The Viola In Today's Society

The viola is not the best known instrument in the violin family. In fact, ask anyone you know that is not involved with orchestra what it is and they would blink dumbly at you. In reality, even though the violin is better known in today's society, it is possible that violas appeared before violins because the Italian word for violin, violino, is derived from the word viola, although no one knows who invented it or when it was invented.

To answer anyone's question on what exactly a viola is, a viola is the alto in the violin family, which evolved from the viol, an instrument with many strings that is bowed and held across the knees. They used to be called the "alto-tenor" violin. The viola we know today is the result of the gradual merging