An
electric violin is a
violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fitted with an electric pickup of some type, although "amplified violin" or "electro-acoustic violin" are more accurate in that case.
Electrically amplified violins have been used in one form or another since the 1920s; jazz and blues artist
Stuff SmithHezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith , better known as Stuff Smith, was a jazz violinist. He is known well for the song "If You're a Viper".-Biography:...
is generally credited as being one of the first performers to adapt pickups and amplifiers to violins. The
Electro Stringed Instrument CorporationGeorge Delmetia Beauchamp was an inventor of musical instruments and a co-founder of National Stringed Instrument Corporation and Rickenbacker guitars....
, National and Vega sold electric violins in the 1930s and 1940s; Fender produced a small number of electric violins in the late 1950s. There has been a great deal more commercial success of well known manufacturers of electric violins since the 1990s for both well known, established companies and new makers too.
Acoustic violins may be used with an add-on piezoelectric bridge or body pickup, or a magnetic pickup attached to the fingerboard end. Alternatively, a magnetic String pickup can be installed under an acoustic violin's fingerboard avoiding interference with any tone-producing parts of the violin, and so keeping its acoustic resonances and tone intact without feedback problems.
To avoid feedback from the resonances of the hollow body under high amplification on stage, many instruments have a solid body instead. The
timbreIn music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
(tone color) of a standard unamplified violin is due in large part to these resonances, however, so depending on how the signal is picked up, an electric violin may have a "rawer" or "sharper" sound than an acoustic instrument. This raw sound is often preferred in rock, pop, and some
avant-gardeExperimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
genres. Several "semi-hollow" designs exist, containing a sealed but hollow resonating chamber that provides some approximation of acoustic violin sound while reducing susceptibility to feedback.
Solid-body electric violins typically have a non-traditional,
minimalisticMinimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
design to keep weight down. Lately, materials such as kevlar, glass and carbon fibres, are used in the build process.
They are often seen as "experimental" instruments, being less established than electric guitar or bass. Hence, there are many variations on the standard design, such as
fretA fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
s, extra strings,
machine headA machine head is part of a string instrument ranging from guitars to double basses, a geared apparatus for applying tension and thereby tuning a string, usually located at the headstock. A headstock has several machine heads, one per string...
s, "
baritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
" strings that sound an octave lower than normal, and sympathetic strings. Luthier
Yuri LandmanYuri Landman is a Dutch experimental luthier who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a list of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japanese and Liam Finn...
built a 12 string electric violin for the Belgian band
DAAUDAAU is a music group from Antwerp, Belgium. The band was founded in 1992 and borrowed its name from the novel Der Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse....
. The strings on this instrument are clustered in four groups of three strings tuned
unisonIn music, the word unison can be applied in more than one way. In general terms, it may refer to two notes sounding the same pitch, often but not always at the same time; or to the same musical voice being sounded by several voices or instruments together, either at the same pitch or at a distance...
creating a
chorus-Musical:* Choir, a vocal ensemble* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound; signal processors design to simulate the effect* Refrain or chorus of a song, pre-chorus may refer to bridge...
. Also the instrument features an extra pickup in the tail piece for extra amplification of string resonances.
Acoustic 5-string violins are becoming more common, and it is not unusual for an electric violin to have 5, 6 , 7 or more strings. The typical solid body also accommodates the extra tension caused by more strings without stressing the instrument too much. The extra strings are usually a low C string for 5-strings, a low C and low F for 6, and a low C, F and B for 7.
Electric violin signals usually pass through electronic
processingSignal processing is an area of systems engineering, electrical engineering and applied mathematics that deals with operations on or analysis of signals, in either discrete or continuous time...
, in the same way as an electric guitar, to achieve a desired sound. This could include delay, reverb, chorus, distortion, or other effects.
