In written violin music, how often do you have to play two notes simultaneously? Do you ever play 3?

Question

I was wondering if written violin music only required the player to play one note at a time or if there are regular times when you play 2? I'm supposing you can only play 2 notes at a time max because I don't believe you can touch more than 2 strings at a time with the bow. Is this correct and how often do you play 2 strings at a time?

Answer 1

For solo (unaccompanied) violin music, double-stops (playing two notes at once) is fairly common, and three, or even four is not unheard of. How such double, triple and quadruple stops are played is determined by the stylistic issues of the particular musical period. But to see some of this music, check out some of the violin music by Bach, for instance. His Chaccone is famous for it's difficulty and includes many passages of simultaneous notes.

How this is done with the bow is to press down, thus causing the strings to give a bit along with the bow hair giving a bit, thus allowing the bow to contact more than two strings at a time.

Music with double stops for string players is fairly common in most literature, from orchestral music (although rare) through chamber music (less rare).

Answer 2

I'm answering not as a string player, but as an orchestrator who has studied orchestration. Ergo, my knowledge of concert literature is limited, but I've encountered enough to offer an answer.

You are correct that the bow can only play two strings at a time; this is called "double stopping." If the composer wants the violins to sustain a chord that has three or more notes, he/she merely writes a Violin I and Violin II part. Parts for III, IV, V, etc can also be found -- look at some of Vaughan Williams' ravishing string works.

There ARE single violin parts where a sustained chord has three notes ringing ["triple stopping"]; for this, the composer counts on there being some echo in the concert hall -- one of the notes will be a grace note played loudly [either bowed or pizzicato] and immediately before the other two notes are bowed and held. Naturally, the shorter note will fade, but the listener's ear will have heard the note and therefore mentally registered it as part of the chord, even though it ceases to be actually heard. Tripling is not a favorite past-time of violinists, but it is a trick that can result in some clever effects.

I've specifed sustained notes/chords where the bow is holding the notes. As you know, if the music is arpeggiated the player can be found sounding notes on all four strings rapidly. For examples, look at any virtuoso repertoire.

Oh, as to your first question of "how often" you play two notes, there is no answer. It's completely up to what the composer wanted. Generally, you'll find yourself playing just one note at a time; doubling/tripling occurs only when more complex chords are called for.

Answer 3

You can play two notes at the same time, but they have to be certain intervals appart from each other. You can have as close as a minor 2nd, but probably only if one of the notes is on an open string. 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths, and octaves are also possible, as well (and these should be very limited) as 10ths. 3rds and 6ths are one of the more common 'double stops', as they are reffered to. You can play three and four notes, sort of at the same time. These are played usually in three ways: 1) pizzicato, sort of strummed 2) blocked - the bottom two are played, and then the top two (with three notes, the middle note is played both times) 3) rolled - the notes are played in ussually an ascending order from the bottom up as almost but not quite a flourish: the chord structure is supposed to stay fairly intact. The limitations with three and four notes are the same as with two, but there is also the difficulty of finger placements. If you have a second finger on the G and the A string, a first finger on D, and an extended fourth on E, it's going to be very painful to play, if not impossible.

Answer 4

My brother and I both used to play violin, and he did at one point get an electric violin. However, he didn't actually play it much and now it just gathers dust, haha :) However, now he plays the electric guitar and I play the acoustic guitar; I also play the oboe in school and he started playing piano (rock songs, not classical). If you feel passionate about the violin and want to continue to pursue violin or can see yourself playing years from now, go for it! It sounds very cool; the one that we have is a viper and I do believe that it is fretted. It hooks up to an amp and you just press your foot on a pedal and play! It sounds different from a regular violin and comes in many different shapes and sizes. For me, personally, I just prefer to play the guitar. I also want to start playing the electric guitar (I've only been playing acoustic for a few weeks, but I can already play several of my favorite songs). I guess that my suggestion for you is to definitely go for it!

Answer 5

on any stringed instrument, besides piano and gutar, the maximum notes you can play is 2 with the exception of a 5 stringed violin and an instrument with a bad bridge, then it is possible to play 3, but then thats it. in alot of music, like bluegrass country music, we play double strings alot, we just got a really new super cool music (Directors edition, written for very few) called Orange Jam, its heavy metal for a full orchestra, it has double strings (or notes as you call them)