When you see a string instrument, you may first notice that it is made of wood, so why is it called a string instrument? The body of a string instrument is hollow, allowing sound to vibrate inside. The body is made of different kinds of wood, but the part that makes the sound is the string, which is made of nylon, steel or animal intestines. The most common way to play lines is to draw them with a bow. The bow handle is made of wood, and the bow's strings are the mane on the tail of the horse! Sometimes musicians will pluck the strings with their fingers and occasionally turn the bow upside down to play the strings with the wooden handle.
Violin is a baby in the string family. It can make the highest sound. The orchestra has more violins than any other instrument (up to 30!) and is divided into the first and second groups. The first group of violins often play a melody, while the second group of violins alternately play melody and harmony. A typical size violin is about 24 inches (two feet) long.
Viola is the sister or brother of the violin. It is slightly larger, just over two feet long has thicker strings, and can produce richer and warmer sounds than the violin. There are usually 10 to 14 violists in an orchestra. They almost always play harmony.
The shape is similar to that of the violin and viola, but it is much larger (about 4 feet long) than the violin and viola, and the strings are thicker. Among all string instruments, the cello sounds most like a human voice. It can emit a variety of tones, from warm bass to bright treble. An orchestra usually has 8 to 12 cellos. They can play both harmony and melody.
This is the ancestor of the string family. The double bass is more than 6 feet long and is the largest member of the string family, with the longest strings, which allows it to play a very low tone. Almost all of the 6 to 8 double bass players in the orchestra are playing harmony. They are so big that you have to stand up or sit on a very high stool to play them.5. HarpThe harp is different from other stringed instruments. It is very tall, about six feet, and shaped like the number 7, with 47 strings of varying lengths that match the pitch of the piano's white keys. There are usually one or two harps in an orchestra, and they play both melody and harmony.
