a violin & a fiddle or is it the same thing?

When you play classical music - you play the violin.
When you play bluegrass/country..etc. you play the fiddle.
In other words - they are both the same thing.

Thanks to you both. I have been wondering the same thing but had never to bother asking or looking it up!

Tenuto is exactly right. I have had a lot of fun with that one in my music classes down through the years.

I've heard the difference between a violin and a fiddle is thousands of dollars. With a violin you have to continually move to a better instrument, with the fiddle you can keep the same one and it still sounds good. :p

Generally, the words mean the same thing,
but I believe that on country fiddles, that
is, violins intended for playing country
music only, the bridge is considerably higher
than on a regular violin. This allows easier
bowing in the type of tunes that are
typically played in country music.

That's interesting, Gyro. I never thought that the difference in the height of the bridges might be the answer to which is a fiddle and which a violin - or that perhaps the difference had something to do with making bowing easier!

Someone told me that the bridge on a violin is usually more curved than a bridge on a fiddle. I've never compared a violin to a fiddle (never knew how to tell the difference ), so I don't know if it is true.

The bridge of a fiddle is often less curved than that of a violin. This allows the fiddler to take three strings at once for chords. Bridge height affects the distance that the strings are from the fingerboard. If they are high then it causes strain on the fingers and one cannot play as fast. String tension and therefore sound quality would be affected, and bridges are sometimes lowered or raised for that reason.

Since fiddlers often stay in first position, that is playing down by the scroll, they might be able to afford raising the brdige. When you go into 5th position and higher, playing at the body of the violin, the strings are already uncomfortably high with the fingers cramped together, so a classical violinist would not feel good about a high bridge.

Other than the shape of the bridge I'm not aware of any difference in the instrument. However, fiddlers often have lighter bows or prefer a different balance, and may hold the bows higher in order to achieve that balance.

Along the same lines, a Harmonica when used in Blues music is called a Harp.

A violin and a fiddle are the same instrument. However, it may be called one or the other based on the music it is playing. If the instrument is used to play "fiddle music", which is usually fast, American folk songs, the instrument is called a fiddle. If it is used to play classical music, it is usually called a violin.

Here in the UK we have classical violinists and folk fiddlers.

A technique I have seen at folk festivals as well as heightening and flattening the bridge is to add a second soundpost under the bridge inside the belly. It sure gives the fiddle a unique sound when both these alterations are carried out.

Also here a lot of folk fiddlers tend to play with flat fingers on the board and with a raised wrist which kind of dulls the sound.

Cheers