music matters

Hi Wilmer,

I have a Tom Crown copper bottom and I am performing Copland's Quiet City. I had been wondering what mute would sound best with this piece. I really like my Tom Crown for most applications in an Orchestra/Wind Band where it cuts through the ensemble well, but I am not as happy with it for the end of Quiet City. I was thinking of putting a Crown Royal bag over the mute to soften it! - but would you recommend the Sotto Voce straight mute for this piece?

Best regards,

Graham.

wiseone2

For the Copland I like "Old Reliable", the black plastic Bach straight mute.
Wilmer

MalinTrumpet

Do you know if the white plastic Bach mutes sound the same as the black? I have a white one.

BTW: The Chicago Symphony trumpets used the black ones on Saturday night.

Larry Malin

music matters

Thanks for advice Wilmer - have ordered the Bach plastic straight to use with Copland, but I have also ordered the Sotto Voce as it sounds like you really like it too!

Best regards,

Graham

wiseone2

I will reserve my Chris Rock reply
Wilmer

josephus07

Mr. Malin,

I'm not doubting your observation about the CSO (and I wasn't there!), but are you sure they used Bach Black Plastics or were they Marcus Bona mutes? What was the context?

The "new" Bach plastics (anything not really old) are made of a hard plastic whereas the old ones are a bit more rubbery-feeling. The news ones sound too brittle to me for most soft passages.

Whatcha think?

ROGERIO

Oh come on Wilmer, I think that (slip) was deserving of a good comeback... let it fly. I'm sure MalinTrumpet has a good sence of humor...

On a similar subject... PBS had a great special on last night on the history of Vegas. It highlighted the racial tension during the time of the "Rat Pack". The point was made that they eventually avoided the bad press and allowed blacks into the nightclubs... I should say, non working blacks that is... the narrator made a classic statement at the end of the report... "it seems there was only one color that really mattered to these people... green".

MalinTrumpet

My WHITE plastic Bach mute says Mercedes. I know that it might mean a high quality German car but in this case it's a designation for a student model Bach trumpet. I picked up a few of them when a school I was teaching in (Power Memorial Academy, the alma mater of Kareem Abdul Jabbar) decided to close its doors. The mutes were headed for the garbage. I was really wondering if it's the same plastic.

Chris Rock would certainly reply with a censorable comment.

The black plastic mutes might have been Marcus Bonnas. Whatever they were, they were also used by Phiiadelphia tonight in Mahler 6. Great concert! It's nice to see how all the guys in the Philadelphia Orchestra trumpet section are so supportive of each other. Mahler 6 is filled with little solos for each of the trumpets. There was lots of subtle foot shuffling.

Bilger was outstanding by the way.

Malin has a good sense of humor. I better in this business.

Larry

pv140

Dennis Najoom has a new line of mutes too, which includes a practice(soft) mute. Najoom Music Products www.najoom.com/

mstrpt

Wilmer- Have you ever run across some mutes by a man in Brooklyn named Florio? Older trombone player here when I first started had some of these that were outstanding, especially for soft playing. I actually dug up a couple through an older player here in town and through Louis Davidson's son and been playing around with them, haven't used them yet..... Interesting unique design. Mr. Florio passed away @1950 so I was very lucky to unearth these....any rate just curious if you know anything about these....

Happy New Year!
MS