Tuning

Tuning stringed instruments can be tricky. 7th and 8th grade students have plenty of experience tuning using the fine tuners, and many are now doing well tuning using the pegs. Students should be tuning EVERY time they practice!

Yes, stringed instruments will go out of tune no matter how careful students are with them! Changes in temperature and weather affect the instruments, and the strings do slowly stretch over time as well. It is completely expected that students will need to adjust their fine tuners on a regular basis. HOPEFULLY they are all being careful and following proper playing and storage procedures so they do not need to use the pegs very often!

You are welcome to use this page as a resource as you help your student tune (especially grown ups helping 6th graders!). If you have tuning questions, please do not hesitate to contact me so that I can try to assist!

And as I always tell the students, NO GLUE!!!! Do not glue any part of the instrument in place, including the pegs or fine tuners! Step away from the glue!

This video is long, but well worth the view if you are tuning a string instrument for the first time (or the second time or third time or...)

If you are holding the instrument in playing position, here are some graphics that show which strings are which! Always check with your musician when tuning to make sure you are matching the correct strings to the correct pitch and frequency!

Here's the tuner that students have access to on Canvas.

Here are some tuning videos that I made last year when we first switched to virtual learning.

Violin

Viola

Cello

Bass