V.com weekend vote: Do you play the viola?

June 15, 2024 at 09:01 PM · Short answer: I play both violin and viola around equally well.

I grew up as a piano/violin co-primary, taking lessons on both piano and violin and practicing both equally from elementary through high school. When I was 12, I added viola as a double to fill shortages in youth ensembles, and yes, lots of youth and amateur ensembles have a serious viola shortage as you all know. Although I was hesitant at first for various strange reasons (no, it's not related to TwoSet Violin or viola jokes or anything of that nature), as soon as I got my hands on a viola, I was immediately in love, even though it was just a 3/4 size violin with viola strings (I was under 5 feet tall at the time). I ended up enjoying viola enough that I decided to double long term, so I played mostly viola in chamber music and orchestra while taking private lessons on piano and violin during high school. I would also play random pieces of my own choosing on viola from time to time because I love it so much. This made me around equally comfy on both violin and viola, which is still the case today, so I voted "I play both viola and violin equally". Although I am technically primarily a violinist because I chose not to take specialized viola lessons for a variety of personal reasons related to lack of time and lack of suitable teachers in my vicinity, I am very comfortable playing viola, and viola is equally important to me as the violin, making it hard for me to choose between the two. I can't choose, that's why I do both. I absolutely love the viola's deep sounding C string, but love the brilliance of the violin's E string as well. I also love romantic-era solo literature for the violin, which is less available for viola in comparison.

I currently play violin in the one community orchestra I'm in because 1. I love violin and 2. there was a recent influx of new violists for some reason so the viola section is big enough. I'm still looking for musical opportunities outside orchestra, and play piano and viola at home for personal enjoyment. I seriously considered majoring in music, and unless I chose to major in piano performance, my plan was to start as a violin performance major and switch focus to viola only if I felt it was the right thing for me. However, my significant lack of interest in teaching turned me off a musical career so I'm now an amateur instead.

I don't necessarily find viola a lot more difficult than violin for myself personally. The larger size does make it physically harder to manage, especially for my small frame, as I'm around 5'1" tall. Sound production is different, perhaps a little more finicky, but not necessarily more difficult for me. I have never believed in or care about so called viola jokes. I have always believed that the viola plays a crucial role in ensembles, filling out the inner middle voices, and it sounds great as a solo instrument too. In the circles I grew up in, if you were a violinist who voluntarily chooses to double on viola, you are very well respected by both your peers and ensemble directors because very few violinists voluntarily double on viola long term. If you double, the ensemble directors will constantly pick on you to play viola because there just aren't enough viola players. My younger sibling is in the same boat, is a piano/violin co-primary who voluntarily doubles on viola because of ensemble needs. They are not as passionate about music as I am, so they are more comfortable as a violinist than a violist, but they're still willing to double, which sets them apart from their peers who are not so willing to double.

June 15, 2024 at 10:02 PM · I took up viola when I retired 10 years ago, after years and years of violin only, including in my community orch. I did it on the theory that I would be have more chamber music opportunities , which was proven true. I switched to almost exclusively viola as I got better and I joined a string quartet as a violist during the end of the pandemic. Finally, a couple of years ago, I began to play viola in the community orch to avoid switching back and forth, so at this point, I play violin rarely, mostly during the summer. I often joke with members of the community orch that I am perpetually haunted by former stand partners in the violin 1 section.

June 15, 2024 at 10:34 PM · Violin but not viola. I must admit I haven’t even tried out a viola - I’m not fluent in C clef and have only average-size hands. I can play 10ths on violin, D-G, 1st position, but can’t quite fathom having to stretch the left hand any more than this.

Still, I’ve long enjoyed the viola sound. My 1869 fiddle, the one I’ve had since my later student years, comes nearest, among the three I have, to giving a viola sound in the contralto range with these strings: Pirastro Eudoxa stiff D-G, Thomastik Infeld Red, and Warchal Amber. Especially with the Ambers, I can really get my viola “fix.”

As a student, I found the viola solos in Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem Don Quixote really catchy. I managed to play most of them on violin by ear - on my own time. The only note I couldn’t hit was the low F below violin range. Today’s digital recording technology could no doubt fix this. For some years now, I’ve had the full score in my collection and can see exactly what all the notes are.

