...It saves them time

Because it is easier than violin, and mainly people who have failed as violinists take it up. Not all, but most.

How do you make two violist play in tune?

Shoot one



What the difference between a violist and a seamstress?

A seamstress tucks up the frills.....

hahah yes I knew this thread would descend into a string (ahem) of viola jokes!


Edit:
Haha kinda like failed guitarists take up the bass

I actually think the viola makes a very nice sound so there

(and I don't even play it!)

What statistics do you have to back up this claim

I'd have to say that it is true though! All the violists I know first started on Violin and when they weren't the best they took up the Viola.

Maybe that's because it is more likely someone would start on the violin, and then just prefer the viola?

No, in these cases it's not because of that! It is because they didn't make head of the section so they take up the viola so they can do that instead as it provides them with more opporunities.

Just a word of warning folks.

We have more violists than violinists on this forum. You are likely to be stampeded by a mob of angry violists if you keep on like this.

Didn't Irish-Loony start a thread with a cheap joke a little while ago? Whatever happened to him....

Like me. I was actually quite a good violinist. But I don't like that high pitched E string so close to my sensitive alto ear. I prefer the viola. Prefer the sound and the feel of it. That's why I'm learning it.

http://forums.abrsm.org/index.php?showtopic=18549&st=0Quiz

I started that thread which was a quiz for Violist for entry into the BBC Sympathy Orchestra

Viola's are cool!! I wish I played one instead of violin.

Well the only violinist I know reasonably well started on viola! I can't say I'm a fan of either, being a woodwindy person.

You are in good company. These composers all played viola BY CHOICE. They weren't failed violinists, they just preferred the sound of it.

J.S. Bach - his son C.P.E. Bach wrote '..... he liked best to play the viola... '
Britten
Beethoven
Dvorak - was also a professional viola player
Haydn
Hindemith - was also a professional viola player
Felix Mendelssohn
Monteverdi
Mozart - preferred playing the viola. He conducted the premiere of his Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola as he played the Principal VIOLA part.
Paganini - fell in love with a Strad viola and even contemplated becoming a viola player
Schubert - played the viola in string quartets.
Ralph Vaughan Williams


Research has shown that the main difference between violin and viola players is not technical ability or general musicality, it is personality type.

So what are the different personality types? (I'm a violinist, no intention to make the swap but don't diss viola players)

I play both!

I'd rather not say here as I don't want to start a discussion/argument about it, but if you are interested then have a look at a book called 'The Musical Temperament: Psychology and Personality of Musicians' by Anthony Eric Kemp

Yes, because we're all so shallow that we want to be heads of sections.......... have you not considered the possibility that some people might prefer the viola? I certainly do!

Grr. Yes! BUT all the viola players I know did it for the reason mentioned above! I am not saying that is why all viola players do it! Just the ones that I know!

Well, you obviously know many shallow viola players! I started viola because I liked the sound better than the violin and it suited my technique better (NOT that I was forced to give up violin because I was rubbish!).

Wow I found this really interesting!



Anyway, the point is, it's just fun to make viola jokes, it's not actually anything to do with the instrument or people who play it, it's just funny coz it's tradition...

I agree. It has a rich beautiful mellow sound. The little ones at RAM dislike it only bec its size is too big and one tiny-sized yr 4 boy who tried the viola recently complained he much prefers the cello - there's no spike to put the viola's heavy weight off his poor shoulders, to help him unlike the cello, his mum moaned.

Yes, or maybe they are just players that want to achieve the best they can and have the most opportunities, and if that means changing to viola than so be it. It doesn't neccesarily make them shallow

Changing to an instrument you prefer and which you can do well with is fine but I think there's something slightly shallow about changing to an instrument just so you can become section leader etc, if you really prefer your original instrument.

But if you won't ever get anywhere with the instrument you prefer then what is so shallow about swapping to an instrument that you have more chance in succeeding in? If anything it's a smart thing to do if you want to succeed

That is true but your post gave the impression that people were changing JUST to become section leaders!

