Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 8: Viola - Passacaglia

by Johan Halvorsen

Performer: Uncredited

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 viola, a stringed instrument. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Passacaglia for Violin and Viola,' by Johan Halvorsen, features the violin and the viola. As you enjoy the music, identify the sounds of the viola. Listen to a lone viola playing in Activity 5 below for reference. The painting included in the lesson, 'Portrait of a Musician,' by an unknown painter, shows a viola and a bow on the wall behind a man holding a cello.

Vocabulary

Portrait: A painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders.
Passacaglia: A composition typically in slow triple time with variations over a ground bass.

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 Viola

• Review the parts on the labeled picture of the viola.
• Note the introduction of three new parts - the F-holes, the tailpiece, and the bridge. The violin also has these additional parts.

Activity 2: Compare and Contrast a Violin and a Viola

Examine the picture of the violin and the viola.

• Which instrument has a scroll?
• Which instrument has a neck?
• Which instrument has a body?
• Which instrument has knobs?
• Which instrument has pegs?
• Which instrument has a chin rest?
• Which instrument has a bridge?
• Which instrument has f-holes?
• Which instrument has a tailpiece?
• Which instrument is larger?

Activity 3: Quiz Yourself: Identify Viola Parts

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

• Scroll
• Neck
• Body
• Chin Rest
• Four Strings
• Pegs
• F-Holes
• Tail Piece
• Bridge

Activity 4: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'Portrait of a Musician,' by an unknown artist, and find the following:

• Viola
• Viola Neck
• Viola Body
• Viola Strings
• Viola F-Holes
• Viola Tail Piece
• Viola Bridge
• Bow

Activity 5: Listen to a Viola

Listen to the recording of a viola:

Review

Question 1

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

1 / 5

Answer 1

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

1 / 5

Question 2

Which instrument group does this lesson feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This lesson features the string group.

2 / 5

Question 3

Which instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 5

Answer 3

This lesson features the viola.

3 / 5

Question 4

How many strings do violas have?

4 / 5

Answer 4

Violas have four strings.

4 / 5

Question 5

What are the major parts of the viola?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Major parts of the viola include the scroll, pegs, neck, body, strings, bridge, f-holes, tailpiece, chin rest.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

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 viola.
4. How many strings do violas have? Violas have four strings.
5. What are the major parts of the viola? Major parts of the viola include the scroll, pegs, neck, body, strings, bridge, f-holes, tailpiece, chin rest.

References

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

'Viola.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Passacaglia' performed by Ben Goldstein (CC BY-SA 3.0).' Musopen. Musopen.org. n.p.

'Viola sound clip for video made by Johan Halvorsen (CC BY 3.0).' FreeSound. freesound.org/people/iktinus/sounds/23112/. n.p.