CHAP, in.] STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. 143 



from it a penetrating and metallic tone. The smallest or first string 

 is called in French the chanterelle, and is on the right side of the 

 finger-board or the bridge. 



By turning the pegs around which the strings are wound, a 

 tension is given to them, so that at will, the height of the fundamental 

 note may be varied gradually, according to the well-known laws of 

 the vibration of strings. In this way, the instrument is tuned ; after 

 having taken the unison of the diapason which gives A (870 vibrations 

 a second) with the second string on the left, the other strings are 

 screwed up to give the following notes, in fifths : 



4th string (wire-covered) or thick string ... a 



3rd D 



2nd A 



1st or chanterelle E 



The violin having been tuned, the performer holds the instrument 

 between the chin and the left collar-bone, resting the neck in the left 

 hand, in such a way that the fingers may be placed easily on the 

 strings at certain distances from the nut which vary according to the 

 heights of the notes to be produced. The bow is held in the right 

 hand, and by its friction applied with more or less force, puts the 

 strings into vibration ; its action being in a direction always parallel 

 to the plane of the bridge, or at a right angle to the length of 

 the strings. 



Figs. 97 and 98 give the points where the fingers ought to be 

 placed on each string, in order to produce the successive notes of the 

 scale, with the lowest G for the initial note. It is quite clear that 

 instead of passing from one string to another (which is done without 

 changing the position of the hand, or, technically speaking, without 

 " shifting ") one can produce the same notes (at least the notes more 

 acute than the fundamental note of each succeeding string) on a 

 single string, by moving the hand forward towards the bridge, and 

 placing the fingers at points at greater distances from the nut. This 

 will be understood by looking at the diagram in which these positions 

 are marked, as far as the middle of each string, this point correspond- 

 ing to the octave above the fundamental note of each string. 



One word now on the \vav in which the instrument vibrates when 



