All about Music
...re the front (soundboard), the back, the ribs, neck, fingerboard, pegbox, scroll, bridge, tailpiece, and f-holes. (See diagram 1)) This instrument is capable of generating a great variety of sounds. The sound of a stringed instrument begins with the vibration of the string caused by pulling the bow across the string. The hair of the bow, when rosined, creates friction with the string. Because of this friction, the string goes through cycles of sticking to the bow hair, and slipping across it. The vibration of the bowed string is self-stabilizing under the right conditions, and those conditions are created by using appropriate combinations of bow speed and pressure. Different combinations of bowed speed and pressure can also be used to vary the amplitude of the vibration of the string, thus changing the dynamics of the string or the loudness/ softness of the sound produced. Above figure 1: Furthermore, the vibration of the string initiates the sound in the violin, but a vibrating string alone does not produce enough sound to be substantially audible. The body of the instrument performs the task of amplifying the sound produced by the vibration of the string. The air inside the box is not at a constant volume as the violin is played, and this is because the motions of the top and back plates are not the same. When the bow is pulled across the string, the bridge begins a rocking motion. If it were not for the sound post, the effect of the left foot of the bridge would cancel the effect of the right foot of the bridge, and there would be no change in volume of the air inside the box. Thus the job of the bridge is to transfer the vibrations of the strings to the body of the instrument. In addition to that, the string vibration also has a correlation wi...