Thanks, guys. She is not exactly a "student"........she has played for years and this is the instrument her high school teacher sold her as a viola. She recently had it repaired and it came back with violin strings. We are going to try a set of 3/4 viola strings (heavier gauge than violin) and see what happens.

She is conversant with treble clef, but it has been years since she had to read it; I have never learnt alto clef, but I am going to try to learn. (Note to self--if it looks like 2nd finger, it's an open string.......)