Violin and Viola Comparison

Thi articla was taken from

http://www.viola-in-music.com/differences-between-violin-and-viola.html

Have you ever asked or wondered “what are the differences between violin and viola?” I bet you did, I have been asked a lot of times!

The famous viola player William Primrose, who like  Lionel Tertis  did a great job to make the viola well known and appreciated, said that he was asked this question so many times and always answered properly explaining all the differences between violin and viola, like the size, timbre, tone, tuning, range, etc. etc.

One time he felt a bit naughty, maybe a bit tired of having to explain all these things again and again, so he answered:

“The difference between violin and viola is that the viola is a violin with a college education”.

Here you’ll find the answers. It’s true, at first sight they look the same, actually if you have only one of the two instruments you may not see any difference at all.

There are not very big technical differences between violin and viola, but they are subtle and all together give the viola that distinctive, warmer tone and character.

Basically, the main differences are in: (click on each link to go to the pages with all the details)  Viola size  The viola size is the first difference between violin and viola that you can notice easily, I mean if you have the two instruments in front of you to compare: the viola is bigger. The viola body length generally goes from 40 cm (15 ¾ in) to 42/43 cm (16.5/17 in) and it is larger accordingly, while the violin body is about 35 cm (13 ¾ in).

There are smaller (38 cm - 15 in) and even bigger instruments. There used to be more of the big ones in the 16th, 17th and early 18th century because viola music was very simple. Later in the course of the history of the viola they were cut down, to make them more comfortable to play. [http://www.viola-in-music.com/viola-size.html Read more about Viola size... ]