What Instruments Make Up the String Family?
The string instrument family is large and diverse. Violin image by Ksenia Merenkova from Fotolia.com While musical instruments come in hundreds of different styles, forms and sounds, the ways in which an object can produce a musical sound or pitch are limited. For this reason, musicologists divide instruments into “families” according to the manner in which they are played. One of the largest families is the string family, a group containing instruments commonly used in the classical, popular and folk genres. Violin Violins are the smallest standard string instrument in the classical tradition, as well as being the instrument with the most members in the orchestra. These instruments are acoustic, with a hollow resonating chamber serving as their base. Their four tightly-strung strings are played mostly through bowing (a process that vibrates the strings to produce a sustained sound), but sometimes by being plucked. Viola Violas look (and are played like) slightly larger than violins. T
