The violin has a quality that sets it apart from other instruments.
Violinists rest the instrument on their shoulder and press their chins against the instrument for a specific reason: there is only skin covering the jawbone.
Sound waves travel from the violin, up through the jawbone, and into the inner ear. Violinists experience a deeper richness and resonance than the audience because they are literally feeling the music vibrate through their bones.
If this feels crazy, check out the headphone company Shokz. You don’t put any buds into your ears, the headphones transmit sound into your ear canal via jawbone vibrations.
Feeling sound through our bones isn’t new. It started with the first vertebrates 300 million years ago; they used jaw-like bones to hear ground-borne sounds.
Here’s hoping that from now on you’ll see the violin in a new light. I know I will.