Best viola joke. Ever.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

[swag]

1. Do you think he can read the alto clef?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. No way. And forget clef changes!

But with technical advancements in audio recording equipment, they can make him sound like he's really playing the thing.

[underpants]

2. As viola jokes go it is a good one

:thumbsup:

[Craig3410]

4. more viola jokes

http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/jokes/viola.html

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Thanks for the link!

I bookmarked it. :D

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

20. Why are violas so lambasted?

I love their sound.

My daughter plays one, and she is good.

Is it because they are really fiddles?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

23. I think it's because, too often,

the kid who doesn't play the violin well in school gets switched to viola, which often has an easier part in elementary orchestras.

Rest assured that any musician who doesn't appreciate the value of a fine violist (or a fine viola!) is not much of a musician.

Violists must master elements of musicianship that are subtler than the obvious need to maneuver fingers to the correct places. For example, violinists spend their entire careers in one clef, while violists must be able to read alto, treble, and occasionally tenor clef. In addition to this, they are challenged with playing an inner voice the bulk of the time in orchestral work, requiring more diligent attention to intonation than 1st violins; yet they must be ready to emerge from their supporting role to shine brilliantly when their big moment comes.

Your daughter picked a great instrument!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

25. Interesting. She asked me that question

apparently it is so ingrained, that even in elementary school orchestras viola jokes are rife.
I will share your answer with her.

[LaraMN]

27. No way!

:rofl:
When I was in orchestra, the viola section players were the "badasses!"
Everybody else was kinda' lame in comparison.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. Share this story with her, too...

Today I had an orchestra rehearsal with a friend of mine who's a wonderful violist and a terrific violinist as well...it's rare to find people who really play both of them well.


Chris brought his viola, assuming that was what the contractor wanted him to play. Unfortunately, the contractor wanted him to play 2nd violin. It was too far for him to go back home and get his fiddle, so he played all the 2nd violin parts on his viola...the Barber Adagio, the Mozart concerto for flute and harp, and Beethoven's 1st Symphony!

The guy is amazing!

[no name no slogan]

5. As a former viola player, I take offense to that joke

;)

[KitchenWitch]

6. I used to play violin

But I always wanted to play cello!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. Cello burns longer.

:D

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. At least this was photoshopped...

Just think how all the guitar players out there must feel! :nopity:

[no name no slogan]

14. funny you should say that-- been a guitarist for 20 years

and that's still hi-freakin-larious!

[tonkatoy57]

9. So young, and all ready viola...

[jackelope72]

11. I used to play the viola in elementary and junior high school.

It's the instrument of kings. * could never master it.

[tonkatoy57]

12. It's the instrument of fat, balding,neurotic, alcoholic..

middle aged men, stuck in a nowhere orchestra in America's hinterlands.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. Uh-oh...

Better duck and cover before all the svelte gorgeous women violists of DU whap you. ;-)

[tonkatoy57]

15. The svelte, gorgeous women

are all sitting up front. They're all Principals.

I have a better view at the back of the section. They're all slumped over drunks too busy criticizing the Principal to worry about playing in tune.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. So come back east

and play in a nowhere orchestra. The principals are usually neurotic men. Sometimes they're fat and balding, too!

It's the violin section that's always drunk. :D

[fortyfeetunder]

24. Yo, if the violin section that's always drunk...

then wouldn't that violist be more at home in the violin section?

[tonkatoy57]

28. Just kidding really.

I love the viola. It's a beautiful instrument and all that you said about the difficulties of playing inner voices is right on the money.

It is a funny stereotype when you stop to think about it. I suppose there is a grain of truth in it, like all stereotypes. So many competent, but unexceptional violinists get switched over to viola. It happened to a good friend of mine. She was a great ensemble violinist. She played in tune, she had great rhythm, she could play most anything you put in front of her, but she just wasn't a violinist that made you sit up and go, "wow". She switched to viola and it was like she had come home to where she was always supposed to have been. She's a fantastic violist and is now principal in the Ft. Worth Symphony.

In school I had the good fortune of having as one of my chamber music coaches Michael Tree, violist in the Guarneri quartet. He was a great musician and a great coach.

[LaraMN]

16. I played viola for eight years!

But I am fat, balding and neurotic. Oh, no! Wait! I'm not! :spank: :rofl:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. Quitting must have done wonders for you!

How did you do it? :rofl:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. tweak

[Pobeka]

21. I confess. I read the subject as "best VOILA joke. Ever."

And then I see this picture, and I'm thinking all this guy has to do is play a fiddle, and, "voila", destruction happens.

Now, I get it -- viola -- big violin.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. :-)

At least you know what a viola IS!
Dumbyass just thought it was one of them gee-tars you play with a stick!

[Doctor_J]

26. I'm guessing the bar is pretty low on that one.

World's tallest midget? World's smartest Republican?