In order to celebrate my LAST ORCHESTRA CONCERT, I guess I will do a journal entry on the physcis of playing the violin...When you pluck or bow a string on the violin, you create standing waves. If you place a finger on the string (like I did in the picture), you shorten the length of the string, decreasing the wavelength but increasing the frequency of the fingered string. Playing a note an octave higher means you doubled the original note's frequency. When you tune, you also try and match the frequency of the note being played so that you don't hear beats. Playing a piece "spicatto" even involves torque because you must play the notes at the bow's center of mass so that the bow can rotate and move freely.