TromboneChat

Exercises with practice mute:

I find myself having to play with the prectice mute more and more. I keep hearing you shouldn't practice loud, high etc with the mute in.

I actually find the mute helps with high range practice. Of course, the added resistance makes high range easier. But it actually helps me in getting access to really high range and then transposing that to the open horn.

What do you practice with the mute in? Any specific "mute exercices"?

I use a practice mute for all of my practice, and don't worry about it as long as I can get an open warm-up before the gig, and having used one for 10 years now I've adapted to it.
But, they ain't all the same, and you may have to try a few to get the balance between the benefit and the damage. The Wick is quieter than some, but I found that it messed my attacks up, and have settled on a Don Maslett being a good compromise.

I use a wallace. That works pretty well.

I do my first workout of the day with the mute as the rest of the house is asleep.

Mine plays in tune and seems totally transparent to the behavior of the horn until you try loud low notes, then a little bit of air pressure builds up in the mute that changes things. Otherwise, pedals and below all the way to the top seems normal.

What I really like about it is that I can hear the head noise much better. Getting centered means the sound shouts inside my mouth and my ears. Articulation noises are really clear. I think it may help to concentrate on sound production and the sound itself, which seems counterintuitive since the bell is muffled.

cozzagiorgi wrote: ↑Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:11 am I use a wallace. That works pretty well.

I have one too and think it's great. Seems they are no longer available.

Today I had a good example of using the mute: I know that high D or Eb are abut the top of my range, but I try to play them daily.

On the open horn, the high D didn't speak, so I put the mute in and the D was easy, took the mute out and D was also easy. So basically the mute allowed me to practice a range I dont have reliably access.

BGuttman wrote: ↑Sat Dec 29, 2018 8:22 am

cozzagiorgi wrote: ↑Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:11 am I use a wallace. That works pretty well.

I have one too and think it's great. Seems they are no longer available.

I don't own one, but I know a couple of cases where the cork has swollen and come undone. This has made them hard to repair.