Check out these two renditions, one by Cameron Raecke, the other by Amihai Grosz - run times: 1:49, 2:12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp30vEZ3lZk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2iMwADNmRk

June 15, 2024 at 10:57 PM · In late 2015 I purchased a viola hoping that it would bring me more opportunities for orchestral playing, chamber music, and wedding gigs.

My early impressions of the instrument were documented in a blog post in January 2016: https://www.violinist.com/blog/pdeck/20161/

At the time my viola was newly made. I haven't really noticed any big changes in its sound or responsiveness since then. I think I've improved my ability to play it.

The orchestral and chamber opportunities have been a huge success. About 80% of my chamber playing is on viola because that's what my "string quartet club" usually needs. When another violist appears, then I get a violin part. I'm happy just to be doing so much playing. I've played through about 50 different string quartets by the usual composers. Our group usually backs off on the tempos of some of the harder Allegro movements, and so far we have not attempted any Janacek or Bartok and only one Shostakovich, but we have done some Brahms and Dvorak and Schumann, in addition to a whole lot of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, and I believe all of Mendelssohn.

I do find the viola harder to play. Just not as responsive. You've traded the thin E string for the huge C string of the viola! It could be my instrument but I am not keen to blame anything but my own technique.

June 15, 2024 at 11:16 PM · Everybody in our house plays both, but to varying degrees. I picked up viola at age 13, too late to really make anything of it and played through college. I never learned violin. After my kids were born, they wanted to play violin so I learned violin with them.

Both of my kids added viola at age 12 when they could handle a full size. But they went in radically different directions. My son only plays viola when somebody makes him or needs it desperately. He is actually an excellent violist, but doesn't play much. My daughter has switched fully to viola, and now rarely plays violin except for when she is helping to teach the beginners at school.

Viola is definitely WAY harder, especially on the body. No doubt about it. Having said that, we have generally seen that violists are not trained as thoroughly as violinists on average (there are of course exceptions) which does not help matters.

In any case, my younger one is participating in AVS so we will see everybody there!

June 15, 2024 at 11:23 PM · I don’t think I play just “some viola;” for 10 years I had a viola contract with Opera San Antonio, and I still play it at the occasional gig. But it is certainly not equivalent to my violin level.

June 16, 2024 at 12:24 AM · I started on violin as a kid and took a break from playing after college. When I restarted I thought I would try viola because I was told that “everyone needs a viola” and my skills were rusty so I needed all the help I could get.

That turned out to be somewhat short lived, as I showed up to a community orchestra rehearsal with my viola, sat in the back of the section, and spent most of the rehearsal playing wrong notes because I wasn’t fluent enough in alto clef. It was stressful and a little embarrassing, and I found myself looking longingly over at the first violin section, which was small, and they were playing William Tell, the first violin part of which I love. The next week I asked the conductor if I could move, and I played first violin in that orchestra for the next 8 years, rising to concertmaster, which was an amazing opportunity for me for growth as a musician. I occasionally played viola when a chamber group needed someone, but mostly I played first violin.

Then I moved to CA, and the saying that everyone needs a viola became more true. It wasn’t because I was a better violist now, at least not at first, but the violin playing level was higher and there were pros in the community orchestra I joined. Whereas violas were needed everywhere, and the principal invited me to sit with her. So I jumped into playing the viola part for Beethoven’s 7th. Then I was invited to play viola in the Schubert cello quintet, and those 2 pieces—the Schubert cello quintet and Beethoven’s 7th—finally got me to be fluent in alto clef because it was sink or swim and I really wanted to swim.

I’ve done harder music on the viola now, I’ve been principal viola, and I’ve played the Telemann viola concerto as the soloist, with orchestra. I play viola most of the time now, but occasionally I’ll play violin in chamber groups and I find I miss it sometimes. I’m glad for the opportunity to not forget how!

I find the viola easier to play mentally and emotionally. I prefer the range of the viola, and I prefer the C string to the E string. I never liked the positions above 5th (the “gerbil zone”) and I rarely have to do that on the viola. And the melancholy “lonely viola” sound is more my style. I was never particularly flashy or virtuosic, even when I was younger. I also like being an inner voice.

