Why is the violin quiet?

Question:I bought one for my niece, I have no idea how to play it..lol.

When I try to play, it doesn't have any sound! What am I doing wrong?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I bought one for my niece, I have no idea how to play it..lol.

When I try to play, it doesn't have any sound! What am I doing wrong?

If the bow is brand new, the bowhair doesn't have any rosin on it yet. Without it, the bowhair doesn't grab the strings to generate any sound, it just slips noiselessly over the strings.

Get a cake of rosin. Take a key or a small sharp knife and scratch up the surface of the rosin nice and good, then stroke the bow hair with the scratched-up rosin, starting at the frog and going all the way to the tip and back again, back and forth for a couple of minutes at least. Then try drawing the bow across the strings. If its still really quiet, put more rosin on.

That should do it.

EDIT: The violin should have come with a bow if you bought it as a complete outfit with violin, bow and case. Its the long wooden stick with (usually) white "string" attached to it at both ends. The "string" is actually hair from a horse's tail. When its new, its clean and smooth; when you draw it across the strings, the hair just slides over the strings without making much sound. You need to put rosin (processed pine tree sap) on the bow hair to create friction to get sound out of the violin and bow. You should have gotten some rosin with the violin, bow and case; if not, you can buy it at almost any music store.

You can't play the violin as its supposed to be played without a bow. If the violin you bought didn't come with one, you need to go to a store that sells violins and buy one. They come in all sorts of price ranges from $50 to thousands of dollars. A good violin shop will be able to advise you and help you find a decent bow for your niece.

EDIT #2: Yes, the rosin is that amber-colored stuff. It doesn't really matter which side of the rosin you scratch up and use first. If you got the kind that came in a rectangular block inside a cork or wood holder, only one side is really accessible. If you got the kind that came in a round flat cake wrapped inside a cloth, usually the cloth is adhered to one side of the rosin and only one wide flat side is accessible. That's the side to use.

You must bow it with the proper technique, to get friction from the bow onto the smooth strings. And you most put some rosen on the bow to help give some friction.

The bow is the stick with horse-hair on it that you use to stroke the violin strings. The smooth string is probably the A-string or the smallest string. The frog is the handpiece of the bow, and the f-holes are the holes in the violin that are shaped like f's.
You should use some rosin (it looks like amber) and rub the bowstrings on it to get some powder onto the bowstrings. This helps the bowstrings to grip the violin strings to generate sound. Also using the proper grip technique helps alot.
(DO NOT TOUCH the bowstrings, and if you do, don't do it often. When you do it rubs oils from your hands onto the bowstrings which cancels out the effects of the rosin.)

Most new violin outfits are provided with a cake of rosin. Take this out of the case and scratch the top of the cake of rosin lightly (first time only) with a pin, to get it started. Rosin the bow hair liberally, from tip to frog, and dust off the excess. Rosin is needed to "catch" the strings; a new violin will not play without rosin on the bow.

See:

New Violin Bridge Set-up, Rosin and Tuning Instructions
http://beststudentviolins.com/StringCare...

Your bow might need rosin. You put the rosin on the horse hair which is the white side of the bow. You should put the rosin on it and then try playing.