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Mutes?!? It is very interesting to me that Douglas Hill included in his list of fundamentals (found in his Collected Thoughts book) a special place for muted horn.
Is it hard? Did it used to be?
I tend personally to think of muted playing as being easy. Anyone disagree? On horn I don’t think of it being any special challenge – at least now.
I think where it came in as a fundamental to study more was with a generation of horn teacher older than me and before that. Right now, we are at such a golden age for buying horn mutes. When I was in college in the 1980s, it was a bit different world. Unless you were OK with a Stone Lined mute, you had very few options you could easily buy. There were some great mutes out there (Rittich, for example, which is what most mute makers copy today), but it was not like you could go online and buy one from a dealer like you can now.
But I’ll add here also, for any of your friends that play a different brass instrument, especially trumpet, they probably have a complex about playing muted (and they own at least six mutes). My theory why we as horn players don’t have that same complex is that we normally have a hand in the bell and it doesn’t feel that different — if you have any decent, modern mute in your bell.
What makes a bad horn mute?
To my mind a bad horn mute has a poor low range and it may generally feel unstable. If yours is like that, try some other mute. It’s not that hard to find a good mute today.
Tunable?
One great feature of the better horn mutes is they are tunable. You need this feature, as the way you use your hand in the bell will differ somewhat from other players, and your bell size will also impact pitch level of the mute. You should be able to play your mute with no concern of it being out of tune.
Balance in ensemble
Once you have a mute that plays well and easily at pitch, the other factor to think about, which you may need to consider seriously, is balance in ensemble.
Speaking generally, if you have a similar mute to other horn players in your section, you will balance well with them in orchestra or band. Some are louder and softer, brighter and darker. You may need to experiment to match in your section better.
However, in brass quintet, you might want to reconsider your preferred mute choice. A standard, “orchestral” mute sound from a horn player won’t match a muted trumpet or trombone very well. In my own case, in brass quintet, I used to use my Stone Lined mute instead of the higher dollar one, as the tone color better matched the sound of a trombone mute.
Mute in the trunk of your car
Finally, I always mention that you should keep a Stone Lined mute in the back of your car, just in case you forget your preferred mute at a gig. Better to have a mute than have no mute at all!
When the series continues, the topic is a major fundamental for horn, transpositions.
Continue in the Fundamentals series.