Pickups
Electric violins commonly use either magnetic or
piezoelectricPiezoelectricity is the charge which accumulates in certain solid materials in response to applied mechanical stress. The word piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from pressure...
pickups. Guitar /coil type magnetic pickups require the use of violin strings that have ferrous (iron-containing, as in steel) metal wraps or cores. A few single-coil guitar-style magnetic systems are available, The small body size and arced string arrangement of a violin limit the amount of space available for coil placement.
One unusual acoustic/electric violin system uses the string itself as a linear active pickup element. Made to fit standard acoustic violins, the only requisite is that the string is electrically conducting, so the common synthetic or steel core strings can be used.
Generally, piezoelectric pickups are inexpensive and more common. Piezo elements come in the shape of ceramic discs, cylinders or a plastic film. They detect physical vibrations directly, sometimes placed in or on the body, or in some cases actual string vibrations directly, but more commonly general bridge vibrations are sensed. Some piezo setups have a separate pickup (or two, or even four in the case of some Barbera Transducer Systems pickups) within the bridge under each string. A few systems use transducers oriented in various directions to differentiate between bowed and plucked string motion. Operating a switch then selects the preferred mode.
Piezo pickups have a high (capacitive)
output impedanceThe output impedance, source impedance, or internal impedance of an electronic device is the opposition exhibited by its output terminals to an alternating current of a particular frequency as a result of resistance, inductance and capacitance...
, and must be plugged into a high impedance input stage in the amplifier or a powered
preampA preamplifier is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical signal for further amplification or processing. A preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference. It is used to boost the signal strength to drive the cable to the main...
(a
charge amplifierA charge amplifier is a current integrator driven by an electrical source with capacitive nature such as a piezoelectric sensor. Contrary to what its name may suggest, a charge amplifier does not amplify the electric charge present at its input...
is best). This buffers the signal to avoid low frequency loss and microphonic noise pickup in the instrument cable. Preamplification is often done by an external signal processor, but some electric violin body designs provide internal housing for preamp circuitry.
Genres
Although the violin is an instrument used extensively in classical music, electric violins are generally employed by classical performers only in the performance of
contemporary classical musicContemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
. The electric violin is more frequently used by non-classical musicians in popular genres such as metal, rock,
hip hopHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
,
popPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
,
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
/jazz-fusion,
countryCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
,
New AgeNew Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
, and
experimental musicExperimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
. Famous electric violinists include:
- Papa John Creach
Papa John Creach played for Jefferson Airplane , Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation, the San Francisco All-Stars , The Dinosaurs , and Steve Taylor...
- Yann Tiersen
Yann Tiersen is a musician from France. His musical career is split between studio albums, collaborations and film soundtracks with a distinctive sound that is always involved...
- Diana Boncheva
- Ray Shulman
Raymond Shulman is a British musician, and the youngest of three brothers in progressive rock band, Gentle Giant.Born in Portsmouth, Shulman's father was a trumpet player in a jazz band, and that was the first instrument he learned to play...
(with Gentle GiantGentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band was known for the complexity and sophistication of its music and for the varied musical skills of its members. All of the band members, except the first two drummers, were multi-instrumentalists...
)
- Eddie Jobson
Edwin "Eddie" Jobson is an English keyboardist and violinist noted for his use of synthesizers. He has been a member of several progressive rock bands, including Curved Air, Roxy Music, U.K., and Jethro Tull. He was also part of Frank Zappa's band in 1976-77...
(with UKU.K. were a short-lived British progressive rock supergroup active from 1977 until 1980.The band was composed of Singer/Bassist John Wetton, formerly of King Crimson, Bryan Ferry's band and Uriah Heep, Keyboardist/Electric Violinist Eddie Jobson, formerly of Curved Air, Roxy Music and Frank Zappa's...
, King CrimsonKing Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
, Curved AirCurved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...
, Frank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, and Roxy MusicRoxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
)
- Graham Smith
Graham Smith may refer to:* Graham Smith , British photographer* Graham Smith , British footballer & manager* Graham Smith , British milliner...
