Hi,
My violin teacher has recently gone on maternity leave and expects me to play my violin the only thing is my violin is very tempermental and can easily untune itself.
The only thing is she has left me without me knowing how to tune a violin i dont know if grade three students should have learnt this or not but it is getting on my nerves and i cant practice for a grade three exam coming up which she expects me to know my scales by wen she comes back off maternity.
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP IM GOIN INSANE!!

Stringed instruments need to be tuned each time that you play them really Do you have any friends who play and who might be able to help you to tune it? If not then have a go yourself. The worst that can happen is that you will break a string. Try the G string to see how that sounds. If it is reasonable you can tune the other strings from that. Try plucking G G D D and if it sounds like the start of the tune Twinkle Twinkle it will be correct. It is an interval called a perfect fifth if you know about those. Then bow on both the G and D strings at the same time to double check their sounds. Move on to D and A and tune the A string a perfect fifth above D. (Twinkle Twinkle again) and then do the same with A and E. If they are not badly out you can use the adjustors below the bridge to tune them, but if not you will need to tighten the pegs gently. Pluck the string that you are tuning as you tighten otherwise you will not know how high or low it is going and you are more likely to snap a string. If all else fails the local music shop will probably tune it for you.

I would recommend an electronic tuner, it makes it so much easier.
You just play the string and it shows you if the string is flat or sharp, you just adjust your tuning knobs until the blue light comes on. Quick and easy (lazy too I guess!).
I bought one for nz$30, thats about 10 pounds, great value!
It has several modes, chromatic,guitar and violin.

Mel

The little violinist, the main thing to bear in mind with violin strings is that they snap easily, so above all BE GENTLE with your tuning.

I'm assuming that you have fine tuners on all your strings, but that you need to get to more-or-less the right notes with the pegs first.

With the pegs - always push the peg in before you turn it or it will slip and you will have wasted your effort. And, I can't emphasise enough, even if the string is currently flat, turn it to make it flatter before you make it sharper as this will reduce the risk of snapping.

So, choose a string (I generally start with E and work downwards), and play the note you're tuning to (piano or tuner or whatever you use). Decide if you need to sharpen or flatten and push the peg in and turn it to loosen first and then tighten up as necessary. Check the string again, and repeat until it's more or less there.

When it's more or less the right note, leave the peg and use your fine tuner - again flatten before you sharpen to protect the string. Again, each time you change it, check again until you're in tune.

Then move to the next string and repeat the process. Once you've got two strings in tune, check that the two played together make a good perfect fifth, then move on to the next string and do the same again.

Hope this helps. Best of luck

Re-iterating KJ's advice to slacken the string before you tighten it, even if it is flat. Otherwise you will be breaking strings.

This is very very important. If you overshoot then start again and tune from the below the pitch every time.

Hello little violinist,
I am 9 now and when I started I was almost 8. I had to tune my violin from day one! Before G1. My teacher is a slave driver, he laughs and says so. So, DON'T PANIC! YOU can, YES, you CAN do it!

Like you, I hadn't the foggiest idea what to do till my dad got me an electronic tuner. It's very small and you can carry it easily anywhere and use it every time before you practise or play.

Or you could use a piano if you have one? But if you don't have a piano, the tuner is SO EASY TO USE!

My teacher had taught me the 2 most important things were, like Jane said,
1. to LOOSEN THE STRING FIRST EVERYTIME before you tighten it or else it'll break
and
2. use the little tuners first to adjust rather than the pegs! And keep looking at the tuner to check.

VN

I learnd to tune the violin from G3 standard

I don't know how long your teacher is on maternity leave for but I suppose my question would be who's going to teach you whilst she's away. If she's only taking 2-3 weeks, I guess she hopes you'll manage? How do you manage tuning normally in school holidays when, presumably, she's not around to tune your violin?

If she's taking longer then I'm surprised she hasn't provided back-up teaching cover for you, especially if you're taking Grade 3 soon.

Even if she's not giving you lessons could you perhaps ring her and ask her if she'd spend 30 minutes with you showing you how to tune your violin? Tell her how much you hate it being out of tune and how it's getting in the way of progress! She might help - if not, other suggestions here seem good to me.

Hope it works out ok for you.

The thing is my teacher is goin on maternity leave till the middle of october and she sed she would phone me when she would be teaching again.
Thank you for the suggestion i will get a tuner but i will take it to my nerest music shop first

If you want a cheaper version: I don't know if they still make them but when I was a child we used pitch pipes - basically four harmonic type notes in a little miniature panpipe-esque set up.

