Difference Between A Violin and a Fiddle?

[VeeJay]

A fiddle is more likely to be cracked over somebody's head.

[Okla-homey]

No one gets p1ssed if someone spills beer on their fiddle.

[yermom]

i thought it had to do with the number of teeth of the person playing it ;)

[Okla-homey]

i thought it had to do with the number of teeth of the person playing it ;)

Negativo Mamacita...both these charming young women have all their teeth and are world-class fiddlers.

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/6475/1untitled9xg.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/3301/untitled3cm1.png (http://imageshack.us)

[yermom]

i saw #2 at the Cain's... didn't see her teeth though :)

[BajaOklahoma]

The difference is the target audience.
For the low-brow, it's a fiddle.
For the high-brow, it's a violin.

My music teacher called mine a violin. And told me to fake it during the performance - don't make a sound. :O

[walkoffsooner]

You can dance to fiddle music.

[the_ouskull]

I was thinking the difference is about 50 IQ points... I could be wrong.

the_ouskull

[tbl]

The difference is a fiddle player learns and plays songs by ear, and typically can't read music. A violin player has to have the sheet in front of them or they're dead in the water.

For the sake of argument, Fiddle > Violin.

However, a violin player that learns how to play fiddle is a force to be reckoned with, i.e. Shoji Tabuchi. If you can play both styles (breakdowns, bluegrass, concerto's), you can pretty much top anybody else you come against.

You can dance to both styles (there are fiddle & violin waltzes).

IQ has NOTHING to do with it.

[Octavian]

the Devil wont go to Georgia w/ a fiddle ;)

[walkoffsooner]

You can get beat with a fiddle for sleeping with your sister.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

You buncha frockling hillbillies...

They use different strings, they're held differently, they're tuned differently and because of the different strings you can't use a fiddle to play classical stuff but you can use a violin to play hillbilly stuff.

DE-DIDDLE-DEE-DIDDLE-EEEEEEEEE!

[walkoffsooner]

i like fiddle music better. Violin people are dull and pompus.you can throw a mator at a fiddle player and not make his boyfried mad.

[SoonerInKCMO]

All I know is that if you're talking to a woman that plays violin in the Topeka orchestra and call it a fiddle she might slap you.

[VeeJay]

Topeka has an orchestra? ;)

[BajaOklahoma]

Okay BSG, you had me going for a minute.

Wikipedia:
The fiddle is a violin played as a folk instrument. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music. Fiddle playing, or fiddling, is a style of music.

A violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the kind of music being played with it. The words "violin" and "fiddle" come from the same Latin root, but "violin" came through the Romance languages and "fiddle" through Germanic languages.

Historically, the word fiddle also referred to a predecessor of today's violin. Like the violin, it tended to have 4 strings, but came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Another series of instruments which contributed to the development of the modern fiddle was the viol, which was played while held between the legs, and has a fretted fingerboard.

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 top of the bridge may be cut so that it is very slightly less curved. This reduces the range of right-arm motion required for the rapid string-crossings found in some styles, and is said to make it easier to play double stops, or to make triple stops possible, allowing one to play chords.

Some musicians like to explain that the technical difference between a violin and a fiddle is the bridge. Most classical violinists prefer rounded bridges that allow them to more easily articulate the notes which have better clarity. Some fiddlers prefer flatter bridges that allow the playing of double notes and shuffles used in certain fiddle styles. In construction, they are both the same identical instrument. In practice, most instruments are constructed with a rounded bridge to better accommodate the shape of the fingerboard and some fiddlers will have their bridges modified to be a little flatter. However, as a violin's bridge is relatively easy to replace, modifying the bridge does not permanently make a violin into a fiddle.

Various clichés describe the difference: "The violin sings, the fiddle dances." or "A fiddle is a violin with attitude." As might be expected from the differences between classical and folk music, violinists tend to be formally trained and fiddlers tend to be informally trained, although crossing over is not uncommon.

[Brasky7]

if you're gonna play in texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band...



just sayin...

[VeeJay]

Okay BSG, you had me going for a minute.

Wikipedia:
The fiddle is a violin played as a folk instrument. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music. Fiddle playing, or fiddling, is a style of music.

A violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the kind of music being played with it. The words "violin" and "fiddle" come from the same Latin root, but "violin" came through the Romance languages and "fiddle" through Germanic languages.

Historically, the word fiddle also referred to a predecessor of today's violin. Like the violin, it tended to have 4 strings, but came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Another series of instruments which contributed to the development of the modern fiddle was the viol, which was played while held between the legs, and has a fretted fingerboard.

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 top of the bridge may be cut so that it is very slightly less curved. This reduces the range of right-arm motion required for the rapid string-crossings found in some styles, and is said to make it easier to play double stops, or to make triple stops possible, allowing one to play chords.

Some musicians like to explain that the technical difference between a violin and a fiddle is the bridge. Most classical violinists prefer rounded bridges that allow them to more easily articulate the notes which have better clarity. Some fiddlers prefer flatter bridges that allow the playing of double notes and shuffles used in certain fiddle styles. In construction, they are both the same identical instrument. In practice, most instruments are constructed with a rounded bridge to better accommodate the shape of the fingerboard and some fiddlers will have their bridges modified to be a little flatter. However, as a violin's bridge is relatively easy to replace, modifying the bridge does not permanently make a violin into a fiddle.

Various clichés describe the difference: "The violin sings, the fiddle dances." or "A fiddle is a violin with attitude." As might be expected from the differences between classical and folk music, violinists tend to be formally trained and fiddlers tend to be informally trained, although crossing over is not uncommon.


Thanks Baja. If it helps, during Charlie Daniels songs, I have played air fiddle.

I have never knowingly played air violin.

[booomer]

i thought it had to do with the number of teeth of the person playing it ;)


:D

[jacru]

I have fiddled around. I have never violined around.
Is that significant?