Fiddle

An ancestor of the modern violin, the fiddle
is a small, portable, stringed instrument with a body
shaped rather like an hourglass. Four or five strings
made of gut or sinew stretch across the body, anchored
by pegs at the end of a long, thin neck. A separate
piece, called the bow, is a long, thin piece of wood
strung with fine strands of animal hair. Fiddles vary in
length between 2 feet (for Medium-size fiddlers) and
18 inches (for Small fiddlers). To play the fiddle, the
musician holds it horizontally, typically with the base
tucked under his or her chin, and draws the bow back
and forth across the strings.

The fiddle is popular among bards who prefer lively
dance music (reels or jigs) over serene but detached
"pure" music. Though it is welcome almost anywhere,
the fiddle is the favorite instrument of kobolds, whose
clever hands mastered its fingerings ages ago. (They
insist that they invented the fiddle, but other races
find that claim dubious.) Kobold minstrels and halfling
bards typically caper about while playing, showing
their audience an example of the lively dancing their
music encourages. Musicians of other races usually sit
or stand to play the fiddle.

Bardic Music

Like the other two prime bardic
instruments, the lute and the lap-harp, the fiddle
enables the performer to maintain one bardic music or
virtuoso performance effect while initiating another.
Thus, a bard could maintain a countersong effect on
one listener while inspiring courage in others.