What is the difference between a violin and viola?

Question

I don’t hear about violas very much. What are they?

Answer 1

​Violins have a higher range than violas and typically get the melody part in an orchestra setting more often than violas. Violas are slightly broader, longer, and thicker than violins and have a lovely rich tone. Both instruments and their bows are held and manipulated the same way. Violinists learn to read music on a treble clef exclusively while violists first learn the alto clef, followed by the treble clef as they grow into advanced players. If you think in terms of a choir, the violin represents the soprano voice while the viola is the alto voice.