What is the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
Essentially, a violin and fiddle are one and the same instrument…the approach to the instrument differentiates its label as a fiddle or a violin…additionally, some fiddlers will flatten their bridge so that they can play a double-stop with ease (this is when the fiddler plays two stings at once)…hence, the set-up of the violin can also reveal the violin as a fiddle…or at least intended to be played as a fiddle. For Irish Tunes, you’ll be pursuing the fiddle…the violin is normally played within a classical context… http://www.folkofthewood.com/page4779.
The answer to this question can be quite lengthy, so Ill try to be brief. Generally speaking, any instrument that resembles a violin can be considered a fiddle. In order for such an instrument to be a violin a number of conditions must be met. For example, it needs to be made from traditional materials, and constructed according to traditionally accepted methods and proportions. The instrument that Grandpa whittled (with his pocketknife) out of a fencepost and an old barn door may be a fiddle, but will probably never be thought of as a violin. In the modern world, however, the two terms are commonly used interchangeably. I have heard many owners of valuable violins refer to their instruments as their fiddles. The distinction between the terms is further blurred by the growing popularity of so-called fiddle music, which is a departure from violin music in the classical world. Musicians who play such music may use traditionally made violins (or not), but they are adjusted differently tha