(with VDGG)
- Geoff Richardson
Peter Geoffrey Richardson , is a viola player and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with Caravan, Murray Head and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.-Career:...
(with CaravanCaravan are an English band from the Canterbury area, founded by former Wilde Flowers members David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan. Caravan rose to success over a period of several years from 1968 onwards into the 1970s as part of the Canterbury scene, blending...
)
- Robbie Steinhardt (with Kansas
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on Album-Oriented Rock charts, and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind"...
)
- Greg Hiser (with Bound Deun)
- L. Subramaniam
Dr. Lakshminarayana Subramaniam is an acclaimed Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music, and renowned for his virtuoso playing techniques and compositions in orchestral fusion.-Early years:Subramaniam was born to V...
- Jean-Luc Ponty
Jean-Luc Ponty is a French virtuoso violinist and jazz composer.- Early years:Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians on 29 September 1942 in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano...
- Mat Maneri
Mat Maneri, born on October 4, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York is an American composer, improviser and jazz violin and viola player, specifically derivatives such as the five-string viola, the electric six-string violin, and the baritone violin...
- Jerald Daemyon
Jerald Daemyon is an American electrical violinist born in Detroit, Michigan. Daemyon rose to fame in the mid-90's with his debut album, Thinking About You....
- Olli Vänskä
Olli Vänskä is the violinist of Folk metal band Turisas. He lives in Helsinki. Vänskä first appeared on the debut album Battle Metal as a session musician and played as a touring band member until 2007, when he was officially added to the line-up...
of TurisasTurisas is a Finnish folk metal band from Hämeenlinna. It was founded in 1997 by Mathias Nygård and Jussi Wickström and named after an ancient Finnish God of war....
- Jaakko "Hittavainen" Lemmetty and Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.-Biography:While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal...
- David LaFlamme
David LaFlamme is a virtuoso violinist in both classical and rock music.David's mother was from a Mormon family in Salt Lake City, and when he was eight years old, the family moved there to be near her family...
- Darryl Way
Darryl Way is a British rock and classical musician who was a founding member of Curved Air and co-writer of their only hit single, "Back Street Luv". He is best known as a violinist although he also played keyboards.He began his musical training at Dartington College of Arts, and later studied at...
- Vanessa Mae
- Sue Son (for Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...
, as one of the semi-finals in 2009)
- Jerry Goodman
Jerry Goodman is an American violinist best known for playing electric violin in the bands The Flock and the jazz fusion Mahavishnu Orchestra. Goodman actually began his musical career as The Flock's roadie before joining the band on violin. Trained in the conservatory, both of his parents were...
- Tony Selvage
- David Cross
David Cross is an electric violinist born in Turnchapel near Plymouth, England, best known for playing with progressive rock band King Crimson during the 1970s...
(with King CrimsonKing Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
)
- Billy Currie
Billy Currie is an English violist, violinist, pianist, keyboardist, and songwriter...
(on recordings and live performances with UltravoxUltravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
, Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
, and solo)
- Carla Kihlstedt
Carla Kihlstedt is an American violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist from Lancaster, Pennsylvania currently living in Oakland, California....
of Sleepytime Gorilla MuseumSleepytime Gorilla Museum is an American experimental rock band, formed in 1999 in Oakland, California. The band fuses classical, industrial, and art-rock themes throughout their music...
- Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
- Nash the Slash
Nash the Slash is a Canadian musician. Though a multi-instrumentalist, he is known primarily for playing electric violin and mandolin, as well as harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments .Nash worked as a solo artist beginning in 1975, then founded the progressive rock band FM in...
of FMFM is a progressive rock band from Toronto, Canada which existed from 1976 to 1996, with a brief return in 2006, although they had a period of inactivity between 1989 and 1994. Their music has been categorized as space rock, and lyrics are dominated by science fiction themes...
