me, also has music written on the alto clef, so I'd likely already be learning that clef. Then again, I already read bass clef, so I could also read cello music and benefit from learning it on a smaller fretboard, lol
Can't Imagine Why Their Would Be Thumbs Down? Thank You For Sharing. Detailed Info, I Was A Student When I Was An Teenager!! Will Never Forget Given The Opportunity!!
I am first time viewing your video ma'am. Learning the orchestra and its classification. Thank you so much I am start follwing you. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful difference 🙏🙏
I started on the violin then moved to the viola because our Jr High School Orchestra had only one viola player and 26 violin players. They pleaded with me to take up the viola. No problem. I made it two for the violas. We had 6 Cello's and two Base. I used a full size 16 Viola and it fits me perfectly. But with only two viola players you sure know who made a mistake. With the violins you may not have even noticed. Love the Viola. Have not played since 1972. Should have kept going. Still remember how to read but so rusty on the viola.
Who's else has been checking out the viola because of twosetviolin? Really liked your video, Amber. You manage to explain to me in 8 minutes what I couldnt find after 30 minutes of google searches. Haha Cheers!
As a purebred Ling Ling wannabe this video made my knowledge about violas extend from “haha” to “aha!”. (It’s a good thing, I learned a lot.) Thank you Violin Viola Masterclass!
Also, the C that the center line in Alto is, is Middle C, C4, the "center" key of the piano keyboard, center note of the whole range from high Treble to low Bass. Alto usually isn't learned because only the Viola, Viola da Gamba, Alto Trombone, and Mandola read from that stave. Middle C can be done in 1st Position on the G String, or 4th Position on the C String. Open C, C3, is one octave below Middle C.
They have a Vertical Viola which is the only Viola I know of that's big enough for those low notes to speak clearly, but it's also big enough that you can play it like a Cello.
I've been watching Swan Lake Suite by a Polish Youth Orchestra Non-Stop for about 2 months now wishing I had taken up either one of these instruments 65 years ago. Well done Miss and thank you.
Thanks for the informative demonstration. I’m reading a novel right now in which the protagonist plays a viola but wants to play violin. I wanted to understand the difference for context, but I kept running into memes I don’t understand. 😂
nice video, the viola is still made especially for renaissance festivals where they play medieval music, barn dance, Celtic music, or viola with highland pipes. Music with a repetitive structure, repetitive tonal nature that brings people into a trance-like state.
Found your video today and found you simply lovely. Good video, the features you brought to comparison were worth pointing out, and I'm from the keys LOL watched it for research purposes
Thank you so much. You explained the differences so well. I don’t play any instrument (unfortunately) but we’re going to hear a string quartet this evening, and there will be two violinists, a violist, and a cellist. We’re really looking forward to it. Listening to you play briefly on each made me more excited about this evening. ❤️
I’m thinking of getting a violin but my friend said the viola would be better for my cats ears. How does your cat react to your playing on either instrument?
An excellent but concise video. If I had been the one in control, I would have used the treble clef for viola, and have the notes played an octave lower than written. The notes would fall only one note away from where they are on the alto clef, and the treble clef is essentially universally familiar.
I’m going to give my view of how the string instruments equate to the world of vocal singing. The 1st violin is the soprano, the 2nd violin is the mezzo-soprano, the viola is the alto, the Cello is the baritone, and the Contra-Bass is the Bass.
Edwin York Bowen considered the viola a superior solo instrument to the violin and composed concertos for both instruments. He also composed viola sonatas for his friend Lionel Tertis.
Hey I get to pick to get like a viola and a violin but I don’t know what to choose and this video showed me like the qualities and the differences of the viola and a violin so thanks😁
Learning about all different instruments. As a pianist, the clef in red is what I call "normal". In some exams, we're expected to transpose from one type to the other or vice versa.
Thank you. I have just started buying Swam strings for ios and your video helped me out a lot. I will also be having a look at your Patreon content too and may sign up. I have always loved the sound of strings. Best wishes.
