A violist is a musician who plays the viola, a string instrument that looks like a slightly larger violin and produces a deeper, mellower sound. The viola sits right in the middle of the string family: higher than a cello but lower than a violin. In an orchestra, violists often play the rich inner harmonies that fill out the sound, like the peanut butter in a sandwich holding everything together.

The viola uses a different musical notation called alto clef, which violinists don't use, so violists need to learn an extra skill. While violin soloists often get the spotlight with soaring melodies, violists tend to be team players who love how their instrument blends with others. Many composers, including Mozart and Beethoven, treasured the viola's warm, mellow voice and wrote beautiful music specifically for it.

You might hear people joke that violists are forgotten or overlooked, but professional musicians know better: a good violist is essential to making an orchestra sound full and balanced. Without violas, orchestral music would feel hollow and incomplete, like a cake missing a crucial ingredient.