As well as being very cheap and portable, they force you to listen - you play the note (they are small enough to keep them in your mouth as you tune - no need to hold with a hand) and have to tune to it, rather than watching to see if a light comes on. Can't help thinking that's a good bit of listening practice along with tuning the fiddle

Yep, I've seen them around. They're pretty cool - good suggestion if you're not sure about perfect 5ths.

Glad they still make them - useful little beasties they are.

PRO ALERT!! PRO ALERT!!
Can I just step in here and clarify a few things as this seems to have gone a bit astray with individual ideas of how people tune.

Tuning a violin, viola or cello must ALWAYS start with the A string never any other string.

For those capable of using one, a tuning fork, A=440, is the correct instrument for tuning. Specifically on the violin: tune the A first and then play that A double-stopped with the open D. While bowing both strings, turn the peg or adjuster, LISTEN for that fifth to come through - it's really obvious once you know what it should sound like. Once the D is in tune, double-stop that with the G string, tuning with peg or adjuster and again listening for an interval of a fifth. Having tuned the G, now move to the E string - which is always done last!! - and play this double-stopped with the A, tuning until there is a fifth between them. Do not fall into the trap of trying to tune each string individually, then checking for a fifth. Strings need to be tuned in pairs as a fifth.

The sound from a tuning fork is pure and does not waver like it can if you blow down pitch pipes. Pitch pipes are fine if you get the airflow through them correct, but if you blow too hard or too soft then the notes produced can either be sharp or flat - much like playing a woodwind instrument.

Electronic tuners have their merit, but again you have to be careful how forcefully you bow the string when tuning. A piano is an alternative option, but be aware that pianos are tuned in equal temperament and this is not really the correct tuning for a violin.

All in all, if you really don't feel competent enough at the moment to tune your A from a tuning fork and subsequently the other three strings a fifth apart, by ear alone, then I would suggest a electronic tuner. However, do not become reliant on that little piece of electronic equipment to tune for you and allow your ears to become lazy. Listen to those notes, play two tuned strings together and learn to recognise that fifth by ear. ALL violinists have to do this, because if you get around to taking Grade 6 you will have to tune your own violin in the exam room and the examnier won't take kindly to you taking an electronic tuner in there with you. Additionally, playing in any ensemble will require you to tune to the A of the oboe (if there is one) and the rest of your strings from that reference.

Hi AmandaL. I suggested that this little player started with her G because she did not know how to tune it and had no one around to show her. I thought that she would be most likely to get it sounding reasonably well if she tried to follow perfect 5ths by singing Twinkle, Twinkle. It was an easy way just to get her started. No doubt her teacher will show her the correct way to do it soon. I was interested that you wrote that one should always begin by tuning the A string. Apart from tuning to the oboe's A when playing in an orchestra is there any physical reason why you say that this is the only correct way to begin? I am not doubting your words at all but I am interested to know exactly why this should be so.

Hello! Sorry, must admit that I'm not qualified to give an opinion since I'm no violinist but just to add that according to my daughter (who plays the violin) and her teacheras well, tuning the violin MUST always start with the A string! I wonder why, too. When she's back home, I'll ask her later.

Because a concert pitch A = 440 is the A you and everyone else wants, not something in the range of 445 or 432 for example. If you start with any other string and the tuning of that is not absolutely spot-on (and it usually won't be!!!), when you get to tuning the A you won't be tuning it to A at 440 it will be an A at something that's either sharp or flat of 440. In other words it will simply be a fifth above D or a fifth below E - depending on which string you started with, rather than A=440. Concert pitch A=440 is what everyone tunes to and that is the reason you must always start with the A string and get that absolutely correct before tuning the other strings.

All string players reading this, PLEASE get into the habit of tuning the A string first.

The only exception is with the double bass. You tune a harmonic A on the D string - that is resonant with A=440, because the bass is obviously multiple octaves lower - and then tune the other strings from that.

In France the dialling tone of the (fixed) telephones is A=440. Not sure if this is true in the UK but it is a handy alternative to a tuning fork when you are at home!

I play the violin and I was taught from day one to tune the A string of my violin first. Then it's A and E. Then a and D. Then D and G. Is that tuning way alright Amanda?

Preferably A, then pair the A and D then the D and G, and finally the E string paired with the A.

Is there any particular reason why does E have to be last?

electronic tuners don't work well with strings - strings give off many tones, but one is louder than the other s to our ears, but not to the tuner.

if it has violin mode it could work but a piano and an ear would work better.