Why is it that the violas always get the easiest part in the entire orchestra? The violins are over there fiddling away and the cellists are going crazy with rosin cascading from the sky but the violists always find themselves melancholy with nothing interesting to play. What gives? I assume that it`s because composers (yes, even Mozart) assume that the violists aren`t as talented as the violinists and cellists. NOT TRUE I say!

i agree. its outragous!! the viola in my orchestra always gets the stupid harmony!! we got the lord of the rings the other day (im in a middle school orchestra) and at least two of the three pages are half notes, dotted half notes, or tied whole notes. its aweful!!! why do we always get the boring part?!?!?! it drives me CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, at my middle school the violas get the mealodie TWICE in one song it`s awsome opossm totally blossem!

It`s ridiculous! Perhaps the bassists have it worse, however. I`m not sure. It`s not often that you hear the bass with the melody. However bass is featured in jazz and blues bands, and viola and cello are just exploited - so to speak - outright. So where`s the viola fit into all this!? Huh? Just once - ONCE! - I`d like to play a song in our orchestra featuring the viola entirely throughout the whole piece. Y`know, maybe I`ll write one just out of spite. So THERE!

Spelling mistake: fifth sentence should be VIOLIN and cello

Viola dont have any melodic material mostly, but they do play a lot, probably more than any other insturment in orchestra. More than The violin or cello. They have the most playing time in the orchestra. After all if you see the viola part in the orchestral work, it has more pages than any other part in the orchestra.

That`s strange. My part always seems to be shorter than the other parts...

We sometimes get the good parts in music.......almost sometimes. I`m in a middle school orchestra!!!Mclane Middle school.

My sister plays violin and cello and in her orchestra she says that there are some really talented violist at her middle school, but out out of the three years they`ve been there they`ve only been spotlighted once with one song and still the other instruments were playing. But I went to this highschool concert and they had brought several violist out to play and it was so beautiful and I bet at that time everyone in the audience wanted to be able to play the viola. So I`m sure there will be opportuniies, even if it`s just one that will shine through the many opportunities of the others. Remenber though that it`s not really the violin and the cello players` fault it`s the directors fault for not getting you good music.

sorry for all the typos!

Sorry I`m forced to say I agree. I play 1st violin in the orchestra and the violas in the orchestra have to play 3rd violin parts.I MEAN 3RDS the only violinists that play thirds are the ones that can hardly read sheet music and are just beginning to play and all of thier peices have like 20 bars rest at a time.

well, the viola part only sucks if your in a crappy ensemble. Most of the time in my local symphony, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, the viola`s have tricky parts. Like in Concert fur Violoncello u. Orchester by schostakowitsch. Everyone is tapping their feet, counting out loud, and singing along. And even if the parts are bad, make them better with your own viola witt that you have developed.

I play in the Queensland Youth Orchestra 2 and the viola`s part is hard enough and there are a few places where the violas are the only ones playing the melody, i suppose it depends on the piece, the orchestra and the conductor. Although, i still agree that violas should get the tune much more often.

Hey, I totally agree with that the violas never get anything good. There may be a couple songs that are good for violas though. I`ve seen a piece called Santa Clause Plays The Viola and a viola concereto, dont remember what that is called though. Haven`t seen the viola part though, probably some scam cooked up by hte composers.

violin rock