Mutes: A different opinion


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Paul Conrad on February 18, 2000 at 04:31:45:

Agreed, mutes are a pain to carry, are usually severly out of tune even after extensive "adjusting" and it's difficult to put up with our colleagues comments about spitoones(?),umbrella stands, flower vases and other comments not printable here. The fact of the matter is that most "modern" music is looking for different sounds; we (tubists) have already lost out on some good tunes in brass quintet and large ensemble because of our very vocal resistence to the use of a mute, the composer has given the tune to our buddy, the bass trombone player. They don't seem to mind having their wonderfully rich, organ-like sounds affected by a variety of mutes if the composer so wishes. What's wrong with us, can't we make the same demands on companies that tpts, hrns, trbs. have made in the past to produce a higher quality mute, one we aren't ashamed to use or be seen with? Besides the fact that the alleged idea of this business is to play WITH the ensemble which includes sound, color, etc. If the rest of the group is modifying their respective sounds, why not us? Agreed, we also need to educate the composer so that those murderous mute changes of five second duration (or less, Webern, Shoenberg, etc.) don't occur. Our studio colleagues have had to learn to intelligently use a herd of different effects and machines; just like anything else, ya got ta practice it! Perhaps this isn't the forum for this type of discussion but I think we have to accept the fact that mutes are going to continue to be called for in music other than solo pieces and I think we need to quit crying about it if we want to continue to play in "live" ensembles and not just listen at home to stuff coming in on the computer speakers. Any thoughts out there?


Follow Ups: