The verb to tune means “to adjust in musical pitch” or “to bring into harmony”. It comes from the Latin word tonus, meaning “tone.” For people who are trying to learn how to play the violin, proper tuning can be one of their biggest challenges. Most beginners will rely on an instructor to tune their instrument at a weekly or monthly lesson, but inconsistent tuning slows down learning and can ingrain bad habits. The following is a guide to tuning for the novice violinist.
Courtesy of GET-TUNED.COM
Tightening and loosening the pegs
The pegs keep the strings tightened. The cloth covered tips of the string go into the tail piece on one side and into a small hole in the smooth cylindrical part of the peg on the other. Turning the peg wraps the string around the smooth cylindrical part of the peg, which creates tension in the string and raises the string’s pitch.
For string instruments, tightening the string raises the pitch, or makes it sharper. Loosening the string lowers its pitch, or makes it flatter. A flat D string needs tightening, while a sharp E string needs to be loosened.
The most challenging part of tuning with pegs is making controlled adjustments without letting the peg slip. A peg slips when it becomes loose enough that the tension in the string is stronger than the force keeping the peg still in its slot, and the string loosens rapidly as the peg spins, unwinding the part of the string wrapped around the long cylindrical part of the peg. Pegs are not screws, so the only way to keep pegs in place is to keep them tightly pressed into their slots. Pegs are slightly tapered, so pressing a peg further into its slot creates a tighter fit and makes it less likely to slip. Think of the pegs like a cork in a bottle. Corks do not twist into place. To keep the cork in place, you press it further into the bottle.
At the same time, the pegs must be loose enough to turn smoothly. The trick is to first turn the peg a small amount in the loosening direction, past your target pitch, while also pulling out and away from the peg box. Maintain a firm grip on the peg. Then, maintain inward pressure while applying torque in the tightening direction until the string is at the desired pitch. If enough inward pressure is applied, by the time the string is tightened to the target pitch the peg will be pushed into its slot far enough to stay stuck.
This method works for both flat and sharp strings. If the string is too sharp and needs to be loosened, just make sure to loosen the peg to a pitch that is lower than the desired pitch, so that it can be tightened back up to the right tuning.
Traditionally, the first string any string player tunes is the A string. The A strings on violins and violas tune to the same frequency, but cellos are an octave below. The violin A string is tuned to a pitch of 440 Hz. Some players may tune to a slightly sharper A, but 440 Hz is used most commonly. There are a few ways to identify whether your A string is flat or sharp, and when it is tuned correctly.
A tuner displays the frequency of a string’s pitch while you bow across the string. Be sure to produce an even, clear sound with steady strokes of the bow. The tuner will indicate whether or not the pitch is too low or too high. Adjust the tuning of the A string using the pegs and play the string again to test its pitch with the tuner. When the tuner indicates that the string is tuned to 440 Hz, you are done tuning the A string.
You can also match your violin’s A string to another violin’s correctly tuned A string. This method is used in chamber music and orchestras to ensure that every instrument is tuned to the same A. First, play your A string while the other person plays their A string. Use steady, long strokes with the bow to produce a clear, even sound. Listen to the two pitches. If your violin sounds flatter than the other violin, tighten the A string, then play it again. If it sounds sharper, loosen the string and keep playing. If the two A strings are not tuned to the same frequency, you will hear an unpleasant warble. This is called dissonance. When you stop hearing dissonance, your A string is tuned.
You can also apply the previous method to tune your A string to the A on a piano, or to a recording or digital sound from online. There are several websites that will play the correct pitches of all of the strings.
Courtesy of Violin Student Central
Once your A string is tuned, you can tune the rest of the strings. When the strings are tuned correctly, they are a perfect fifth interval apart in pitch. For example, the D string is a perfect fifth below the A string, while the E string is a perfect fifth above the A string.
To tune the other strings, play the string you want to tune together with an already tuned adjacent string. If you hear dissonance, try tightening and loosening the string until you no longer hear any warbling or unpleasant sounds.
For beginning violinists, learning to tune one's own violin is an invaluable skill that will improve performance and intonation.
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