What is a Viocello?

Answer 1

A viocello is a small stringed musical instrument very similar to or identical to a violin, but typically played in an upright position rather in a horizontal position. Holding the instrument in an upright position facilitates the musician's ability to not only play the strings with a bow, but also to more easily pluck the strings in order to create the desired sound. Skilled violinists or fiddle players sometimes pluck the strings of their instrument in order to add variety to the sounds that they can create, but do not always hold the instrument in a vertical upright position when they do so. Due to the versatility of this small stringed instrument, speakers sometimes refer to it as a viocello, violin, or a fiddle, depending on their culture, language, and deictic view. The variation in terms used to describe this string instrument is akin to the variation used to describe a blues harp, mouth harp, mouth organ, or harmonica--all of which can be used to describe the same instrument, but the variations in meaning are not due to the design or construction of the instrument itself, but rather to how it is played by the musician.