Violas

The viola is a much under rated and maligned instrument, the butt of many jokes. Joke 1: How do you stop your violin from getting stolen? Put it in a viola case! Seriously, though, what is a viola? Firstly it is pronounced Veeola, nothing irritates me more than the incorrect pronunciation " vyola". It is a relative of the violin, being held on the shoulder in the same way. It is approximately two inches longer and wider, although this can vary a bit. Whereas violins come in fractional sizes, ie 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 4/4( and some really tiny ones- my daughter started on a 32nd size!) the viola comes in inch ...

A Violist and a Cellist were standing on a sinking ship. "Help" cried the cellist "I can't swim" "Don't worry" replied the Violist "Just fake it". One of thousands of Viola jokes making the rounds at the moment. I don't really understand where all this anti feeling for Violas comes from. I mean personally I think they sound better than Violins, i.e they don't sound like strangled cats. They have a warmer sound and don't screech as much. Yet players have a reputation for playing out of tune: How can you tell if a violist is playing out of tune? The bow is moving! And for ...