The viola is a bowed string instrument which is slightly larger than the violin in size and sounds at a lower pitch. It is thought of as the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin (tuned a perfect 5th above it) and the cello (tuned an octave below it). The viola primarily uses the alto clef, which is rarely otherwise used, which allows for viola music to be more easily readable and less reliant on ledger lines. The viola's 4 strings are tuned C - G - D - A (low to high, where the C is one octave below middle C). All instruments are set up by our string technician prior to despatch to ensure that they are ready to play straight out of the box.