- David Ragsdale
David Ragsdale, violinist for Kansas since 1991, started violin at the age of three. After studies with renowned classical teachers and a stint at the Tulsa Philharmonic, David's violinist duties took him out of the largely classical area and into rock and roll.Through the years he has performed...
and Robby SteinhardtRobert Eugene Steinhardt is a rock violinist and singer best known for his work with the group Kansas, for which he was co-lead singer / "frontman" and emcee along with keyboardist Steve Walsh, from 1973–1982 and 1997–2006...
of KansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
- Ric Sanders
Richard 'Ric' Sanders is a British violinist who has played in jazz-rock, folk rock, electric folk and folk groups, including Soft Machine and Fairport Convention.-Biography:...
Of Fairport ConventionFairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
- Dave Swarbrick
Dave Swarbrick is an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. He has been described by Ashley Hutchings as 'the most influential [British] fiddle player bar none' and his style has been copied or developed by almost every British, and many World folk violin players that have followed him...
- Simon House
Simon House is a composer and classically trained violinist and keyboard player, perhaps best known for his work with space rock band Hawkwind. His arrival in 1974 introduced a new element to the band's style...
of HawkwindHawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
- Mark Wood
Mark Winthrop Wood is an electric violinist, as well as the founder of Wood Violins, a company that makes unique electric violins. He is also an Emmy-winning composer. His music and strings education program has been featured on news programs nationwide....
- Stephen Nachmanovitch
Stephen Nachmanovitch is a musician, author, computer artist, and educator. He is an improvisational violinist, and writes and teaches about improvisation, creativity, and systems approaches in many fields of activity.-Biography:...
- Boyd Tinsley
Boyd Calvin Tinsley is an American violinist and mandolinist who performs as a member of the Dave Matthews Band. Within the band, Tinsley has collaborated in writing songs, harmonizing, and singing backing vocals.-Early life:Tinsley was raised in a musical family...
of the Dave Matthews BandDave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
.
- Sugizo
, born , is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. Referred to by his stage name Sugizo, he is best known as lead guitarist of the rock band Luna Sea, who were popular in the 1990s. He started his solo career in 1997 and has since collaborated with many artists...
- Mik Kaminski
Mik Kaminski is best known for playing violin in the Electric Light Orchestra between 1973 and 1979.-Biography:...
of Electric Light OrchestraElectric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
- Caitlin Papier
- Emilie Autumn
Emilie Autumn Liddell , better known by her stage name Emilie Autumn, is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and violinist. Autumn draws influence for her music—the style of which she has alternatively labeled as "Victoriandustrial" and glam rock—from plays, novels, and history, particularly the...
- Joel Zifkin
Joel Zifkin is a Canadian musician and songwriter born in Montreal on April 14, 1954. He is best known as a session and live musician for artists such as Kate and Anna McGarrigle and Richard Thompson...
of Kate and Anna McGarrigleKate and Anna McGarrigle, were a pair of Canadian singer-songwriters from Quebec, who performed as a duo until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.-Profile:...
and Richard Thompson
- Sean Mackin
Sean Mackin is an American rock musician. He is best known as the violinist and backing vocalist for the American pop punk band Yellowcard and is now one of the two remaining full-time members of the band from its original line-up, along with bandmate Longineu W. Parsons III.-Early life:Mackin was...
of YellowcardYellowcard is an American pop punk/alternative rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1997, and based in Los Angeles, California since 2000. Their music features the use of a violin, unusual for the genre...
- Michael Hoffman
- Henry Lau
Henry Lau , better known mononymously as Henry, is a Chinese Canadian singer songwriter. He is a member of the Mandopop boy band Super Junior-M....
- Ed Alleyne-Johnson
- Linzi Stoppard
-Biography:Linzi Stoppard started taking violin lessons at the age of four. She grew up in Surrey, and was trained under the Suzuki method.At the age of eighteen, Linzi Stoppard signed her first modeling contract, while still teaching and playing session violin...