Yes. I could have worded my original post a bit better. Sorry

Don't worry about it! I just thought you were having a bit of a dig at viola players in general, which annoys me but you weren't!

Oh no! I love the viola! and I respect all people that play it

I did start a thread a while back, because I was contemplating starting the Viola

Lol, you should! I must have heard every viola player joke going! Sorry for being a prickly so-and-so.

And if you haven't then go on this site Viola Jokes and they you will have heard them all hehe

That's an expensive book at £32...I'll have to see if the library has it

I took up the viola from scratch without having ever played a note on a violin because:

1) I prefer the sound
2) In my opinion the extra notes you get (C-F#) are much nicer than the ones right up the top end of a violin
3) The opportunities for performing were that much greater

Benefits all round methinks. Except for pieces like Lehar's Gold and Silver Waltz which has nothing but the cha-cha of the typical waltz oom-cha-cha.

I reckon its the strange alto clef that puts people off?

I loved music and was really good at reading the treble and bass clef .... and then my school issued my with a viola. I was totally confused - I thought I could read music - I only found out years later how the alto clef related to the others. I've hated violas ever since.

Somebody didnt take their grade 5 theory

Understanding a clef for a theory exam doesn't mean you can play from it!

Well, there's an amateur orchestra here that is so desperate for viola players that the one who does turn up gets super-glued to her chair every Wednesday evening so she can't escape!

We have loads of violinists and 3 very good - in fact-extremely good cellists, but nobody plays the viola!

Perhaps it's because of the different clef. I'm not a string player, but isn't the viola meant to be harder than the violin? Certainly the intonation and control of volume are more tricky. Also, aren't the strings thicker and harder to press?

Steve

I agree mostly with Boo. I'm not remotely interested in violin and am itching to get started on viola. It has nothing to do with being useless at more popular instruments, because I have an odd personality or because I want to make it in an orchetra. It's simply because I like it better. I like the lower tones better than the higher ones and, given the enormous popularity of cello music and how many violin players go on to play cello and viola, I would say I'm by no means alone. Many viola and cello players come from violin, but it's interesting that few violin players come from cello or viola. Maybe they struck gold first time? That bit where someone said 'I'd rather not say what personalities go for viola as it might offend' (or something like that) made it sound distinctly as if viola players are natural throw-backs or something!

A lot of the problem is in people's minds, not in the instrument or what people who play it are really like. I daresay that many who've gone on to viola from not enjoying violin have often said what was expected of them as well as violists are simply assumed to be failed, or bored, violinists. When I asked for tips on starting viola I was immediately answered as if I played violin! Pre-conceptions and popular mythology is rarely helpful!

I think a lot of people simply don't know viola and, when they hear it, they like it well enough. Many people also don't know what certain woodwind of brass instruments are because everyone focuses on violin, cello, guitar, flute, clarinet, trumpet and piano. Lots of folk don't know oboe, piccolo, French horn, bassoon, bass clarinet etc etc. From what I can see though, viola seems to be becoming an increasingly trendy instrument. Not that that's why I'm interested in it though - I don't like most of the recent music writeen for it, it's all drama and noise, but one hopes things will improve at some point!!

IMHO, viola player jokes aren't any more funny than any other type of 'humour' that picks on one group of people without any real cause and makes them the butt of stupid comments whilst expecting them to 'take it well' and even to find it funny themselves! It would be a different story if jokes started to circulate about violinists, or pianists, or flautists, or..... Now they wouldn't be funny, would they?

Elisabeth-rb when you are quoting me please make sure that you do not alter what I actually said to fit in with your own point of view. I did not mention the personality types for the reason that I stated. It seems to be you who assumes that the book makes remarks about viola players that might offend people who play viola. For your information it doesn't.

For your information I am actually a viola player myself (working towards my diploma). I also play violin but I consider my main instrument to be viola as I prefer it.

I think the viola has a sound that people often take a dislike to on first hearing, but the tone tends to grow on them the more they listen to it being played. I've also discovered this people who initially don't like the oboe. It's all about learning to appreciate the certain timbre that each instrument has.

