Interesting facts about violins

• The Stradivarius violin is arguably the best in the world.
• Andrea Amati, an Italian lute maker of the 16th century, was the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today.
• The word violin comes from the Middle Latin word vitula.
• The violin is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments.
• Antonio Stradivarius was an Italian luthier born on 1644.
• Stradivarius violins are worth millions of dollars.
• Collectors particularly prize the instruments made by the Amati families, Gasparo da Salò, Stradivarius, Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Guarneri and Jacob Stainer.
• The violin family also includes the cello, the bass viol and the viola.
• A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier.
• The modern violin was designed in the 1500s by Andrea Amati.
• The violin is a hollow instrument with a long neck and four perfectly tuned strings.
• It is the most popular instrument among children.
• The violin is played in a wide variety of musical genres, including Baroque music, classical, jazz, folk music, and rock and roll.
• Violins are constructed from over seventy pieces of wood.
• Violins can be electric or no electric. Electrically amplified violins have been used in one form or another since the 1920s.