Difference between violin and viola
Violin and viola are string instruments. Both of these instruments have four strings and are played by the assistance of a bow. These belong to the same family of music instruments and to a common man, they may look alike. However, to an expert’s eye, these are poles apart.
Violin comes from a Latin word which means a string instrument. Violin, sometimes, is also called fiddle. Resembling the shape of an hourglass, the length of violin is around 35 centimeters. The strings of violin are arranged in ascending order i.e. from lowest to highest- G, D, A and E.
Viola and violin share almost same semblance but viola is larger than violin. The length of violin stands around forty to forty three. Like violin, the strings also arranged from lowest to highest area- C, G, D and then A. The fourth string is the difference between both musical instruments. A violin’s fourth string is E instead of A, as in viola.
The low tone of viola is mainly because of thick and long strings. The larger size of viola also contributes to the low tone of it to some extent. On the contrary, because of smaller size violin produces higher tones.