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Jazz
The earliest references to jazz performance using the violin as a solo instrument are documented during the first decades of the 20th century. The first great jazz violinist was Joe Venuti who is best known for his work with guitarist Eddie Lang during the 1920s. Since that time there have been many superb improvising violinists including Stéphane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Ray Perry, Ray Nance, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Leroy Jenkins, Billy Bang, Mat Maneri, Malcolm Goldstein, and others.
Classical music
Since the Baroque era the violin (Baroque violin) has been one of the most important of all instruments in classical music, for several reasons. The tone of the violin stands out above other instruments, making it appropriate for playing a melody line. In the hands of a good player, the violin is extremely agile, and can execute rapid and difficult sequences of notes. Indeed, the violin seems to lend itself to virtuosity more than any other instrument (its only possible rival is the piano), and top violinists have amazed their audiences with their wizardry since the 17th century.
The violin is also considered a very expressive instrument, which is often felt to approximate the human voice. This may be due to the possibility of vibrato and of slight expressive adjustments in pitch and timbre. Many leading composers have contributed to the violin concerto and violin sonata repertories.
Violins make up a large part of an orchestra, and are usually divided into two sections, known as the first and second violins. Composers often assign the melody to the first violins (who are often given more technically difficult music), while second violins play harmony, accompaniment patterns or the melody an octave lower than the first violins. A string quartet similarly has parts for first and second violins, as well as a viola part, and a bass instrument, such as the cello or, rarely, the bass.
Indian classical (Carnatic) music
The violin is a very important part of South Indian classical music (Carnatic music). It is believed to have been introduced to the South Indian tradition by Baluswamy Dikshitar. The violin is primarily used as support for a vocalist, as the sound of a violin complements that of the singer. The doyens of Carnatic violin include Thirukodikaval Krishna Iyer, Govindaswamy Pillai, Mysore T. Chowdiah, Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu, T. N. Krishnan, Lalgudi Jayaraman, and M. S. Gopalakrishnan. The children of the last three are also successful violinists in their own right. The next generation of violinists includes M. Chandrasekhar, V. V. Subramaniam, Mysore Nagaraj, Dr. Mysore Manjunath and Ganesh-Kumaresh.
In solo violin concerts, the violinist is accompanied by percussion instruments, usually the mridangam and the ghatam.
The violin is also a principal instrument for South Indian film music. V. S. Narasimhan is among the undisputed violin wizards in the South Indian film industry, with many hits in the film world.
Popular music
While the violin has had very little usage in rock music compared to its brethren the guitar and bass guitar, it is being increasingly absorbed into mainstream pop. Independent artists such as Final Fantasy and Andrew Bird have increased interest as well, creating a subcategory of indie rock that some have termed "violindie".
The violin is also used in mainstream pop acts like Vanessa Mae, Bond, Miri Ben-Ari, Yellowcard, Nigel Kennedy, and Dave Matthews Band with Boyd Tinsley and Jean-Luc Ponty; U2 also frequently uses the violin, especially the electric violin. The violin is also a part of the huge phenomenon called cello rock. The hugely popular Motown recordings of the 60's and 70's relied heavily on strings as part of the trademark texture. Earlier genres of pop music, at least those separate from the Rock 'n' Roll movement, tended to make use of fairly traditional Orchestras, sometimes large ones; examples include the American "Crooners" such as Bing Crosby.
Though bowed strings were heavily popular and relied upon in almost all types of music genre recordings in the 60's and 70's, disco music, which surged aggressively onto the music scene in the early to mid 1970's, also relied heavily upon strings within its compositions; in fact, almost all disco/dance music of that era incorporated the use of strings within its compositions and arrangements. After the sudden decline of disco began in the late 70's and early 80's, the use of strings not only dwindled in disco music, but ceased in almost all types of popular music during that time and more so immediately after disco's death. The 1980's saw an insurgence of electronic music mimicking strings with little or no use of traditional strings in music compositions. Now strings are making a comeback in pop music.
Indian and Arabic pop music is filled with the sound of violins, both soloists and ensembles.
Folk music
Like many other instruments of classical music, the violin descends from remote ancestors, cruder in form, that were used for folk music. Following a stage of intensive development in the late Renaissance, largely in Italy, the violin had improved (in volume, tone, and agility), to the point that it not only became a very important instrument in art music, but proved highly appealing to folk musicians as well. As a folk instrument, the violin ultimately spread very widely, sometimes displacing earlier bowed instruments, and ethnomusicologists have observed its use in many locations throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
In many traditions of folk music, the tunes are not written but are memorized by successive generations of musicians and passed on in what is known as the oral tradition.
Fiddle
When played as a folk instrument, the violin is ordinarily referred to in English as a fiddle.
One very slight difference between "fiddles" and ordinary violins may be seen in American (e.g., bluegrass and old-time music) fiddling: in these styles, the bridge is often shaved down so that it is less curved. This makes it easier to play double stops, and often makes triple stops possible, allowing one to play chords.
There is quite often only a single fiddle playing in any given venue, although twin fiddling is represented in some styles. By contrast, violins often play in sections, since sound reinforcement (before electronic amplification) was only possible by adding instruments. The Italian ripieno may be translated as "filling" (or "stuffing" in the culinary sense) since many instruments "fill out" the sound.
See also
External links
"Musical styles (violin)"