Using a Tuning Fork to Tune a Fiddle

Video Transcript

" Hi I'm David Kaynor for expertvillage.com. In this segment I'm going to discuss tuning the violin using the beloved old traditional tuning fork. Forks are made to generate all the different tones of the scale, but one fork one tone, in this case a 440 A. And its generally considered good form to strike the fork on a relatively hard surface, but not as hard of a surface as a stone or metal, and generally not on wood, because if it was nice wood you would damage it. But there is nothing like the old human knee, but of course you can't hear the fork at all. However, when the fork is touched to something solid like the bridge of a violin, you would get the sound of an A. You can also touch other parts of the violin. We are touching the chin rest, and I wouldn't touch anywhere on the fiddle, but right on the corner is good because it is not as much danger of marring the finish. And that gives me an A, and then I compare it to my A string and it sounds pretty close. Now it is generally thought that you need to bow a string in order to really hear the tone. It gets into this sort of awkward challenge of generating the tone with a fork, plucking it on the string, accessing whether it is close, then doing it again, and remembering while you quickly get your bow. And then you hope that you are in tune and can play a tune. That is the classic old tune from the Shetland Islands called Farrow Rum."