with regards to the vile sound thing. maybe its just me then. But to me the violin sounds horrid when played badly, and pretty nasty when played well. Right up there with bagpipes. Why you'd want to change to pitch on pulling fingernails down a chalkboard baffels me.

will say that irish music (fiddle etc) is a fair bit better, the shorter notes in the jigs dont jar my ears as much.

but meh, all personal opinion i guess.