Interesting Violin Facts – 7 Fun Facts

Learning the violin takes a lot of time and patience so it can lead to needing something to keep you going back – especially for children. There are a number of interesting violin facts that will keep you coming back to your instrument and make you want to learn it even more.

Fact One: One of the most interesting violin facts is that it is one of the most expensive instruments. The Stradivarius Violin is the most expensive due to its perfect tone and the history behind the instrument – it has been around since the 1500s

Fact Two: You can now buy electric violins. They are beautiful instruments but they will cost you a lot more than a traditional violin. Many of the famous violinists now have electric violins.

Fact Three: Even though the violin is one of the hardest to play, it was constantly treated as a lower class instrument. This is mainly due to the fact that a fiddle was hand-made and then learned by ear. It was very popular for folk music, especially during the early 1900s with the Irish. It was deemed as entertainment for those classes while the upper class listened to more classical soothing sounds.

Fact Four: The violin, like all of its other stringed family members, is a hollow instrument. This means that the sound can vibrate around the wood to give a greater sound. However, this hollow instrument is actually made up of 70 different parts or wood, including the tuning pegs and the bridge that the strings sit on.

Fact Five: The Italians call the Violin a “kit”. There is no reason for this – just a fact.

Fact Six: The bow of a violin is actually made up of horsehair. There are hundreds of these hairs and they constantly need to be loosened so that the hairs do not break or become damaged. Rosin is also needed on the hair to make the perfect tone that a violin is popular for.

Fact Seven: When the roller skates were invented by Joseph Merlin, he used the violin while he proved what he could do on them. However, he forgot the aspect of breaking and ended up skating straight into a mirror. Not only did he break the mirror but he also broke his violin.

There are many interesting violin facts that will keep you wanting to play – no matter how frustrated you get with learning the instrument. It may be one of the most difficult to learn but it is definitely the most rewarding.