Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 4: Violin - Violin Sonata No. 3 in Dm, Op. 108

by Johannes Brahms

Performer: Oliver Colbentson, Chris Borovas, and Georgia Tsolaki

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

This lesson completes the study of the violin, a stringed instrument. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Violin Sonata No. 3 in Dm, Op. 108,' by Johannes Brahms, features the violin. The still life painting featured in the lesson, 'St Francis with an Angel Playing Violin,' by Italian painter Guercino, shows friar and preacher Saint Francis of Assisi shielding his eyes from the glory of an angel. The angel sits on a cloud and plays the violin. A building, perhaps a church, breaks the horizon in the background.

Vocabulary

Sonata: A composition for an instrumental soloist, often with a piano accompaniment, typically in several movements with one or more in sonata form.
Friar: A member of any of certain religious orders of men who make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in service to society.
Saint: A person acknowledged as holy or virtuous and typically regarded as being in heaven after death.

Category

Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

String instruments produce sound through the vibration of strings. Strings may be plucked or strummed with fingers, hit with hammers, or rubbed with a bow.

See a picture of strings below. Note that some strings are thicker and some are thinner.

The sound produced by a string depends in part on its thickness, its length, its tightness, and its material.

Instruments have multiple strings of varying thickness. Musicians playing instruments turn pegs to tighten or loosen the strings and change their sounds. Musicians also press their fingers against the strings to control the length of strings that vibrate and produce sound. Strings are made from materials such as nylon or steel.

String instruments include violins, violas, cellos, double basses, guitars, ukuleles, sitars, mandolins, banjos, and depending on who you ask, pianos.

Study the images of strings.

1. Viola Strings

2. Cello Strings

3. Guitar Strings

Enrichment

Activity 1: Review the Parts of a Violin

• Review the parts on the labeled picture of the violin.

Activity 2: Review How to Hold and Play a Violin

Examine the picture of the man playing the violin below and answer the following questions:

How does the man use his right hand?

How does the man use his left hand?

What do the fingers of the man's left hand press down?

• How does the man use his chin?
• How does the man use his shoulder?
• How does the man make sounds with the violin?
• How does the man change which sounds the violin plays?

Activity 3: Quiz Yourself: Identify Violin Parts

Quiz yourself, and identify the following parts from memory on the violin below:

• Scroll
• Neck
• Body
• Chin Rest
• Four Strings
• Pegs

Activity 4: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'St Francis with an Angel Playing Violin,' by Italian painter Guercino, and find the following:

• Violin
• Violin Scroll
• Violin Neck
• Violin Strings
• Violin Body
• Violin Pegs
• Bow
• Angel
• St. Francis
• Brown Robe
• Rosary
• Bible
• Pillars
• Building

Activity 5: Listen to a Violin

Listen to the recording of a violin:

Review

Question 1

What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 6

Answer 1

The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 6

Question 2

Which instrument group does this lesson feature?

2 / 6

Answer 2

This lesson features the string group.

2 / 6

Question 3

Which instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 6

Answer 3

This lesson features the violin.

3 / 6

Question 4

What are the major parts of the violin?

4 / 6

Answer 4

Major parts of the violin include the scroll, pegs, neck, body, strings, and chin rest.

4 / 6

Question 5

How many strings do violins have?

5 / 6

Answer 5

Violins have four strings.

5 / 6

Question 6

Which saint was shown in the lesson painting?

6 / 6

Answer 6

The lesson painting shows Saint Francis of Assisi.

6 / 6

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument group does this lesson feature? This lesson features the string group.
3. Which instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the violin.
4. What are the major parts of the violin? Major parts of the violin include the scroll, pegs, neck, body, strings, and chin rest.
5. How many strings do violins have? Violins have four strings.
6. Which saint was shown in the lesson painting? The lesson painting shows Saint Francis of Assisi.

References

'String instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Violin.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Friar.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.