hello my name is Nick butterman I'm a viola player in the Flamini orchestra this is my gala as you can see it looks very much like a violin and in many respects it is identical in its mechanics it's just perhaps 1 inch one and a half inches longer which creates lower sound as the string length generally is longer we share three strings with a violin the violin has a top E string which we don't have we have the a and the D and the G and the bottom string that we have that the violins don't is the C which is one octave below middle C the viola sits in the middle of the orchestra in terms of range between the violins which are high and the cellos and the bases which are below normally we play with a bow and when we play legato sounds like this if we play - a which is separate those we can play off the string we can play fast off the string you can play ricochet where the bow bounces but in one motion and this we can use the wood of the bow to create a percussive effect we can play close to the bridge this is the bridge here this is called ponticello this creates a very icy cold sound or we can do the opposite of that playing over here which is called salt a stone over the fingerboard which is a much softer sound the usual sound will be in the middle like this we can also use our fingers to pluck the strings this we call pizza cutter another variant of pizza cutter will be the Bartok pits or their snap it's cotton and often by contemporary composers were asked to play slightly stranger things for example knocking the wood of the instrument or playing behind the bridge so in the heightened if we were to play it on the string it would sound like this but we paid off the string which is much lighter wind players have their breath to naturally phrase and put direction into their music string players of course breathe when they play but it doesn't have the same natural effect as the wind players what we do have however is down bows the bow is weighted much heavier at the Frog which is this end here then at the tip up here and because of that naturally if we're playing a heavy note and loud a heavy note we'll use a down bow and then the result is a lighter up though sometimes we will want to use several dampers in a row because every note is a heavy note for example at the beginning of the sixth symphony by marla the violas had a somewhat checkered history in terms of symphonic repertoire the early symphonies used the viola often to double the bass line or to fill in the harmony in the center of the chords often coupling second violins with the complemental figures in other words we rarely ever get the tune so a viola part will often sound like this as orchestral writing developed composers were little more daring with what they were willing to try over the viola section for example in the symphonie fantastique and the slow movement the violas are given a tune in addition to more interesting parts for the viola section composers started to ride far more solos for one viola player as we head into more contemporary orchestral music you will see that composers place no restriction on the viola at all and do not typecast the viola so for example in sullen and smiling concerto there's solo for viola and cello so as you can see the viola like all string instruments it's very versatile but we sit right in the middle of the orchestra with a heart of the string section if you've enjoyed learning about the instruments in the orchestra why not try our iPad app the Orchestra featuring essa Peka salonen and the Phil Omonia Orchestra fully interactive video playback lets you view the orchestra from all angles and the revolutionary beatmap shows you who is playing when follow along with synchronized scores here the inside scoop in audio commentaries and get a 360 degree view of all the instruments available for download in the App Store on iTunes