Good for you, Anna! Viola is fab. Some violin students take it up as an extra, then never look back!

What size is your viola? It shouldn't be tooooo big.

I gave my evening class a little concert yesterday evening. It was the last class and, as I started viola just a short while after they started Chinese, I've 'played' for them before. So, I murdered a bit of Beethoven's 9th for them, but did pure viola - a 5th lower!! So, instead of centering it on the D string, I did it on the G so I could use the lovely C string.

I meant C really... I can't type!!

Actually, my teacher said the viola actually looked very natural with me and some of my bowing problems were better when playing viola. So maybe I'm destined to be a violist rather than a violinist...

My teacher had a look and said my viola (I love typing that!!) is about normal size, I guess it's just the change up from violin... the scroll looks a long way away!!

Yes, I love saying and writing 'my viola' too. Makes it sound like I can actually play it!!!!!!

Mine's a 15.5". What about yours? You just measure the body. 15.5" is 'regular' for ladies, but it can also depend on whether or not you're still growing etc. I think I'm a bit bigger now than when I was 15.

You're right about bowing being different. I don't play violin, but I am aware that I will have to be 'gentler' when I proactise on someone else's violin!!! Of course, we don't want folk to think that violists are all bad violin players..... Tee-hee

Who cares of Violists, we need more Cellists!! =P lol

Yeah, cellists have been quiet of late. Nothing double bass-ey either. We're just flooded with violin stuff of latem until I decided to put a word in for my instrument!!!

I played a cello once, in an orchestra. It was a special arrangement with a cello part that consisted of nothing but open strings. The cello sounded fine. After 15 months of playing the viola I still can't get it to sound that good. I can only conclude that the cello is a doddle.

Bring on the cello in that case!! I'm feeling itchy for a new instrument; it's been a year since I last started one!

Don't give in Primrose, cellos are not a patch on violas. Violists are quirky individuals, with a wry sense of humour and laid back attitude. A great bunch to belong to, come to Skye and join our viola section for a concert, you'd enjoy yourself a great deal!

In an ideal world I'd be playing the cello (as well as sax, piano, electric guitar and a few others), because it sounds so gorgeous. And, to judge by the beginner cellists, violinists and violists I know, it does seem easier to learn in the early stages. I decided to learn the viola instead because cellos are too expensive, too big to carry around on public transport, and too loud to play in a small flat. But I'm not complaining - I love the viola too - and I'm certainly not giving in. I went through a patch of being very discouraged a while ago, but, thanks partly to the encouragement of people here, I feel much more positive now.
I just might ...

I love both cello and viola too, but I think I've really come to love viola best. I have a similar set of problems to Primrose in terms of living in a flat, hauling large instruments around and also - the sheer prive of cellos! I 'only' have a Stentor Conservatoire, which was £200 all in (bow, good case and instrument as well as rosin), but my teacher said she's regularly surprised at what a good tone it produces and that's in our living room which contains about 600 books as well as carpet, curtains, sofa, armchair and many cushions to absorb sound. I played in a textile and paper free classroom last week and was almost knocked out at the resonance!