Seymour, a violinist, and his lovely wife Eliza, an instrumentalist with an exceptional ability to play viola, imagine having their son Thomas raised as a virtuoso violin performer, even though it may be unlikely. The problem is that Thomas doesn’t want to work on developing an exceptional technique. He simply enjoys playing drums with a group of rock musicians.They both agree on one thing: drums not only cannot be valued as a noble orchestra instrument, but playing it might possibly bring about a danger of damage of Thomas' perfect hearing. Thomas feels he needs his perfect hearing for his drums.

The violin is a very common string instrument that has a range of 3 1/2 octaves. The violin, along with other string instruments, is tuned in fifths. Sometimes a violin has been strung with gut which broke too easily, so the gut was replaced by wire. When a finger or bow hits the violin, the sound travels to the "f" holes which helps project the sound.

The history of a violin dates back to about 1520, when the word "vyollon" was first written. The name violin actually originated from the names fidula, vidula, vihuela, viol, vyollon, and finally violin.

The violin has a long history of changes. One thing that has evolved greatly is the bow. The bow drastically changed several times until Francois Tourte designed a bow that is still used today. When accents are needed, the bow is slid downward, while the tip is used for softer sections of a piece.

Some famous violin pieces are:
Mahler: Symphony #4 and Copland: Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo