Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 5: Viola - 2 Viola Sonatas, Op.3

by Alessandro Rolla

Performer: Stefan Landon Smith

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

The next four weeks introduce a new string instrument called a viola. Like violins, violas typically have a wooden body, a long neck, and four strings that musicians pluck with their fingers or rub with a bow. However, violas are larger than violins and produce a lower and mellower sound. The musical composition for this lesson, '2 Viola Sonatas, Op.3,' by Alessandro Rolla, features the viola. As you enjoy the music, identify the sounds of the viola. Listen to a lone viola playing in Activity 5 below for reference. The painting included in the lesson, 'Young Man with a Viola,' by painter Chardin, shows a man holding a viola and a bow.

Vocabulary

Viola: An instrument of the violin family, larger than the violin and tuned a fifth lower.
Mellow: Pleasantly smooth or soft; free from harshness.

Category

Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

String instruments produce sound through the vibration of strings. Strings may be plucked or strummed with fingers, hit with hammers, or rubbed with a bow.

See a picture of strings below. Note that some strings are thicker and some are thinner.

The sound produced by a string depends in part on its thickness, its length, its tightness, and its material.

Instruments have multiple strings of varying thickness. Musicians playing instruments turn pegs to tighten or loosen the strings and change their sounds. Musicians also press their fingers against the strings to control the length of strings that vibrate and produce sound. Strings are made from materials such as nylon or steel.

String instruments include violins, violas, cellos, double basses, guitars, ukuleles, sitars, mandolins, banjos, and depending on who you ask, pianos.

Study the images of strings.

1. Viola Strings

2. Cello Strings

3. Guitar Strings

Enrichment

Activity 1: Study the Parts of a Viola

• Study the parts on the labeled picture of the viola.
• Note the introduction of three new parts - the F-holes, the tailpiece, and the bridge. The violin also has these additional parts.

Activity 2: Compare and Contrast a Violin and a Viola

Examine the picture of the violin and the viola.

• Which instrument has a scroll?
• Which instrument has a neck?
• Which instrument has a body?
• Which instrument has knobs?
• Which instrument has pegs?
• Which instrument has a chin rest?
• Which instrument has a bridge?
• Which instrument has f-holes?
• Which instrument has a tailpiece?
• Which instrument is larger?

Activity 3: Quiz Yourself: Identify Viola Parts

Quiz yourself, and identify the following parts from memory on the viola:

• Scroll
• Neck
• Body
• Chin Rest
• Four Strings
• Pegs
• F-Holes
• Tail Piece
• Bridge

Activity 4: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'Young Man with a Viola,' by Chardin, and find the following:

• Viola
• Viola Scroll
• Viola Neck
• Viola Strings
• Viola Body
• Viola Pegs
• Viola Tail Piece
• Bow

Activity 5: Listen to a Viola

Listen to the recording of a viola:

Review

Question 1

What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 5

Question 2

Which instrument group does this lesson feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This lesson features the string group.

2 / 5

Question 3

Which instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 5

Answer 3

This lesson features the viola.

3 / 5

Question 4

What are the new parts of the viola (and violin) introduced in this lesson?

4 / 5

Answer 4

New parts of the viola introduced in this lesson are the bridge, f-holes, and tailpiece.

4 / 5

Question 5

How many strings do violas have?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Violas have four strings.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument group does this lesson feature? This lesson features the string group.
3. Which instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the viola.
4. What are the new parts of the viola (and violin) introduced in this lesson? New parts of the viola introduced in this lesson are the bridge, f-holes, and tailpiece.
5. How many strings do violas have? Violas have four strings.

References

'Viola sound clip for video made by iktinus (CC BY 3.0).' FreeSound. freesound.org/people/iktinus/sounds/23112/. n.p.

'String instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Viola.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Viola Sonatas, Op.3 performed by Stefan Landon Smith (CC BY 3.0).' Musopen. Musopen.org. n.p.