Baritone Violin

Alisa Rose demonstrates her low-tuned violin, strung with Super Sensitive Sensicore Octave strings.

The standard range of bowed instruments (violin, viola, cello, and bass) has been well established for centuries, but lately a few variants, like the five-string violin or baritone violin have become popular. The baritone violin is typically a standard-size violin that has been strung with heavier strings tuned an octave below standard tuning.

San Francisco Bay Area violinist/fiddler Alisa Rose is known as much for her classical playing as for her fiddling and lyrically intense soloing on bluegrass and rock tunes. She plays in numerous ensembles, including the Lonely Bird Band, with Peghead Nation co-founder Scott Nygaard and mandolinist Jesse Appelman, as well as a duo with up-and-coming bluegrass mandolinist Tristan Scroggins and the RossoRose duo, with pianist Amy Zanrosso. She is an acclaimed composer of fiddle and classical music, recently debuting her “Piano Trio for Luisa” as part of the Trinity Arts Chamber Music Festival.  

In this video she demonstrates her baritone violin, an unidentified instrument that she strings with Super Sensitive Sensicore Octave strings. Alisa uses the instrument in a variety of musical settings, including her duo with Tristan, who joins her for a duet performance of his original “Wyoming,” which is featured on the duo’s soon-to-be-released album Grana. Supersensitive.com; Arosefiddle.com.

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