Which musical instrument is generally thought to be closest to the human voice?

The sound of the violin has qualities that resemble the human voice, because it is a bowed and fretless instrument and has a pitch range that isn’t too far from the range of human voice. It has a higher pitch compared to its bowed, fretless relatives like the cello and the double-bass, which helps it cut through the sonic sphere that surrounds it during a performance. So it is culturally attached with a role and significance as a solo instrument.

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25 Comments

Marian Spitzig

Very subjective. Many sources claim anything from the Vocoder, to the oboe, cello,,am aerophone, etc. Your worst question yet!

Nancy Chisholm

I have some issues with answer choice the cello not the violin is the correct answer I believe

John Roy Giese

The pitch of the violin is too high. The cello is usually regarded as the closest tone to the human voice. This is so apparent to anyone that the violin should not have been in the list of choices!!

Marianne

In my opinion and experience, the violin and the Andean flute are the closest musical instruments to a soprano vocal range, especially a coloratura soprano using the whistle register.

reydlt

Too subjective a question. Different sources would say the cello, viola, oboe, clarinet and even the Theremin.

Satish Chandran

One Kunnagudi Vaidyanathan, violin specialist, played exact whistling sound of his fans

Jaimi McEntire

Violin is way to high pitched. Maybe a Cello or Viola.

Jennifer Dyster

Cello surely

Chris Hall

if you heard the x you would say trumpet..

Georgie

Should be the Cello. The range covers all the ranges of the human voice. The violin goes far too high.

Robert Snow

I’ve heard some guitar players that can get to that upper scale that sounds like a human voice but I guess the violin is the right choice and I was wrong 🤪

buhlemann

vocal style vary a lot around the world, and the timbre of various instruments seems to model after the preferred local voice style. For example, the Chinese bowed instrument Erhu sounds much like traditional female Chinese vocal music.