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Honorary tenured advisor
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In my morning practice things went well, beside my fingers tips who ouchie even though I'm not pressing hard on the strings. At one point I went to the big mirror in the livingroom to check my wrist and I hit the violin scroll on a wall corner because I was stupidly walking around with it on my shoulder.
Well I carried on with my practice but I sounded real bad, I started getting discouraged at never getting the fingering right and when I tried playing Little Liza Jane with my music CD as acc. I failed miserably and was not sounding at all like on the CD.
That's when I wondered if a string went out of tune... they where ALL terribly out of tune (had to turn the pegs instead of the fine tuners). Ya practice went well after I even tried finger vibrato for fun (kinda worked... kinda). 
Do you retune during practice or only once before it?
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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I just went through my first sting change and wow......I had to retune in between every song I practiced! LOL Plus this constantly changing weather where I'm at doesn't help! (I don't like to just sit in a climate controlled room and play. I like going outside to annoy all my neighbors!)
I don't have to tune as much now that the strings are finally starting to break in but I already have my eye on a new set of strings!
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin
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I always check the tune before I start to play, no matter. If I've been practicing during the day, say within the last 4-6 hrs I don't bother but every morning before I start, I check.
when I first changed to Zyex synthetic core strings, I was retuning for a solid 3 days, then they stopped stretching or doing what is was they were doing before and stayed rock solid in tuune. Now, several weeks since I put them on, they will ocassionally need a slight tweak from the FT but not the peg. The weather went from cloudy, raining, and general winter like to a nice drying out sunny in the high 60'sF and they ALL needed a slight bump with the peg to get back in tune. I'm not surprised.
It is generally accepted that all strings will on occassion need a slight tweak of the FT or in some cases, the peg. Depends on the situation.
They will most likely settle down in a week.
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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Same here Dennis. After the first week of constant tuning, I'm amazed at how little tuning is now required. Zyex rule!!
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
Depends of how long is my practice session and what do i ply during it. I tune approximately once in 3 hours.
Honorary tenured advisor
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I think it might be the weather? Like this morning it was 0 degree Celsius and it jumped to 15+ in the afternoon, well my evening practice the fiddle was completely out of tune once more.
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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Your tuning pegs might be slipping and weather will have a lot to do with it. You always have to be prepared to tune your instrument as quick as you can as it can happen on the spot and if you play live you also need to adjust your hand positions to compensate.
Make sure your tuning pegs work smooth and practice tuning with your right hand while you are holding the violin on your shoulder so your left hand can still play while you tune. That's why it is so important to play along with audio so you can hear the right notes in your head.
myguitarnow said
Make sure your tuning pegs work smooth and practice tuning with your right hand while you are holding the violin on your shoulder so your left hand can still play while you tune. That's why it is so important to play along with audio so you can hear the right notes in your head.That statement doesn't make much sence.
How can she turn the pegs with her right hand while holding the violin on her left shoulder and continue to play while tuning?
Unless she has two right hands, one to turn the pegs and the other to use the bow, or, she has a second person there to draw the bow over the strings while she turns the pegs.
I think what you are expecting her to do is a wee bit advanced for a one week player.
Maybe you should post a video demonstration on how this feat is accomplished. Does your husband draw the bow over the strings for you when you tune? Or do you have three arms.
Honey
I need to tune, will you please take the bow and stop fooling around and HELP me!
Honorary tenured advisor
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It's too much an advanced technique for me, I know what you are refering to myguitarnow, I saw it on many video. But I tune with a tuner with a pick up not one that you place near the scroll so I could not do it and I cannot tune by ear for now.
My pegs are pretty tight and I make sure to push them in when I turn them so I really doubt they are slipping. I tried tuning with 2 strings at same time and I still cannot hear a difference, maybe with time 
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
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Well that statement makes sense to me. You only need 2 fingers to hold the bow while you stop strumming and reach over to tune up and you can just bounce your left hand finger on the string to keep the note going. If you want to play live for people you need to find creative ways to tune up on the spot. Another way is to use your left hand to tune up and use your bow hand to play an open note that's in key with the song you are playing. It's just some more things you need to learn if you want to play in front of an audience. if your goal is to just play for yourself then put the violin in your lap and tune it to a tuner, tuning fork or whatever.
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Well, What I do is tune all the open strings with my left hand while bowing except the E string which I don't need to adjust too much so I do it with the fine tuner, still using the left hand.
Another thing is that I don't have fine tuners on strings that are not steel.
As far as tuning in the middle of a performance when things go real bad, we try to use the other strings. In other words unless it is the G string we play way up on the below string. If the problem is the G string then we might play up an octave instead. If the intonation is just slightly off we adjust with our fingers instead.
I can tune by violin in seconds if I have the slightest break and can do it pretty quietly as well if I have to.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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