BRASS
Paul Baron is one of today’s most highly respected lead and commercial trumpet players. His sound is distinctly bright and powerful and
carries with it decades of experience in a wide range of musical styles from jazz to rock, big band to musical theatre, and TV jingles to movie
soundtracks. As well as being a performing artist for Jupiter Instruments and Pickett Brass with his signature line of mouthpieces,
Paul is also an author, educator, and clinician. www.paulbaron.net.
By Paul Baron
Mute Choreography
O
ften when starting a brand
new show, the composers and
orchestrators will want to ex-
periment with different colours
in the orchestrations; therefore, they may
want to try various instrument and mute
combinations.
Mute Basics
It is a good idea to have every mute avail-
able until the show is set and the mutes are
decided upon. If the show has been done
before and the mutes are set, then make
sure you have them all.
Just as important as having all the
mutes with you for the gig is actually prac-
ticing with them. When I am practicing a
show I always play the muted parts with the
actual mutes in. Each mute can have differ-
ent intonational tendencies. Straight mutes
and Harmon mutes tend to be a little sharp
while cup mutes are a bit flat, especially in
the upper register.
Practicing the muted parts with the ac-
tual mutes in is very important so you learn
what the tendencies are, how the mute
responds on certain parts, and how you
should respond to the mute’s tendencies.
Some mutes might respond differently slur-
ring and slotting the notes from different
harmonic series, so spend the time to learn
the feel of the mutes.
In Performance
Oftentimes, and particularly with newer
shows with smaller orchestrations, we
trumpet players are blending with different
instruments like clarinets and flutes. We may
also be the only trumpet, so really learn-
30 • C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N
ing how the mutes feel for resistance and
intonation is important. That way, when
you get to the actual show, you know those
tendencies and can work on matching the
other instruments.
If you really know the tendencies of your
mutes, then when you have to, for instance,
play in unison or octaves with a flute player
who tends to play sharp in their upper
register, you will know where your mute sits
with the pitch and can adjust accordingly.
Conversely, if you have learned that your
Harmon mute goes sharp up high and the
flute player is right down the center with
intonation, then you need to know how
much to adjust.
Sometimes the changes from open
horn to muted or one mute to the next
are extremely fast, so practicing the mute
changes is also important. I have played
some shows that were really challenging
for mute changes. I remember one show
in particular which was originally orches-
trated for three trumpets, then scaled back
to two, and then one, and I was constantly
changing mutes. It seemed like the three
trumpet books were blended into one, and
where the first trumpet may have had a
bit more time to make the mute changes
possible, when the books were blended, it
made the mute changes almost impossible.
In this case, what I found easiest for me was
to look ahead and see what mute changes
were coming up and have a second horn
with the mute in it so I could make the
switches faster.
Another thing I try to do is set out my
mutes in the same order next to each other
so that if I am grabbing a fast straight mute
change, the right mute is going to be in
the same spot all the time. Like playing
the trumpet, it comes down to muscle
memory. It saves some time and eliminates
another of the variables so I am not search-
ing for the mute. I use a mute rack that clips
to the music stand and I tend to prioritize
the mutes by how often they are used. For
instance, some shows use straight mute a
lot but not much Harmon or solo tone, so I
will have the straight sitting closest to me in
the center of the mute rack so I can get to
it quickly and easily and also drop it back in
when I go to open trumpet.
The bottom line is to practice the parts in
real time with the mute changes as marked
so the mute changes become programmed
into muscle memory just as much as the
notes on the page. It is all part of the overall
picture. There is enough to think about
playing the show without having to think
too much about where your mute is.
This is based on a
lesson from Paul’s
book, Trumpet Vol-
untarily – A Holistic
Guide to Maximizing
Practice Through
Efficiency, contain-
ing more expanded
information on this subject as well as
19 chapters with music examples and
exercises. The book serves as a guide to
teach the player how, what, and when
to practice. It is available now through
qPress, www.qpress.ca.