bow instruments - how many strings ?

6x9base13

Just been pluming the unvisited depths of my ipod for inspiration. Bushs gycerine refers :

Firstly they have a violin (? I think, sounds like some sort of bow driven instrument) playing that outlines the beats and underlying cords nicely. Something that a real noob like me might struggle with when trying to match tab with the strumming of a guitar.

Which leads to my question, how many strings are being played by the bow at any one time ? Is it hitting all 4 ?

The arch on a violin makes me think that not more than 2 strings, maybe 3 at a push are being played at a time, but then again I'm lucky to have a spell checker otherwise I might spell violin wrong with my level of knowledge ???

Any violinist's amongst us ?

Wizard

Can only play two strings at a time on a violin.
Called double-stopping.

6x9base13

Wizard wrote: Can only play two strings at a time on a violin.
Called double-stopping.

Excellent, thanks !

Bob-Dubery

In some folk music styles the bridge is flattened a little to make double stopping easier. The Wikipedia entry on "Double stop" suggests that with the right (wrong?) shaped bow and bridge triple stopping would be possible. The trade-off would seem to be accuracy and clarity.

I've seen 3 strings being played at a time, but that was with a combination of bowing and left-hand piccicato.

Wizard

I was wrong.
There are very rare examples of triple and quadruple stops in some extreme violin passages.

Tchaikovsky included a few into his compositions.
This kept the musicians of the time busy for a while as they figured out how the hell to play them.

But then Tchaikovsky was known for composing stuff with complete disregard for the poor soul who had to play it.
His violin concerto was written for the the virtuouso of the time Leopold Auer who declared it as "unplayable".
It took young Jascha Heifetz to prove them wrong.

Opens an interesting approach towards composition:
a) you hear the music in your head, write it down, then figure out how to play it
b) work it out on the instrument, then write it down

As a personal account when I was in matric taking violin lessons, there was a lass who had her lesson just before mine who was brushing up on her rendition of this violin concerto; while I was still struggling with 3 octave G major scales.
A trifle intimidating & depressing.
She did though, go on to becoming an acclaimed concert violinist.
?

AlanRatcliffe

Niccolo Paganini also used to play a lot of triple stops - the 24 Caprices are full 'o them. His Il Cannone Guarnerius (the Cannon) violin had a flatter than usual radius (like a shredders guitar) so he could play them.

Granted though, Paganini was a freak with a three octave hand stretch (possibly from having Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that often results in long fingers). ?