Why no viola playing ponies?

[Silverdogz 3]

I was just browsing around on the inter-webs. Being a viola player and as such having no self esteem. I looked around for a viola playing pony. I was saddened to be unable to find one. Also the fact that people labeling violin playing ponies as violists hurt me as a viola player. Violinists play the violin and violists play the viola. Is it really so hard!

 

(sorry about rant. Mods please move if need be.)

[Titan Rising 2,156]

Good question.  But the real question is where are the piano playing ponies.  I know they have no fingers but that doesn't seem to stop them for anything else.

[Sensuna 138]

Probably if this was meant towards the artists because it's mayby hard to draw? if it was meant towards the series themself I don't know

[Fhaolan 4,484]

Probably because with the relatively abstract art style of FiM, the difference between a viola and a violin disappears. Visually a viola is bigger than a violin, and smaller than a cello, but we have only minimal reference to scales in FiM to be sure. Unless you're referring to the viol family with the viola da gamba, which is even harder to tell from the violin family at the level of abstractness of FiM.

 

Heck, the instrument Octavia is playing might be a cello, but with the limited visual scale we have, it might be a double bass or a violone.

 

What I want to see is an octobass. I'm aware of their existance, but I want to *hear* one.

[Leafeon 2,702]

I believe there was one, actually. I think AJ might have played it.

 

*She did in A Canterlot Wedding (or whatever it happens to be called)

 

Good question.  But the real question is where are the piano playing ponies.  I know they have no fingers but that doesn't seem to stop them for anything else.

[Scootalove 10,689]

Well like Firebolt said, AJ was playing the viola. I don't really think there are any musicians in Ponyville that play the viola.

[poniesforfun 716]

I have this odd feeling I've seen a pony that played the fiddle in a Applejack related episode, maybe Appleloosa episode. But I found this image from Luna Eclipsed.

 

Edited February 8, 2013 by poniesforfun

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

I couldn't find a viola playing pony. However, on the other hand, searching "Viola Pony" made me fine a fine horse for sale for a very nice price. 

 

Behold, Viola the horse thingamajig

[Vinyl Scratch (Filly)™ 936]

Well my OC plays the violin... And her name is Viola >.> I often asked myself what was the difference between a Viola and a Violin... Then I saw this qoute; “The difference between violin and viola is that the viola is a violin with a college education”

[Yourmomsponies 444]

I was just browsing around on the inter-webs. Being a viola player and as such having no self esteem. I looked around for a viola playing pony. I was saddened to be unable to find one. Also the fact that people labeling violin playing ponies as violists hurt me as a viola player. Violinists play the violin and violists play the viola. Is it really so hard!

 

(sorry about rant. Mods please move if need be.)

To me its a meh. 

I play viola also, but I've just accepted the fact that the viola is like the underdog of the orchestra section.

It Annoys me when people mistake viola's for violins aswell, but they look nearly the exact same as the viola is just a bit bigger.

[Kamil 315]

The viola isn't a very well known instrument, and is visually not that distinct from a violin. This is further evidenced by the fact that several earlier replies said "This is a viola" when the instrument is more likely a violin (though not guaranteed, as I said there's little enough visual distinction even before you consider the lack of a clear scale).

 

For future reference, look at this handy comparison between a viola and a violin before using images from the show as evidence:

Edited February 8, 2013 by Kamil

[I used to be a stranger 7,994]

The only difference between a violin and viola is how much firewood they make.

 

Seeing as to most viewers there is no major difference between a violin and viola, the distinction is not acted upon. It's a little like how characters within the show make very little colloquial distinction between horses and actual ponies (which also are highly similar and only notable in moderate size difference.)