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Some strange use-less facts, all violin related :).

August 18, 2006 at 8:47 AM

While searching the web I compiled a bunch of strange use-less yet amusing facts all violin related in someway :).

1. While playing the violin you burn 170 calories an hour!

2. The modern Violin contains over 70 separate pieces of wood.

3. The worlds smallest violin is only 37 millimetres long and is small enough to fit in a box of matches!I would love to try and play that :).

4. An old Italian term for the violin is "kit".

5. An actual news headline: "Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case".

6. Handel was nearly killed in a sword fight at the age of 18.

7. In the movie Titanic, a man with a yellow shirt and a black moustache fell off the boat and drowned. Five minutes later the same exact man was seen playing the violin with two other men.

8. If a violinist is placed into an MRI machine, we can see that a much larger area of the brain - the right primary motor cortex - is devoted to his or her left fingers when compared with a non-violinist. Two or three times as large, in fact. Violinists also have more connections between the two sides of the brainwhich account for the better co-ordination they have between each hand compared with a non-violin player. Yay us!

9. Joseph Merlin of Huy, Belgium invented the roller skates. To introduce his invention he entered the ballroom-playing violin in 1759. Unfortunately he did not know how to stop and crashed into a full-length mirror, breaking his violin. This one is my favorite :)

10. The violin is the most popular instrument for children, it is also the most indemand instrument at the professional level.

From Emily Grossman
Posted on August 18, 2006 at 10:23 AM

That was really interesting.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on August 18, 2006 at 12:48 PM

I had to look up the sword fight. It was over who was going to play harpsichord.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on August 18, 2006 at 3:24 PM

Thanks. That's really interesting. Can you give me the link to the article about violinists and MRI?

From Danielle G
Posted on August 18, 2006 at 4:45 PM

I never knew you used 170 cals per hour

From Karin Lin
Posted on August 19, 2006 at 12:29 AM

Wouldn't the number of calories you burn depend greatly on what you're playing? ;)

From Richard Hellinger
Posted on August 19, 2006 at 3:23 AM

I don't know. It is just an average. I have heard anywhere from 160 calories to 180.

From Ray Randall
Posted on August 19, 2006 at 4:14 PM

Please delete this thread before my teacher see it. After hearing me play at my next lesson She would accuse me of burning 20 calories per hour, if that. LOL

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