Posted by Leland on September 23, 2003 at 17:58:56:
In Reply to: mutes for marching band posted by me on September 22, 2003 at 18:33:34:
Such hate for mutes and marching bands around here... :-(
I think a mute can be used for such reasons, but I wouldn't recommend them on a group basis. The thing that most large ensembles -- if they really want to be good -- need to work on is a concept of a whole, unified sound. The more time is spent with their instruments "au naturel", the easier it will be to get that sound to work.
There are a lot of exercises and concepts that will help that to work, and they're not that much different from many methods that a private teacher will teach.