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Listeners always ask.
They watch the player lean over a praying mantis-like stick which seems to be holding him up. He plucks its strings and powerful low notes are heard. Bass violins have been around for many centuries. The bass as used in modern symphonic orchestras has continually evolved from a three gut-stringed antiquity to the four and five steel stringed basses of today. The range of notes has been extended to meet the demands of composers and arrangers.