Laura sells, repairs, restores, and assesses violins through her luthier shop, Clement & Wallace violins. Visit her website if you have an old family fiddle you’d like to get playing!

Accessories

Make sure you always have rosin, good strings, serviceable bow hair and a comfortable chin rest and shoulder rest. All these things and more are available here at Good Vibrations Strings (and we ship throughout Canada!)

General Care

Violins and cellos are easily damaged. If the player is a child make sure they learn the instrument is a precious object, not a toy. Always supervise young children with the instrument and stay close by to catch it if it slips from their hold.

Here are some other “rules” to keep everything running smoothly:

• Always wash your hands before playing.

• Never lay your violin or cello on its front; the pressure on the bridge can break it or put the instrument out of tune (see the next section on tuning if this is a problem!)

• Don’t touch the bow hair with your hands. The oil from your skin will ruin it over time.

• The bow needs rosin to work properly. Rub the rosin block provided along the hair every few practice sessions.

• Loosen the bow by turning the screw on the end before you put it away. This keeps the stick straight and strong.

• Take off the shoulder rest before putting the violin in the case.

• Avoid extreme heat! Never leave your instrument in a hot car.

Contact us right away if your bridge looks crooked or tilted, the bow isn't tightening or loosening properly, if you hear something rolling around inside your instrument, or if you’re unsure about anything.

Tuning

It’s important to practice with your instrument in tune so your ear learns how each note is supposed to sound. In tune means that each string, when played with no fingers, makes the sound it’s supposed to. It’s helpful to watch someone do this - ask your teacher or a musical friend to show you how they do it, or use this guide to get started.

The strings on the violin (and cello - the instructions that follow are the same for violin, viola and cello) are held in place at the bottom by the tailpiece and stretch up the neck where they’re wound around pegs. The pegs are only held in by friction, so it’s not unusual for them to loosen after a bump or if the weather changes suddenly. In the tailpiece are little screws called fine tuners that let us adjust the tension of the strings, which changes the pitch - how “high” or “low” the sound is.

If you have an electronic tuner, get it now for this next step. If not, use a free online tuner or app.

From thickest to thinnest, the violin strings are G-D-A-E. The cello is C-G-D-A. Pluck the A string close to the microphone of your tuner (if you or your child can get a clear sound with the bow, use the bow instead to get more precise tuning results.) The tuner will display the letter A and a needle showing the pitch of the string as either below or above the A - if below, turn your fine tuner to the right to tighten the string. If above, turn it to the left to loosen. Repeat until the needle is in the right place. If the tuner shows a letter other than the note you expect, your string is so out of tune that it’s now playing a different note. In this case, use the musical alphabet to go up or down to the correct note (the musical alphabet is ABCDEFG then back to A.) For example, if your A string reads as a G, you need to make it quite a bit tighter to get to the next note, A.

If your fine tuner won’t turn anymore, ask your teacher or contact us to reset it.