Musical String Instruments

History of String Instruments

By Cynthia Giles

Of all string musical instruments, the "classical" string instrument that we call the violin would arguably be the most familiar to the most people on any list of string instruments. Renowned in the history of string instruments and instruments of the orchestra, the violin's renown first grew among the Renaissance instruments, although at first among the "classical" music instruments of later decades (really the early Baroque period) it was considered to be a symbol of low social status before the efforts of composers like Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi and the performances of groups like King Louis XIII's 24 Violons du Roi the violin began to gain the respect that it enjoys in such great abundance today.

All string instruments began as types of bows and were plucked. Today, the violin is actually played with a bow (though plucking the strings with the technique known as "pizzicato" is used to get a staccato effect from the violin). It was during this time with these instruments that the fingerboard was added so that string instruments could be played with either a bow or by plucking with a plectrum or the fingers in "pizzicato" style. 

It was during the Baroque period, considered the first "classical" music period of Western Europe and the modern world and dating its start to 1660, that the violin really began to soar. Antionio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Georg Philipp Telemann were the three greatest Baroque period violin music composers. The luthier artistry of Antonio Stradivari, Guiseppe Guarneri, and Jacob Stainer began creating magnificent-sounding violins during this period and on into the subsequent Classical period.

String Instruments - Bowed, Plucked and Struck

By Gordon Petten

The most popular instruments in the string category include cello, double bass, banjo, harp, guitar, violin and mandolin among others.

Different music genres have emerged with different musical instruments producing different musical sounds hence leading to diversity on people's interests and musical differences.

The only way that a string instrument produces sound is by vibration of one or more strings and the sound transmitted through the instrument body that amplifies the sound for audience to enjoy. The string instruments are classified based on the mode used to vibrate the strings. The three most familiar modes are striking, bowing and plucking. Violins are string instruments that are bowed with a technique referred to as col legno. String instruments such as viola and cello also produce sound by bowing. The hardingfele, rebec, kokyu, igil, nyckelharpa and erhu are also some of the commonly known string instruments played by bowing.

A string instrument depending on the shape and materials used to make it will produce different musical sounds. The length of the instrument will determine the mode of play and the sound produced. A certain length and tension will only produce a single note also known as monophony therefore, for a string instrument to produce multiple notes either more strings have to be added on the instrument or the string has to be stopped from times to times. An example of a multiple note producing string instrument is the piano, which has numerous strings for each note

Other post you may interested in reading: Woodwind Musical Instruments