Hi everyone, today we're doing a short video on how to size an adult player for the viola
Violas look very similar to violins but there are a few key differences
overall it's bigger than a violin, the violin has a higher range and
the strings on the violin are the E, A, D and G strings
On the viola it can go a full fifth lower and they have the strings A, D, G and C
One of the other key differences between a violin and viola
is that the ribs will be substantially thicker
so that it can cope with the lower frequencies of the C string
We measure violins in fractional sizes however with viola we tend to use inches
so the standard adult sizes for viola range from 15 inch all the way up to 17 inch
and for children and younger players they start at 14 inch and go
down to even as low as an 11 inch
when we're measuring the sizes of viola we're
measuring from the base of the button all the way down to the bottom of the back
generally speaking when sizing for viola our preference is to go for as big
as the players neck arms and fingers will comfortably allow however it is
quite subjective and you may want to go larger or smaller depending on your own
circumstances for example if you're quite an advanced player you probably
have a preference to go for something that's on the larger side in order to
get the biggest sound and best projection however if you're a beginner
your preference might be to go for something smaller
as it's much more physically comfortable
My colleague Thomas has volunteered to help us with
demonstrating the sizing he's 157 centimeters tall and for the purpose of
this video he's a beginner we're gonna start by making sure that Thomas's feet
are hip-width apart
So I selected a 16 and a half inch which is one of the larger sizes
just so that we can get a feel for where it's sitting at the moment
So I'm gonna get Thomas to put it up on his shoulder in a nice comfortable position
I'm sizing with the shoulder rest on you can do this without it but I
find that you get a better read with the shoulder rest on I'm going to
get Thomas to stretch his arm right out and reach around the scroll and in this case
he can only reach halfway around the scroll that's the first indication that
it's on the big side we'd like him to be able to reach all around the scroll but
as there are some variations in scrolls and neck lengths etc a second good test
is to come into playing position and in first position we like the player to
have a nice neutral wrist for a lot of beginners they tend to collapse the
wrist and that can give you a false read so we're going to make sure that our
player has a nice neutral wrist and then we're looking at the angle here and
ideally we're trying to find a viola where that angle is at 90 degrees in
this case it's much bigger than that so we're going to assume that this fueler
is too big for Thomas
So we're back now and we're going to try a smaller size
and because the sixteen and a half inch seemed quite big we've gone a full inch
shorter and we're going to try the fifteen and a half inch so get Thomas to
put that up on your shoulder in a nice comfortable neutral position and we can
see here that this is almost at 90 degrees so it's going to be much more
comfortable then I typically ask the player has the how's it feel yeah feels
okay so we're gonna go with fifteen and a half inch for Thomas
Our second volunteer is James, he's a hundred and eighty-eight centimeters tall and we're
gonna start by looking at the fifteen and a half inch which was the perfect
size for Thomas so let's have a look at that on your shoulder so you can reach
right out and the scroll is somewhere well below the wrist and if you put your
hand around the scroll you can comfortably get around but it is seeming
like it's on the smaller side already and if we go into playing position with
a nice neutral wrist this is far smaller than ninety degrees so this could still
be a comfortable size for James and he made choose
to play on something that's this size for reasons of comfort or you just find
a viola at that size that you really like to play but it is possible to go
bigger so we're going to have a look at what a 16 and a half inch viola looks like on James
Okay we're back and this time we're going to try a 16 and a half inch viola
to see if it's a better fit for James
so I'll get James to put that up on your shoulder, reach out and around the scroll and
we can see that's really quite comfortable and coming back into playing
position and in first position this is 90 degrees in fact from this angle that
looks like it's even a little bit smaller so it may even be possible for
James to go even larger than this but it's very uncommon to get a 17 inch or
larger so we could assume that sixteen and a half inch even as a beginner it's
going to be a comfortable size as I said before you could go smaller if you found
that more comfortable, but 16 and a half inches is more than manageable for James
for younger players we recommend you have a look at our violin sizing video
for young players and as a rough guide 11 inch violas correlate as a quarter
size violin, 12 inch violas with a half size violin, 13 inch with 3/4 and 14 inch
with full size as sizing for viola is very subjective
we always recommend to get help from an experienced violist
if you're a beginner renting might be a really good option for you
gives you the flexibility to change size at any time you could take an instrument
away today go to your lesson and if you teach a things you should be on a bigger
or smaller size you can just swap it over
Thanks so much for watching this video
if you've got any comments or questions or you'd like to book an
appointment for a viola sizing please visit our website at violins.com.au