The Viola. Why Does Everyone Hate It?

thanks to curiositystream for sponsoring this video get access to my streaming video service nebula when you sign up for curiositystream using the link in the description [Music] [Applause] [Music] now in lockdown many people have been discovering or rediscovering learning a musical instrument which is fantastic and while i know i could always be learning more on the guitar i thought i would reconnect with the viola an instrument i actually studied at university but haven't played properly in nine years for reasons i'll explain later so this video is an introduction for curious music lovers who aren't really aware of the differences between the violin and viola or aware that i used to play it but even if you are familiar i want to talk a little bit about why it's often the butt of orchestra jokes and why i've always loved it despite its underdog status okay i know i can't make a video about the viola without referencing a joke or two or four scattered throughout this video i mean i have to beat the comments section to it why did viola stand for long periods of time outside people's houses they can't find the key and they don't know when to come in viola jokes supposedly originated in the 18th century because at the time composers were writing relatively easy parts sandwiched between the prominent melodies favored in their violins and cellos as they weren't used to solo instruments stephen cottrell writes that most players were lowly paid and of low social standing i mean try taking a bassist i mean any musician home to your parents and you realize we're all seen that way the viola is part of the violin family alongside the cello and double bass they haven't changed in construction since the 18th century and the viola is the middle or alto voice within string quartets ensembles and orchestras [Music] [Music] the playing technique is very similar to the violin but the first thing you'll notice is the size violas can be up to four inches larger than violins that means you need to stretch your fingers further apart to hit each note and you'll have to press the string a little harder too the viola's bow is also slightly longer and heavier and the strings are thicker and more resistant to the bow which means you have to give a stronger bow to produce a fuller sound the tuning is also different so it still has four strings but instead of a top e string it has a low c string so the same strings as a cello but just the octave above this is why the cellist repertoire is often arranged for viola i.e the bach cello suites how was the canon invented two violists were trying to play the same passage together all right so let's go over the parts of the viola from top to bottom you have the scroll the pegs the nut neck fingerboard strings two f holes the bridge tail piece chin rest shoulder rest and then the bow the overall body shape resembles the human form similar to the guitar so it has a waist however inside between the curved belly and back you have a sound post which transmits the vibrations of the strings let's take a closer look at the bow this is the point or the tip which usually has a metal or ivory plate protecting it and then you have a long tapered bow stick that's usually curved inward toward the hair yes the hair is from a horse's tail then this is where you place the bow between your right hand fingers and thumb you then have a screw which is how the hair is tightened and loosened the heel or frog and then you'll need rosin which is a solid form of resin that you drag the bow through and it helps create friction between the hair and strings to produce sound it also makes it rather dusty so uh keep a cloth nearby why am i having so much fun doing this logan asks would you have to get new strings for the viola and a new viola bow frequently seeing videos of jimmy page using a cello bow he had to use a new bow every night thankfully not dragging any kind of bow across a guitar will definitely ruin the hairs guitar strings are much harsher than viola strings and although getting bows re-haired is a thing it's not something that you need to do all that often that would be incredibly expensive and you can't really change the bohes yourself it takes a skilled luthier to look after these sorts of string instruments it's actually awful when you break a string on the viola it does happen but rarely and it's most likely to be your a string as it's the thinnest they take a while to warm up and sound quite harsh when they're brand new so you have to play it in quite a lot to blend in with the other strings [Music] thomas asks have you ever lost a small object through the f hole no no i have not luckily because plectrums aren't involved um you're not likely to lose a plectrum down one of them let's talk notation because this is something that throws a lot of people and composers off richard asks is the viola a bass clef instrument no you actually read alto clef as a viola player and sometimes to avoid excessive ledger lines it will slip into treble clef it's not as bizarre as it looks the middle note in the stave is c but the octave above the low c string [Music] simon asks how long does it take to learn where all the correct notes are on the instrument i'm a piano and guitar player and the idea of learning an instrument without keys or frets seems daunting like any instrument it takes some getting used to i mean there are probably a few more years spent scrubbing away on an instrument like the violin or viola [Music] no then on the guitar piano keys and guitar frets definitely help you make a nicer sound from the get-go however those instruments also have their own challenges that you don't really face with the viola so although i can play double stops you mostly would just play individual notes then yes to be able to play in tune you have to train your ear sight reading and oral training are drilled into you and are important aspects of the graded exams i took when i was young and skills you have to be fluent in if you want to progress even just as a proficient amateur how is lightning like a violist's fingers neither one strikes in the same place twice that hurts because that one's actually pretty true for someone like me [Music] elia asked why does everyone hate the viola i think it sounds nice it's honestly a beautiful sounding instrument more so when it's played by a professional and that's the thing it's actually rare to meet a violist that wasn't once a violinist and then most professional violinists can play the viola too so it's always seen as a secondary instrument but it's still very much needed in quartets and orchestras it's just the scapegoat of the orchestra the viola isn't often recommended by music teachers because of the limited solo repertoire luckily in the 20th century i actually saw a resurgence thanks to walton and bartok's viola concerti and rebecca clark and hindemith liked writing for it because they were both viola players themselves but the 18th century masters rarely wrote for four independent string voices there are a few exceptions including mozart's symphonia conchatante for violin and viola which elevates the viola to equal standing in a duet with the violinist and a chamber orchestra as an accompaniment but otherwise violas were just left chugging away in the middle of the orchestra now i can't forget that berlioz wrote harold in italy in 1834 which was one of the first to give the viola a truly independent voice in orchestral writing but it's not my favorite piece it's a bit boring and when there is such a limited repertoire why would you choose the viola as an instrument to study let alone