Thanks all for your encouragement and support.

It's a privilege and my pleasure to get interviewed. Thanks FM for putting it up.

You All a Great Family. You All >>>ROCKS!!!

@Robyn.fnq: thank you for your encouragement. I'm not off the hook yet, still on their radar scope and hopefully I won't fall off their screen that quick.

the semitone tuning down is a still a debate of whether it sounds better so whatever works for you is good. Some of Baroque pieces were played with A=415Hz, with gut strings and original violin design, instead of higher neck angle, string tension to make for better projection, solo that needed to stand out from the rest of orchestra instruments. The standard tuning today, mostly, is A=440, in USA, as for piano and other instruments, but there are countries that specify it differently, A=415 for example.

It's very simple to carry out if your tuner has preset/adjustable for it (there are also other methods). My tuner has preset for A from 410 to 480 Hz. So just set it at A=415Hz and then proceed doing everything normally as one would, from tuning to play sheet music to fingering as nothing happened. At the end, if one  would compare it to an A=440 tuning, it would sound a semitone down, a transposition/modulation, like playing in different key, ie instead of C minor, it's B minor.

The only inconveniences with it are when playing with some fix tuning instruments, piano/keyboard/others for one, playing in group project in which there is a set of tuning pitch and tempo to follow, or playing along with an audio from youtube tuning at A=440.

A=415 for violin is not just a transposition, IMHO, as there would be less string tension, string/bridge sound transfering/coupling would emphasize the mid and low range while reducing the high, thus would make it sound a bit sweeter/richer less harsh, and of course lower volume/projection, which is better for me as to not disturb others, also less string tension means it's easier for my fingering and strings, and I've done it that way since a few weeks into learning, up until now as general practice with quite a few different string sets. I would be happily to retune mine up to 440 if I have some one to play with. As for youtube tunes, there is Amazing Slow Downer (for pitch shifting) which is not only for practicing but also can output a .wav file with new setting/tuning, that can be input to Audacity to play along with (for multi-track recording) so everything would be in tune. In fact, all of my posted audio were with my violin tuning at A=415Hz while the audio tracks were at A=440Hz originally (then tuned down using Amazing Slow Downer to shift to the required pitch).

If you like to, you can also give it a try for a few days to see. I also have one violin tuned to A=440Hz just to follow a quick youtube tune/or some similar, so I don't have to go through all the trouble of retuning the audio piece to fit in with my violin. Whatever works for you will be best.

Robert

Thank you, Toni, @coolpinkone, and John, @Ferret for your encouragement and support.

@Ferret, John, I have a Vietnamese version of the Erhu in my instrument collection. It's very similar in construction (Erhu was originally from a minor ethnic group, near China).

My teacher at that time, about 20 yrs ago, only showed me the basic tuning/playing but I did not pay much attention to it as I was concentrating on some other instruments, Zither, monochord and later, a 2 stringed round shape lute.

Since the instrument was designed to play some particular musics, using it for western tunes requires retuning/adaptation to western musical scale, and the tunes are to be transposed/modulated to the instrument particular tonic pitch/note.

It should not be harder than playing violin. The Vietnamese one was adapted to play traditional musics, but it also could play some western tunes being a fiddle.

There are several ways to tune the instrument, depend on the type of music being played (Vietnamese traditional musics employed several tuning systems), and the one closest to western scale would have the tuning in perfect fifth (your favorite, John), a perfect fourth would also work (which is a fifth at one octave lower).

So one way of tuning it is G D, (which is the same as violin two lower string tuning and fingering), with tunes all transposed to Dm and its relative F, or for easier reading, Em and G (one sharp). To cover the higher end, being a 2 stringed instrument, it's usually played in 3rd or 4th position if needed to.

Thank you, @suresh for your encouragement and support.

You're among the most wonderful members of the forum.