| I have been told, for what it's worth (which, when combined with $0.35 will allow you to buy a local pay phone call anywhere in Canada) is that a straight mute tends to throw "sharp", a cup mute is alleged to make a trumpet go flat, and a harmon mute is essentially unpredictable.
My EXPERIENCE is that a straight mute might go sharp a little (I'm using a Denis Wick straight), but adding cork to cause the mute to extend outwards a little will keep it pretty close. A cup mute (Denis Wick adjustable and Humes & Berg stonelined) doesn't seem to really change the tuning all that much for me. A Jo-Ral bubble mute virtually has no effect whatsoever on my trumpet! (Unlike a "harmon" brand Wah wah mute which made the trumpet go so sharp that it was a joke).
I can understand a straight mute making some notes go sharp... creating an artificially shortened wavelength. I would have thought that a cup mute would do the same... I know that I was exceptionally pleased with the intonation of the Jo-Ral bubble and think that this mute is well worth the price.
I do have an issue with mutes in section, however. Our section leader is constantly telling us to lip down or pull out when we use a mute (regardless of what kind of mute); yet I know that my tuning stays very centered. I think that the ones complaining about tuning should be paying more attention to corking THEIR OWN mutes so that the section intonation doesn't take off from the rest of the band. Am I wrong in this? |