The viola, being bigger bodied, will always be louder than a violin - this is the reason why you don't need as many violas in an orchestra! The instrument also tends to have a slightly nasal quality about it. "A violin with a cold", was how one of my pupils described the viola. It lacks the brightness of tone even if it was playing the same note as a violin.

Ideally, the perfect tone of a viola should be that of a miniature cello. While some instruments achieve this admirably, generally speaking the viola doesn't have a large enough body to replicate the cello sound. It would take an instrument of about 21 inches in length in order to give it a true alto tone - but that would mean having to play the instrument in a similar fashion to the cello. So the modern viola has become something of a compromise.

The idea that the viola is only played by failed violinists has its history set in the 18th century. It was traditional that elderly violinists eventually moved into the viola section, where, at the time, there were less notes to play and therefore their faltering eyesight or hearing loss was less of an issue. (When our hearing starts to diminish it is our ability to hear higher frequencies that suffers the greatest). Times and attitudes have changed however, and these days a professional violist needs to be as competent as any of their violin playing colleagues - take a look at the viola parts in either Mahler or Richard Strauss, for example.

Incidentally, the violin and viola are both derived from the viola da braccio (not the viol as many people tend to think). It is thought that the viola appeared in its (almost) modern form slightly before the violin........

Gosh - that was a good read - you've nearly sold me on the idea. Maybe. And the Other Thing (when compared to a flute) is you get to breath.

Do you think so? In my experience people tend to like the rich warm sound straight away. Interesting about the 'nasal' quality, that made me chuckle.

By the way I happen to find viola jokes hilariously funny. And most other instrumental jokes too.

Believe me, the viola is my audible "tonic" after a day of ear-drum piercing noises from E-strings on 1/2 size violins.

I suppose the added issue of people not liking the viola could be down to the wrongful accusation that it is a poor relation to the violin, which leads them to turning their nose up at it before they've even heard the instrument played properly. The strings are tuned lower, so the sound of the instrument rarely stands out in an orchestra, unless it is playing a passage that is not accompanied by the other string sections. However, if you were to remove the viola section altogether from an orchestra, you would notice a HUGE difference in the tonal texture - it would be missing a mid-range that almost acts as musical glue between the treble and bass instruments.

Brahms wrote his Serenade No.2 with not a violin part in sight. The treble parts come from the flute, oboe and clarinet. If you want to listen to a few clips, I'd recommend the recent LSO recording.

For all those 'viola only' players out there, here's a joke that turns the tables...

Why is a violin smaller than a viola??


It's not, it's just that the players head is bigger

I didn't quote you, I just referred to "something like that", else I would have used "proper quote" or snipped from your own post instead of 'something'. I see you didn't mean it like that, but it *did*sound a little bit like there was some negative aspect to what you said. I'm afraid that whilst you're correct in saying that someone has to be careful in quoting you, you'll also have to accept that we don't always come across to everyone in the way we mean and it isn't always the other person's fault for not being able to read your mind!

Just thinking about Amanda's comments that most people don't like it at first, I think there's a lot of truth in that. My hubby and I went to a viola and piano recotal at the local Uni last year and he came away saying that, whilst he didn't dislike it, it wasn't his favourite instrument. It took me a while to really go for it too. At first I wanted to play cello, but I found myself more and more drawn to viola instead as time went by and I got to know more viola music. I wish there was even more to chose from, but at least we can pinch quite a lot from violin and cello. Yes, nice to know that violin is, linguisitically, a small viola!!=)

The violin sounds like a person singing (not when it is a 1/2 size played by a 5 year old, when it sound like a cat being tortured). The viola sounds like a person at the chemist buying Lemsip. Just my personal opinion and no disrespect to viola players or people who like the sound.

Tee-hee! Didn't someone post something about 'a violin with a cold'? Yeah, although I love viola, I admit that it can sound buzzy and whiney at times. Still, it's been described as a dark, 'melancholy and passionate' instrument, and rightly so. I think it also depends on what's being played and in what context as well. I know some lovely, lively viola pieces where the viola sounds not at all inferior to the more 'popular' strings. It does seem to get the yowly bits though...

I rather like that one!