But I do find the violin easier to play physically. I’ve been through a few episodes now of tendinitis in which I’ve just had to take a break from playing and rest my left hand. I refinger passages that I wouldn’t think twice about on the violin to avoid 4th finger extensions on the viola. I’m wondering if, as I get older and the arthritis creeps in (both of my parents suffered from this disease), I will end up going back to violin full-time, as that’s what my fingers will tolerate better. I’m not there yet, but one of my teachers dropped viola and concentrated exclusively on violin again as she got older (late 70s, early 80s).

When I switch between instruments, coming from violin, playing the viola feels like a driving a truck for about 15 minutes until I get used to it; whereas coming from viola, the violin feels like a little child’s toy with a very bouncy bow for about the same amount of time.

June 16, 2024 at 06:53 AM · I started on violin, laid that aside for a long time, picked it up again, then after Christchurch NZ (the city I was then living in) went through two sets of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, I found one of the music shops had a viola for sale, slightly earthquake-damaged (couple of scratches, nothing worse) and bought it. It took me a while to get used to the alto (c)clef, but I love it. At the moment I'm working my way through position studies on the violin, since I do need that knowledge, and have put the viola aside for a time. I expect I'll pick it back up and apply everything I learnt on the violin, to it.

June 16, 2024 at 02:09 PM · I started learning the violin in order to play the viola -- I wanted to play the viola first, but started on violin because there was a long-deceased great-uncle's violin that I could get for free. I made the switch a year and a half later, in college when I was able to borrow a viola for the entire four years.

Somehow the viola feels more comfortable to me even though it shouldn't. I've never met another adult with shorter fingers than mine, and it's been suggested to me that a 7/8 size violin would be best for my hand size. I've still been able to make it work, though double stops can be tricky because an octave in first position, on my smallish viola (15.75" with 362mm VSL), puts my hand at absolute maximum stretch. On the other hand -- literally the other hand -- my bad bowing habits on the violin were good bowing habits on the viola.

I considered myself primarily a violist almost immediately after picking up the viola, but ironically I've repeatedly been asked to play violin in ensembles over the years (both orchestras and chamber ensembles) because I've found myself in groups with plenty of violas and not enough violins.

June 16, 2024 at 04:08 PM · I believe that ALL violinists should be equally proficient in viola. I certainly play both and taught both, although I perform only on violin

June 16, 2024 at 04:55 PM · Violin lessons from age 4 to 11. Quit completely for 18 months - although I did play a bit every 6 months or so just to check myself out and then at 13 I started to play a lot before joining high school orchestra. I never stopped after that....

At 14 I started cello lessons and 28 months of that had me well into the cello concerto literature.

From the early 1960s on I have played violin and cello pretty regularly in chamber music, especially string quartets and piano trios.

At 40 I bought a viola from the maker of one of my violin makers because our community orchestra was going to perform the Verdi Requiem and one of the movements uses no violins. I did not play very much viola from 1975 to 2015, maybe a total of 100 hours performances (7) and practice, but from 2015 to 2022 I played viola pretty regularly in orchestra, serenades and some other chamber music as well as violin and cello.

I "retired" from all ensemble playing last month after 75 pretty steady years of it. I miss it already; the spirit is willing but....

But I still practice (at home, with the door closed)!

June 16, 2024 at 06:59 PM · The violin is certainly easier to play physically. One thing you have to remember if you are playing viola is that if you are small, you probably need a smaller viola than you would ideally like. Most violists want the biggest d*mn viola they can get because the larger ones tend to sound better. I am small, and I am much more comfortable with a 15.5 inch viola than a 16 inch which tends to cause shoulder injuries because it is too big. I was recently in the market to upgrade my viola from the very good 15.5 inch starter instrument I had (it punched way above its price). I tired a number of violas that were bigger and 3-4 times the price I paid, and most of them were no better, and some were worse. I really wanted a 15 7/8 viola I tried, but it was causing me significant discomfort. Finally, my luthier got a 15.5 inch which cost about 4 times what my current instrument cost. It sounded significantly better than mine, and when I took it for a trial period, I had no problems adjusting. So, I bought it. I was lucky since there are not a lot 15.5 inch violas out there, but it made sense to avoid larger ones.

