Best Instrument for Quiet Practice Spaces

Ed Dumas

When I started my teaching career, I never would have predicted that an exploding real estate market would have a significant impact on the music classroom. Looking back it seems so obvious that more and more students would find themselves in townhouses, apartments, and condos as a result, and that this steady change away from single-detached homes would impact the students’ decisions as to instrument choice.

My Mom, whom I think was a saint, tolerated my practicing pretty much anytime I wanted and never complained. But we lived in a single-detached house, and my room was in the basement. Many folks now are compressed into denser living conditions that share walls with neighbours, and practicing for band becomes a real hot button issue between them.

As a result, parents have asked me many times about which instrument is “the best” at avoiding the problem of disturbing the neighbours. Many parents want to choose clarinet or flute because in the beginning those instruments are often played rather softly by first-year players.

The trouble is, flute and clarinet later could be setting up the parents for some significant neighbourly conflict as the more challenging range is learned. Flute in the upper register can pierce like a needle, and clarinet over the break needs to be played quite strongly to get those notes to speak. This is when those young players often feel the pressure to stop playing, and everyone is looking for other solutions for practice locations.

Percussion is well, loud and bangy, but maybe doable, especially in the beginning. The snare drum can be reduced to a very quiet practice pad, though the different feel for the drummer can be an issue. But when other percussion instruments need to be practiced, this can still be a huge volume issue for neighbours. The drum set, though, does have an option of using an electronic drum set for home practicing. The sounds are converted to electronic signals and heard through a set of headphones.

The cost of an electronic drum set ranges from $600 to about $1300 and might be rentable or payable on payment plans. If you are interested in this as an option, visit the Tapestry Music website or contact a Tapestry rep for help. Still, this does not solve the many other problems for percussionists and volume, only drum sets.

I have often suggested to parents that the trumpet is the single best wind instrument choice for quiet spaces. This is because trumpet, and other brass instruments, can be muted to lower the sound volume. Woodwinds cannot be muted as they are not closed from the mouthpiece to the bell. The trombone is also a good choice, but still second to trumpet due to size and cost.

Now, when I have mentioned mutes to trumpet students wanting to keep the volume down at home, they invariably think of something like a straight mute or cup mute. These do work somewhat but were not made to lower the volume. They were made to change the tone, and this is why experienced trumpet players usually have a wide selection of mutes on hand. More mutes equal more types of tone changes.

There is one mute, though, that few trumpet players ever own, and more people practicing in small spaces should. It is called a practice mute. This mute is built to lessen the volume of the instrument while changing the tone as little as possible. These practice mutes have a tight seal to the bell of the trumpet so that all sound is forced through the mute. This is unlike say a straight or cup mute that has usually three corks spaced evenly around the neck of the mute to allow some sound to escape around the mute. Since the practice mute lets no sound escape without travelling through the mute, it can be more effective at dampening the volume of sound created in the room.

Tapestry Music has a Jo-Ral practice mute listed on its website that can be purchased for less than $100 after taxes. Jo-Ral is a great name in mutes, and you can be sure that this mute will work as designed. Many parents will question the value of a practice mute, and my response would be, “For less than $100 for life, you can purchase a piece of equipment that will allow your child to carry on in music despite living in a townhouse or condo. Sounds like a bargain to me!”

For trombone players, the Tapestry Music website has listed the ShhMute which also works well as a home practice mute. ShhMute is a New Zealand company that is doing some excellent work with ABS plastic mutes. You will see that the larger trombone mute is still less than $100, though slightly more than the Jo-Ral trumpet mute due to its larger size.

Both Jo-Ral and Shhmute make mutes for a full line of brass instruments, so if you are looking for a practice mute, or any other type of brass instrument mute, contact Tapestry Music for a price quote. These acoustic-based practice mutes are the easiest and least expensive solutions for home practice in a small space.

Now, you can step up from the Jo-Ral or ShhMute practice mute if you are looking for a fun experience in sound. Yamaha has had out for some time now, the Yamaha Silent Brass System. This system has a similar practice mute that is corked in such a way that all sound must pass through the mute, and none can escape around the sides of the mute. The difference, though, is that the mute also contains an electronic pickup that converts the sound into a digital electronic signal, and sends this sound signal to a processor called a Personal Studio. This processor will then adapt this sound and send it to earbuds which you wear while playing. 

The cost for this unit is about $250, but the added pleasure of practicing with it could be well worth it. The user (trumpet player) can adjust the kind of room feel that is transmitted through the earbuds, giving the feel of practicing in many different rooms or halls. Find your favourite, and have a blast! More experienced musicians can also add in a second mute pickup for another brass instrument that they also play. This would be valuable for trumpet players who also play flugelhorn, or trombone players who also play euphonium.

