Cheesy Brie Podcast

Ava Friesman, a violin expert, discusses violin terminology on the Cheesy Breeze podcast. She mentions that the curved S's on the violin wood are called epaulets and the fifths of the strings are called the nut. She also talks about pieces of music being named after types of dances. Ava shares examples of pieces with strange names, such as "Bois Mortiers" and the "Bach Double." The "Bach Double" is a famous violin duet, even though it wasn't written by two Bachs. The episode ends with a cheesy joke about the importance of mechanical pencils. It's Bria, and this is an episode of the Cheesy Breeze podcast. Today we've got violin expert Ava Friesman here to tell us all about the cheesiest of topics, violin terminology. Welcome to the show, Ava. Thanks, Bria. I'm happy to be here. To start, how long have you been in the violin world? Well, it's my ninth year, which in the violin world means I've just crossed the threshold between beginner and slightly better beginner. Yeah, so it's been a while. So you've been playing for a while, and I'm assuming you picked up on pretty good terminology along the way. Yeah, sounds about right. So what's the weirdest terminology you know? Well, there's all kinds of pretty weird names for the violin itself. The iconic little curved S's in the violin wood are actually called the epaulets. Really? Yeah, and the fifths of the strings are called the nut. The middle of the violin is called the waist. So, like, lots of really weird names. But my all-time favorite is the tip of the bow. Oh, yeah. The tip of the bow is called the frog. That's got to be my favorite one. That's so random. Violin playing amphibian for the wind? Yeah, exactly. But the weirdest terminology I know comes from the names of my pieces. Tell me more. Well, a lot of pieces are called allegro, gavotte, minuet. There are thousands of pieces named like that because in older times there were types of dance. So the name of the music corresponds with the dances they worked with. Yes, exactly. So, say the townspeople get together for a gavotte. The orchestra will pull out a series of gavottes to play and they all kind of have a similar beat to them, a similar pattern. All minuets follow the same structure, as do allegros, etc. That's pretty cool. So, what's the weirdest piece you've ever played? Well, right now I've been playing a piece nicknamed Bois Mortiers for its composer. And Bois Mortiers directly translates to dead wooder. Wow, that's morbid. Totally. Give me another example of a weird piece. Well, there's this piece called the concerto and whatever. But everyone who's played violin for some amount of time knows it as the Bach double. Bach double? Yeah, it's one of the most famous violin duets, known to me at least. And it's just a really fun piece to play with your friends and for a recital on the street, anywhere. Uh-huh. And the name is kind of confusing, because even though the piece was written by Johann Sebastian Bach, it wasn't co-written by his brother or something. There weren't two Bachs making the piece. There was no double Bach. So, I think the real reason behind the double part is that you've got two violinists, right, playing two different parts of the same piece. But each part could be a piece by itself. Right. So, it's like playing two Bach pieces in double Bach. So cool. Thanks for coming to the show, Ava. Thanks for having me. Next episode, we'll be talking about another super unimportant topic, the importance of mechanical pencils. Tune in next time. Ooh. Do you get it? Do you get it? Tune in? I got it. That was cheesy, right? Cheesier than free. Oh, I love that. See you guys. Bye-bye. Bye.