June 16, 2024 at 09:11 PM · I play violin, and voted "some viola". I presently teach one viola student, among many violin students. I wish I could afford to buy a viola, as I love playing my student's instrument to demonstrate something in her lesson.

June 16, 2024 at 09:46 PM · Andrew, are you sure it was the VERDI that your community orchestra was going to perform, or was that a slip of the "pen"? I know the BRAHMS first movement ("Blessed are they that mourn") is tacet for violins, and I think there is only one movement in the Fauré (The "Sanctus") that touches the violins with a bargepole.

June 16, 2024 at 09:57 PM · Not all Violinists should try to play Viola, for the same reason you don't have a small child start with a 4/4 violin. The physical risks are higher. I see a lot of rather petite players in the 1st Violin section of orchestras. The narrower finger tips make the 1/2 steps on the second half of the E string easier to negotiate (yes, I have seen Perlman's hands).

I started Viola in the middle years of college, and found more work as a "switch-hitter". One of my very first assignments on Viola was principal Viola for a summer youth orchestra, Firebird (!) at the first concert. I would not tell people which instrument I preferred, but for solos and auditions I seemed to have better control with the Viola. With the Viola there is a natural internal resistance to push against while the Violin requires more of a delicate balance.

When younger, what worked well for me was to use Viola for classical jobs and Violin for folk/pop music.

For the middle years I used a fat 16" very cheap Viola that fooled a lot of people. Older now, on the wrong side of the learning curve, I have switched to a 15 1/2". I recently bought a small 5-string Viola, hoping it would be a good compromise, but so far it has been the worst of both worlds, can't get used to the string change angles--sigh.

Some advice for violin-->viola; avoid the stretches and extensions, shift more often, use the 2nd and 1/2 position more often, enharmonic fingering more often. jq

June 17, 2024 at 01:48 AM · I am one of the few violists who started on viola, and never played violin until after I was a married adult. That was because the orchestra conductor in the city we moved to after college said they didn't need any violas (they had 12!!) and did I play violin. I said no. He said "You seem to know the clef well (HAHAHA!) and asked if I could get a violin by that evening's rehearsal!! So I did. Stumbled through, and played 2nd violin all season. Meanwhile I got asked to teach a Suzuki Violin family who had moved there and needed a teacher. They said they would pay for my teacher training if I would teach their children. That started a 45 year career teaching Suzuki violin and viola, and by the way, my first teacher trainer was John Kendall! Whew! That's a lot of information. But Viola is still my primary instrument and love. And I agree that the violin is MUCH easier to play, and viola is harder on the body. But it is SO WORTH IT! Being in that lovely lower range with that thick rich tone and playing the middle voice in the ensembles is definitely my voice!

June 17, 2024 at 07:09 PM · @Joel - your last points are keys to easing the switch. You have to get used to moving your hand a lot, even when you are playing in the same position. It's not like violin where you can simply sit in a position and reach. 1/2 position is very common, particularly using 4th finger for sharps on third finger notes.

June 18, 2024 at 09:14 AM · this vote has come up twice before, I remember 14% then 12% now 14% play both equally - that's me, seems to be some consistency

June 19, 2024 at 09:36 PM · My teacher, the late Winifred Copperwheat was a small lady with not very large hands. However, she was one of the foremost violists of her generation, and the viola she played was an Arthur Richardson Tertis Model. So if anyone really wants to play viola, don't be put off by how small you are. However, like the violin, make sure your left wrist twists enough (I suspect mine's the worst, and I really struggle with high notes and getting a good vibrato on the C-string).

I think it's for hands like hers that Dounis's methods REALLY come into their own - I don't think they did me any harm, either.

June 20, 2024 at 08:02 PM · After my violin teacher died, I decided it was the right time to try the viola. Around that time, my hearing started getting "older" and the high notes on the violin were sounding too shrill to me. I found an excellent violin teacher who was willing to teach me viola. Over time, she gained more viola students and started playing primarily viola in community orchestras. It's been almost 10 years now. Life is busy and I don't have time to keep up my skills on both instruments although I still have my violin.