Violin question

[PinotAndPlaydough]

DD has been playing violin for 4 years now and loves it. Recently her violin has been going out of tune a lot (it’s a good quality instrument and only about a year old) which we’ve been putting down to the change in weather.
She had a lesson yesterday and the teacher tuned it for her (DD can only tune it with the fine tuners not the pegs). DD has gone to practice and it’s out of tune again, the teacher is implying that she doing this herself to avoid practice. DD is autistic and not a very good liar, like I said she loves playing and has never said she doesn’t want to practice.
Her teacher is adamant that there is no way that the violin can be out of tune a day after it was tuned and when it hasn’t been played in that time.
So…… those in the know, any ideas what could be going on?

Are all the strings going out of tune or just one? If they’re all going out equally, I’d maybe suggest that the tail gut is stretching in the extremes of heat, or can sometimes pop. Have you heard any clicks? Sometimes the thread of the tail gut can go (underneath the tail-piece) and you’ll hear it clicking through the wee screw thing (it’s not a screw but my brain is fuzz and I can’t think of the real name for it). Worth checking out.

Has it been knocked/bumped, or stored in a hot/cold place eg next to a radiator?

Thanks for the quick responses! The D string is usually the one to go and the peg does slip on that one (as DD would say it’s bouncy), violin teacher says this is normal. Recently all the strings have been going slightly but this is normal with the weather and fixable with the fine tuners.

it’s not be knocked as far as I’m aware and is kept well away from the radiator and windows.

You can get stuff to out on the pegs to stop them slipping. Also a thing to put i. The f hole to keep it at the right humidity - get a barometer so you can see if your house is too dry/damp.

Its the weather, I have to tune my strings at the start of practice and 2 or 3 times during practice.

Violin tuners can be purchased for only a few £ from well known websites, its where I got mine from.

Strings from left to right are

G D A E

The G string is always over the highest point of the bridge.

Tune the A string first, it is the second from the last string on the right ( the thinest) is the E string and it is the highest pitch, so the A string is to the left of the E string.

Be careful when tuning the E string, it has a tonne of pressure behind it but tune the E string from the small fine tuners on the tail piece, if possible.

Check the bridge is straight, if you hear it creak during tuning

I suggest you tune your daughters violin right before her lesson, if you can.

Press wooden pegs into the pegbox in a clockwise direction to tune and only move the peg slightly and not a lot to protect the strings.

I started learning violin during lockdown and love it.

Hope this helps

Hi @PinotAndPlaydough ,

I agree with everything said before.

One additional thought (apologies if i’m stating the obvious), have you changed the strings on the violin recently. Wear to strings frequently causes tuning issues. Easily remedied by changing them.

Hope you get it sorted.

The pegs can slip, DD has a violin that tends to do this in the Spring and it can go out of tune while she's playing it! One of the worst things about lockdown was having to tune the violin ourselves, normally I get her tutor to do it.

You need to push the peg in quite firmly when you tune it, it may still slip - as others have said, you can get a compound to put on the peg. Hope you get it sorted!

Did it settle OP?

i don't like that from teacher, violins go out of tune all the time. You can check strings, pegs etc but it may just be changes in temperature. If it's really bad you could take to a violin repair person for a check over. They should be able to do something about the slippy D peg at least. May be peg paste, but sometimes they need a bit of reshaping.

Definitely YY to learning to peg tune it yourself, or DD if she's old enough. Does require a bit of hand strength, but mostly confidence that you're not going to break anything.

I'm not a string player, but just to say that having to tune every day (even several times during practice) is completely normal.

Are lessons at school and if so, where is the violin stored at school? (I speak as an interfering parent who moved things in the room I did a recorder group in, and stuck a note by the radiator asking them not to store instruments there.)

Ask someone to have a look at the D peg in particular - the teacher ought to do this, but if you have a music shop with a string specialist they'd probably take a look. You can get a paste to put on it to make it a bit stiffer to turn.

Let the teacher know that it seems to be a problem at the moment - if you're there when she gets it out to practise then you can confirm that it's happening between playing.

Best tip for stopping thr pegs slipping is to draw on them with pencil lead. If you’re able to let them out (but don’t let the string go completely loose and unwound) then draw on them and then careful wind them back in, pushing as you go.

That doesn't sound right namechange, pencil lead is slippy. I use it on the nut or bridge to help strings move freely, not to stop things moving. I have heard of people using chalk but it may be too grippy.
Peg paste is a possible, but if the peg isn't making good contact with the wood all the way round there's nothing to grip on, so it's best to get a professional to take a look.

Hmm well I and all the other string players in my orchestra do the same, plus my daughter’s violin teacher and son’s cello teacher.

How odd namechange. Are you sure your friends are not thinking of wanting to make pegs less sticky rather than more sticky? Googling seems to confirm that direction
e.g. www.connollymusic.com/stringovation/frequent-violin-tuning-maybe-its-your-pegs
and it makes more sense given the properties of graphite.
Not sure I'll be risking it for either problem after this conversation though!

My dd plays the violin. She tunes every time she plays. Sometimes mid practice. The violin teacher's response is nonsensical. How old are the strings? She finds that when they start to need replacing they don't stay in tune.

Can you learn to tune it yourself? My DDs found tuning with pegs difficult when younger. I was nervous to try myself but had reasonably good results.