pursue as a career that leads me on to my personal experience with the viola so yes i began violin age six and played up until i was 14 15 around then then i found the viola thanks to a program put on by my community saturday morning music school called salisbury area young musicians they wanted to encourage violinists to switch to viola so they gave six weeks of free lessons and even lent us instruments it was a baptism of fire as they needed players for upcoming concerts i know how crazy that sounds now when music programs are being defunded left right and center and it's actually a personal goal i want to grow this channel enough so one day i'll be able to fund music grants bursaries and scholarships for kids wanting to learn music in communities that have lost their music education programs it's part of my why i owe so much to say m and all the performing opportunities they gave me as well as how much they helped me develop a work ethic i mean teenagers and early mornings don't often go that well together now i knew i was never going to be professional because i had singing songwriting and guitar but then i was told by a rather commercially music teacher that i wouldn't be able to make a career out of pop music either and i'd still need to go to a good university to have any kind of prospects my contemporary songwriting did wield a more positive response from my university professors but they didn't have a pathway for that so doing a post grad at one of the london music colleges briefly crossed my mind whilst at university because i was spending hours in a basement practice room and in rehearsals and i loved playing in my string quartet with some of my closest friends and then the orchestras but competition is so fierce i didn't want it enough and i knew i wouldn't be able to survive the elitism and snobbery of the classical world ted and william are similar questions about transitioning back and forth from viola to guitar and how has it benefited my songwriting now i'd say my classical training has definitely helped me cross over into popular music and therefore must help my songwriting i've spent years learning music theory and harmony like since i was six years old and it must have had an effect but switching from the viola to guitar isn't all that strange because it's not something i often do they're very different instruments it feels much weirder to play the bass guitar after playing acoustic hayden asks you have an imaginary viola gig in one week what's your performance going to look like well if i had to be a soloist i'd freak out i suffered a lot from bow shake because i was usually under rehearsed and attempting repertoire far beyond my abilities so much so i had to go to my gp before my final uni exam and ask for beta blockers to calm my nerves i do not know how i can get up on stage and perform my own original music and be vulnerable for hours on end yet i can't bear the thought of performing a solo on the viola even just playing one note in front of another person however if it were a string quartet or an orchestra gig i'd love to do that again and i think i'd still be okay as a sight reader maybe might need a bit more practice i don't remember playing this one i must have played at some point what's this [Music] oh my god oh here we go again how do you keep your violin from getting stolen put it in the viola case okay on that note i'm going to wrap up this particular video but keep watching to find out how to access an extended version where i talk a little bit more about my performance anxiety and why i stopped playing the viola i love the fact that it felt like my instrument when surrounded by hundreds of violinists and flortists growing up the viola made me different and actually got me further than if i just kept playing the violin switching meant that i was in a smaller pool of musicians so it was easier to rise to the top now it meant i couldn't slack at the back of the second violins instead it meant i went on to lead the viola sections in multiple orchestras including bristol university symphony orchestra which was really difficult to get into and it meant that i played alongside the best musicians at university who've gone on to be professionals final year highlight was my quartet being paired with a professional quartet to perform mendelssohn's octet which is an astounding piece of music now i have a little more to say about my experience as a viola player and why the viola has fallen victim to criticism and been ignored by the classical world obviously i love fighting for the underdog but youtube isn't the right place for that and that's why i've put an extended version of this video on nebula i've recently joined this incredible platform created by creators you might recognize where we don't need to worry about demonetization copyright strikes or the algorithm it's called nebula and we're so lucky to be partnering with curiositystream this is giving us flexibility to create ad-free videos and also experiment with different kinds of content like this platform is already a great place to hang out with a really exciting future hint hint if you like this episode the version i've put up on nebula removes this ad completely and lets me talk freely about my own personal experience facing bias in the classical music world for being a viola player nebula features a lot of youtube's top creators like thomas frank and legal eagle and then especially the music world content creators you might have heard of them adam neely polyphonic 12 tone and charles cornell if you aren't already aware curiosity stream is the best place on the internet to see thousands of the world's finest documentaries and non-fiction titles and exclusive series they produced and they obviously love educating and therefore love educational creators we worked out a deal that if you sign up for curiosity stream with the link in the description you'll also get a nebula subscription for free and just to give you a little bit more information that nebula subscription isn't a trial it's free for as long as you're a curiosity stream member for a limited time only curiosity stream is offering 26 off their annual plans that's less than 15 a year for curiosity stream and nebula and as you've got to be inside and when you're not practicing your instrument why not watch maestro or stradivarius mysteries of the supreme violin i thoroughly recommend those two documentaries if you click on the link in the description or go to curiositystream.commerryspender it helps me and my fellow creators keep producing informative content so what do you think of the viola now i've given a little introduction to this beautiful melancholy instrument do you want to see more about the classical music world on this channel i mean i've got to put that music degree to good use somehow right thanks for watching and of course thanks to my patreon supporters for writing in questions but otherwise i'll see you very soon [Music] [Applause] [Music] started off as pebbles now it's grains of sand [Music] can't you see it's all happening right in front of this change [Music]

Channel: Mary Spender

Views: 653,268

Keywords: Mary Spender, Mary Spender Music, viola, orchestra, nicholas bootiman, philarmonia, philharmonic, instrument, guide, education, classical, music, introduction, musical instrument, violin, twoset, violin vs viola, cello, classical music, concerto, paganini, berlioz, jeremy green, ling ling, practice, whats the difference between violin and viola, 2cellos, lindsey stirling, pop vs classical

Id: x4HHB5udTxo

Length: 17min 47sec (1067 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 09 2020