Trumpet Practice Mute Designs

The practice mute design modeled after a horse feedbag whose image appears below was marketed back in the late 1960’s to both trumpet and trombone players and was advertised in print publications which included the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) union, monthly newspaper/newsletter that was mailed to AFM members.  This Author recalls responding to a display photo advertisement that promoted this practice mute in a circa 1967 edition of a AFM newspaper classified advertising section.

This practice mute was promoted as retaining reasonably stable pitch and intonation and a level of resistance that was not excessive.

Interestingly, the name of the manufacturer was never placed anywhere on this practice mute.  This leaves this Author with the impression that the design was never patented.  And, over the 25 year period that this Author occasionally utilized this practice mute, this Author never encountered any other trumpet players or trombone players that used this practice mute design.

The round in circumference bag or bucket part of this practice mute was constructed of flexible, vinyl plastic of the grade commonly used to cover auto or motorcycle seating.

A series of two and possibly more, light, round foam perforated rubber inserts that were each about 1/2″ inch thick were set within the body of the black vinyl plastic bag or bucket.  The round, foam rubber inserts all had holes drilled in them.  The purpose of the holes was to reduce air back pressure resistance.  Although two foam inserts are pictured below, there might have been as many as four or five when this Author acquired this practice trumpet mute back in 1967.

The round foam inserts could be removed on a scaled basis which would further reduce the air back pressure resistance.  However, the removal of foam inserts, would also increase the decibel level that the trumpet would produce.

The color of the foam inserts was once white, but has gradually changed to black do to ‘chemically’ related aging of the foam inserts over the past 50 years.

This mute was also quite flexible, super light, and could be folded or ‘mashed’ into a size that could be transported quite easily.

This mute made practicing a trumpet in an environment that would disturb people such as a hotel room a practical item to utilize.

This Author never saw this particular practice mute design utilized by any other trumpet player or trombone player this Author ever encountered anywhere in the world.  And, no photos of this style of practice mute design can be found via the Internet either.

A ‘Google Images’ search for “trumpet practice mutes” or “trombone practice mutes”.  Consequently, it is logical that this practice mute design never had wide spread usage amongst the trumpet or trombone player community.

However, as these photographs which were taken by this Author in late November 2018, this 51 year old mute has managed the test of time quite well.   And, it was one of the few pieces of this Author’s musical memorabilia that was not destroyed by water damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina when this Author was living in the New Orleans French Quarter during Labor Day Weekend in late August of 2005.

Over a long period of time, many trumpet players utilize either

cup mute or a bucket mute when practicing the trumpet in an environment that would disturb others.

However, these two designs provide considerable resistance and are typically not recommended for extended or regularly recurring practice sessions.

 

 

Modern Trumpet Mute Designs Similar To The Horse Feedbag Design

After performing some Google research, this Author discovered that appearance wise, the practice mute pictured above  looked similar to the “RAAMG” trumpet practice mute, but not nearly as well engineered.  CLICK HERE for more info on the RAAMG trumpet practice mute.

Here is a “RAAMG” mute demonstration on YouTube