Are there any viol players here I wonder? My father was a keen amateur musician and musical instrument maker and made several viols as well as violins and a viola da gamba and a pair of violas d'amore. I never played any of these but have played in groups with viols and have always liked the sound. Rather like a cello with a cold in its nose!

sadly not - any stringed instrument I've ever tried to play sounds strangled. But we do have a tenor viol hanging on the wall here, and my husband has been known to make nice noises on it .

What is a viol?

I don't play the viol myself, but I know a surprising amount of people who do - it seems to be a very fashionable instrument at the moment!

A viol is a stringed instrument that was popular in various forms during the renaissance and the baroque periods. They were often played in groups or consorts and many families would have chests in their houses with compartments that would house several viols of different sizes. A chest of viols was considered an essential for the more well off households. They would be played as after dinner entertainment. The advantage of having a set made by the same maker was that they would sound well together, rather like recorders from the same maker do today. They had frets made of gut (not fixed as the frets of the guitar) and these could be moved a little making it possible to tune them to match the key of the piece being played. They were held on the lap or between the knees and an end spike was not used, even for the larges sizes. They have flat backs like most modern double basses rather than rounded ones like the violin and this helps to give them their distinctive, nasal sound. The double bass of today is actually a large viol rather than a big violin. When the orchestra grew and developed the viol began to fall out of use, and was kept more as a domestic instrument, living happily alongside the violin until it eventually died out. There is a huge revival in viol playing today along with many other early instruments and the demand is there from musicians who want to make music in an authentic manner. Do try to listen to some viol consort playing if you can. The sound is pure and haunting.

This topic is rather interesting!!!


Dstring

there was me thinking you spelt viola incorrectly!!!

Wow, thanks, that was a description and a half, petrat!! Now i understand.

I play occasionally - lovely instruments for lovely music.