The violin for kids: how it works and what to hear

The violin is the smallest and highest member of the string family. It has four strings and a hollow wooden body, and the player holds it under the chin and draws a bow across the strings. An orchestra has more violins than any other instrument. They carry the tune most of the time.

Quick facts

• Family: strings
• Size: about two feet long
• Strings: four, tuned to G, D, A, and E
• Made of: spruce and maple, with a bow strung with horsehair
• In an orchestra: about 30, split into first violins and second violins

How it makes sound

The player pulls the bow across a string. The hair of the bow is coated with sticky rosin, which grips the string and sets it shaking. The shaking passes through a small wooden bridge into the hollow body, and the body makes the sound louder.

The left hand changes the notes. Pressing a finger on a string makes the moving part shorter, and the note goes up. There are no marks to show where the fingers go. The player learns to find each note by ear and by feel.

A player can also pluck the strings with a finger. This is called pizzicato.

The parts

The body is the hollow box. The two curly holes in the top are called f-holes, and they let the sound out.

The neck and fingerboard are where the left hand works.

The scroll is the carved curl at the top.

The pegs tighten and loosen the strings to tune them. Read how to tune a child’s violin.

The bridge holds the strings up off the body.

The chin rest is where the player’s jaw sits.

Its job in the orchestra

The first violins often play the main tune. The second violins play a second line that fits with it. The leader of the first violins is the concertmaster, who tunes the orchestra and plays the violin solos.

Pieces to hear

“Spring” from The Four Seasons, by Vivaldi. A solo violin with a small orchestra. See the listening guide.

Violin Concerto in E minor, last movement, by Mendelssohn. Quick, light, and full of sparkle.

Danse macabre, by Saint-Saëns. A solo violin plays the fiddler at midnight. See the listening guide.

Scheherazade, by Rimsky-Korsakov. A solo violin is the voice of the storyteller.

“Hoe-Down” from Rodeo, by Copland. The whole violin section plays a fiddle tune. Read violin vs fiddle.

Violin or fiddle?

They are the same instrument. People say “fiddle” when it plays folk, country, or dance music, and “violin” when it plays classical music.

A long history

The violin took its present shape in northern Italy in the 1500s. The most famous maker, Antonio Stradivari, worked in the town of Cremona and died in 1737. Players still perform on violins he made.

Starting to play

The violin comes in small sizes, so a child can begin young. Suzuki teachers often start children at three or four. See best age to start violin lessons and violin sizes for kids. To choose an instrument, read best beginner violins for kids and violin accessories for beginners.

Things to do together

Rubber band violin. Stretch a rubber band around an open box. Pluck it. Press a finger down partway along and pluck again. The note goes up.

Bow or pluck. Play a piece with plucked strings, then one with bowed strings. Ask how the two sounds differ.

Spot the leader. In a concert video, find the concertmaster in the first chair on the conductor’s left.

High or low. Play a violin piece and a cello piece. Ask which is higher.

Print and play

For more to hear, read famous violin pieces for kids. Tick the strings on the instrument families listening chart. For the rest of the family, read string instruments for kids. For all four families, see instruments of the orchestra for kids.