Darol Anger grips his bow loosely, wrist bent, and smacks it against the strings of his fiddle. The resulting sound, a small crunch, is like the crackle of a very tiny drum. “You can get some ...

A fiddle might be altered slightly to help accomplish this, such as swapping the typical strings for steel ones or flattening the bridge.

If you can't afford it, or just can't find it — make it; motto of Sam Goodall. The violinist had long wanted a five-string fiddle, "I joked I had C-string envy," she says. But under the tutelage ...

The group's new live extravaganza, A Violin Sings, A Fiddle Dances, is currently on a 17-city tour, which arrives for three shows at St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater Friday and Saturday.