For parents, then, that are concerned about sound level in the living space due to neighbours being close by, there are options available in the world of brass. Yes, there is always an added cost for extras such as this. Unlike other instrument families, this is at least an option that is available and affordable. When compared to the cost of upgrading your home, the cost of a home practice mute or system certainly seems insignificant.

Other Mutes for Brass

I have often encouraged students to purchase their own set of mutes for their instruments. When they complain, I would suggest that purchasing one good mute is equivalent in cost to what a clarinet player would put out in reeds in a year or so. But, the good mute should last for life.

As well, students often ask, “Which specific types of mutes should they get?” The first should be a straight mute, without a doubt. It is the most used mute in either concert band or jazz band and should be the place to start. The next mute to purchase is a cup mute for the same reason.

Most secondary students can get by with a straight and cup mute. Some may want to add in a “Harmon-style” mute. This is the one that has a central stem that can be pulled in or out, and the mute gives a much quieter buzz. This is mostly used in Jazz Band, so I usually leave this one to last.

Note that a “Harmon Mute” is made by the Harmon company. There are other brands out there making similar-sounding mutes, but will not be called “Harmon.”

Note that there are many other kinds of mutes that students can get as well. These can be things like hats, plungers, and bucket mutes. I have even seen trumpet players use a bar glass as a mute, but maybe you want to leave that one alone for a while!

Buy Quality!

I have never been a great fan of the Stone-Lined Mutes. While they are very inexpensive, and therefore very popular, I find the sound is kind of “straight-mute -like” or “cup-mute-like.” There just doesn’t seem to me to be enough of a difference in tone to warrant purchasing them. 

In contrast, the better-quality aluminum mutes provide a vastly superior sound that is very noticeable when the two mutes are played in comparison. The higher quality mute will also keep the pitch closer to the unmuted pitch, which is something that few brass players think about. 

As for brands of metal mutes, there are plenty. Jo-Ral is a great name in mutes and I would recommend them. Tom Crown is another excellent name, as is Dennis Wick. Yamaha also has some excellent metal mutes. All of these manufacturers have developed excellent mutes that are not cardboard, are made of metal, and are of very high quality. If you or a student is interested in purchasing a mute, I would suggest you start by trying these better brands and then choose one to fit your preference in sound. 

I believe that the best “Harmon-style” mute is made by Jo-Ral, and is called a Bubble Mute. After purchasing one of these decades ago, I decided to try their next step up in Bubble Mute which is their copper Bubble Mute. It is decidedly more money, but the sound was so gorgeous that I fell in love with it and had to have it. It also happens to be the heaviest mute I have used, so the copper may not be a good option for small players. In that case, go with the aluminum. 

For cup mute, I also recommend the Jo-Ral, because it is a two-piece mute. That means the cup can slide in and out on the inner “straight” part of the mute. This allows a great deal of flexibility in playing with an “open-cup” vs “tight-cup” sound. Dennis Wick also has a sliding cup, though I have never tried it.

Finally, for a straight mute, there are many excellent ones, just be sure to get a good quality one. I play on a Dennis Wick straight mute but have no complaints with Jo-Ral, or Tom Crown either.

Some students have suggested that you can use a Jo-Ral cup mute as a straight mute with the sliding cup removed, but I would avoid this. First, you may not have enough time in performance to set this up, so it becomes easier to have two mutes at hand. Second, I don’t think the sound is equivalent to a good quality straight mute because it was not designed that way. The volume of air in the Jo-Ral Cup mute is much larger, and this will create a darker tone. That to me is not what a straight mute should do.

Lastly, for the other less common mutes, such as hats, buckets, and plungers, you can get a little creative. These mutes were mainly used in the Big Band Era of the ’30s and ’40s, so using actual hats and plungers was quite common back then! In that era, most men wore hats, and they would just take the Fedora off their head and put it in front of the bell. This is fine to copy that with students, as it is very authentic.

The same is true of plungers. I remember asking a trumpet section one time to go out to the local hardware store to purchase a sink plunger and remove the wooden pole part. That is what the original plungers were back in the day! Now students say “Eeewwww…” and have to spend big money to purchase a specially manufactured mute as a plunger. Fine, but I am good with using a sink plunger for trumpet and a toilet plunger for trombone. Just make sure they are NEW and don’t have the folding lip inside. The bucket mutes you will likely need to purchase from Tapestry Music because they come with metal clips to attach them to the bell. 

Mutes for brass players can add a great deal of variety to the sounds of brass players. All of the mutes available for trumpet are also available for other brass, but will naturally be more expensive due to size. But, if you are looking for an interesting way to spice up a jazz band sound, try experimenting with some “found” mutes. The students will love it and have some fun with it. As much as possible, though, keep the types of mutes the same in the trumpet section, unless the composer specifically asks for mixing of sounds.

Ed Dumas, B.Ed., M.A.Ed.