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I can help with judging, Morivou!

There are also a variety of articulations you can use to make strings sound intense such as staccato, spiccato, and accents. Fortissimo tremelo/ very fast notes can also have a very powerful effect. Here's an example of some very fiery writing for string orchestra: It's a very good recording of Bartok's divertimento.

All-time YC ban leader :P ...

Guys. This poll is a year-and-a-half old. Feel free to let it die and start you own thread - in which you're welcome to include as many scales as you see fit.

TJS_1977, thank you! I just found out that the 80$ one was 4/4 size & that the reason the one i bought was only 30$ was 1/4 size otherwise known as a " Violino Piccolo " the smallest type of viol which is the kind Bach used in his 1st Brandenberg Concerto. Well, i hope it's not too small. :lol:

Well, I guess that's the big secret, right? ;) I definitely think wood plays a factor in why those instruments sound the way they do. However, it may well be that the families who hand-crafted them knew what to look for in a piece of wood and that knowledge is part of what is long gone. There are also probably minute differences in the structure which also play a larger role than one might imagine. I know, for example, with pianos that certain makes, like Steinway, will look for specific wood for their soundboards and will not use anything else. The trouble lately is that the wood they would like to use is less and less available because so much has been cut down. Generally older trees are better. And spruce is almost always the choice for soundboards (on stringed instruments too, I believe, though the rest is made from harder wood like maple). There is another first-class piano company in Germany called Steingraeber which will only use wood from trees that are at least 200 years old and from this one specific forest and nowhere else! But they don't build many pianos per year, so they can afford to be picky. Try rubbing them in the rosin you use for the bow. I think that's what you need to do with new tuning pegs.

Since most of the answers are, sadly, silly jokes, let me try: First listen to all finest concertos for bassoon. Pay close attention to form, motivic gradations, harmonic background, orchestration, the usage of the instrument. But you should inform us, how much experience do you have as a composer and which composers you favour as your influences. I remember when I started to compose at the age of 18, I wrote an oboe concerto with strings. It is terrible, since I had no knowledge of form and motivic workout. I made some melodies in oboe and use strings as a background harmonies with occasional solo exhibitions, in moderato-slow-quasi fast movements. But it's a try-out piece after all...