- Geoffrey Castle
- Lorenza Ponce
Lorenza Ponce is an American violinist, vocalist, string arranger and composer. She has recorded five albums of her own music and is well known for her collaborative and supporting roles with other musicians, most notably as a touring musician with Bon Jovi and a member of the Jon Bon Jovi ...
It is used extensively in
folk rockFolk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
; one prominent exponent in the area being
Dave SwarbrickDave Swarbrick is an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. He has been described by Ashley Hutchings as 'the most influential [British] fiddle player bar none' and his style has been copied or developed by almost every British, and many World folk violin players that have followed him...
.
Folk metalFolk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
band
TurisasTurisas is a Finnish folk metal band from Hämeenlinna. It was founded in 1997 by Mathias Nygård and Jussi Wickström and named after an ancient Finnish God of war....
also puts a lot of emphasis on the electric violin in their compositions. Finnish folk metal band
KorpiklaaniKorpiklaani is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.-Biography:While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal...
also focuses in Jaakko Lemmetty's electric violin parts. It has also found its way into modern musical theater, a recent example being
Whistle Down the WindWhistle Down the Wind is a musical based on the 1961 film Whistle Down the Wind with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Jim Steinman, known for his work with Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler.-Stage Premiere:...
by
Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
. Several popular bands that use the electric violin are
ZoxZOX is a band from Providence, Rhode Island that is self-described as "violin-laced Reggae rock." The band consists of four members: namesake John Zox , Eli Miller , Spencer Swain , and Dan Edinberg ....
,
Operator PleaseOperator Please are an Australian pop band, originating on the Gold Coast of Queensland, in 2005. Their current lineup consists of vocalist and guitarist Amandah Wilkinson, drummer Tim Commandeur, keyboardist Chris Holland, Ashley McConnell on bass guitar, and violinist Taylor Henderson.The...
,
Doll FactoryDoll Factory is an Electronic rock / Post-punk revival / Electronic music band from Seattle, WA . Founded in 1998 by musicians Garrick Antikajian and Chris Roy, the band primarily works as a studio-based duo with Antikajian and Roy handling all writing, performance, and...
, and
pop punkPop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
band
YellowcardYellowcard is an American pop punk/alternative rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1997, and based in Los Angeles, California since 2000. Their music features the use of a violin, unusual for the genre...
.
Urban BlitzUrban Blitz is best known for his electric violin, baritone violectra and lead guitar work with the 1970s London protopunk art rock band Doctors of Madness....
of
protopunkProtopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
rock band
Doctors of MadnessDoctors of Madness were a British protopunk art rock band formed in 1974 in a cellar in Brixton, south London by the composer and lead singer/guitarist Richard Strange, known as ‘Kid’ Strange...
used the instrument to original effect in the mid 1970’s; also using baritone
ViolectraViolectra is the trade name of an electric violin produced by Barcus-Berry with the pitch equivalent of an acoustic tenor violin, sometimes called baritone violin. It is tuned an octave below normal violin; i.e. between viola and cello. It was developed in USA by Barcus-Berry in the early 1960s but...
. Classically-trained violinist
Emilie AutumnEmilie Autumn Liddell , better known by her stage name Emilie Autumn, is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and violinist. Autumn draws influence for her music—the style of which she has alternatively labeled as "Victoriandustrial" and glam rock—from plays, novels, and history, particularly the...
has also made extensive use of the electric violin, particularly on her instrumental Laced/Unlaced album.
Several Irish fiddlers have adopted electric instruments. The fiddle is quite prominently featured in such bands as the Celtic punk bands
Flogging MollyFlogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish-descendant band from Los Angeles, California, that is currently signed to their own record label, Borstal Beat Records.-Early years:...
, and The Levellers.
Eileen IversEileen Ivers is an Irish-American musician.Eileen Ivers was born in New York City of Irish-born parents and grew up in the Bronx. She spent summers in Ireland and took up the fiddle at the age of nine. Her teacher was the Irish fiddler Martin Mulvihill. She toured with Mick Moloney's band The...
played a blue Barcus-Berry electric fiddle during her tours with
RiverdanceRiverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
during the 1990s, later switching to a custom-made blue ZETA Music Systems Strados acoustic-electric fiddle (which ZETA later marketed as the "Eileen Ivers Signature Series").
Compositions for Electric Violin
- John Adams
- The Dharma at Big Sur
The Dharma at Big Sur is a composition for solo electric violin and orchestra by John Adams. The piece calls for some instruments to use just intonation, a tuning system in which intervals sound pure, rather than equal temperament, the common Western tuning system in which all intervals except the...
, for electric violin and orchestra, inspired by the talents of (and written for) electric violinist Tracy Silverman.
- Nico Muhly
Nico Muhly is a contemporary classical music composer, who has worked and recorded with classical and pop/rock musicians. He currently lives in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan in New York City.-Early years:...
- Seeing is Believing, for six-string electric violin and chamber orchestra, written for Thomas Gould, Nicholas Collon, and the Aurora Orchestra
Tape-bow violin
Laurie Anderson's tape-bow violin, an electronic instrument developed in 1977, resembles an electric violin but does not have strings. It produces sound by drawing a bow, strung with a length of recorded magnetic tape rather than hair, across a magnetic tape head mounted on the instrument where the bridge would normally be. This somehow anticipates the later technique of "
scratchingScratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
" in rap and hip-hop music, where a vinyl recording is turned back and forth on a turntable.
MIDI violin
In the mid 1980s,
Zeta Music developed a prototype violin for Laurie Anderson that, through the employment of a custom pickup and a conversion module, sent MIDI data, allowing the violinist to control synthesizers. This design was later refined and turned into a commercial product. Unlike most pickup designs, the Zeta pickup has the ability to output the signal from each string on a separate audio channel. Using a multi-pin cable to their pitch to midi interface, this allows for polyphonic MIDI control with each string set to an independent MIDI channel.
Most recently, Keith McMillen of Keith McMillen Instruments, a founder of Zeta Music, announced the 'StringPort' polyphonic string-to-USB 2.0 converter which will connect with the Zeta polyphonic pickup and other modern polyphonic violin systems.
Whilst no other dedicated violin-to-MIDI systems have been manufactured, more generic pitch-to-MIDI systems like those from
Rolandis a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
, and
Yamahais a multinational corporation and conglomerate based in Japan with a wide range of products and services, predominantly musical instruments, electronics, motorcycles and power sports equipment.-History:...
can be adapted to use standard electric violin output. Most systems allow only monophonic operation — only one pitch can be detected and digitised at a time — but through the use of proprietary pickups, some limited MIDI polyphony can be achieved. Some pitch to MIDI interfaces from Axon/
TerraTecTerraTec Electronic GmbH is a German manufacturer of sound cards, computer speakers, webcams, computer mice, video grabbers and TV tuner cards....
will give full per string polyphony, interfacing with the multi-pin output from the Zeta MIDI pickup.
Notable artists who have performed using a MIDI violin include
Jean-Luc PontyJean-Luc Ponty is a French virtuoso violinist and jazz composer.- Early years:Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians on 29 September 1942 in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano...
,
Charles BisharatCharlie Bisharat is a Grammy-winning violinistwho has extensively toured and/or recorded with numerous artists. He was a member of Shadowfax who won a Grammy in 1988 for Best New Age Performance for Folksongs for a Nuclear Village...
, Drew Tretick, Gregory Docenko, Dorothy Martirano and
Boyd TinsleyBoyd Calvin Tinsley is an American violinist and mandolinist who performs as a member of the Dave Matthews Band. Within the band, Tinsley has collaborated in writing songs, harmonizing, and singing backing vocals.-Early life:Tinsley was raised in a musical family...
from
Dave Matthews BandDave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
.
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