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The RovelleQuartz Strings Studio offers quality private instruction in the fine arts of violin and viola performance. The studio is located in the Fine Arts Building, downtown Chicago.

There is a wide range of violin styles; in addition to the well-known classical, there is also fiddle, bluegrass, jazz, latin-salsa, sacred and others, each with their own distinctive history and traditions.

A personalized program of individual study is crafted for each student.

The four major instruments in the string family, the violin, the viola, the cello and the double bass, are built the same way. The instruments are made of many pieces of wood which are glued - never nailed - together. The body of the instrument is hollow, thus becoming a resonating box for the sound. Four strings (sometimes five on the double-bass) made of animal gut, nylon, or steel are wrapped around pegs at one end of the instrument and attached to a tailpiece at the other. They are stretched tightly across a bridge to produce their assigned pitches.

The violin is the soprano voice in the string family. It is held under the chin, resting on the shoulder. The violin has a lovely tone that can be soft and expressive or exciting and brilliant.

Like the violin, the viola is held under the chin, resting on the shoulder. It is larger than the violin and is tuned a fifth lower. It plays an extremely important role in the orchestra, and is known as the alto voice of the string section. Mozart was particularly fond of the viola, writing viola parts that demonstrate its unique and rather special sound. The viola has a mellow sometimes mystical tone that can be warm and expressive or deep and powerful.