I share a house with other adults who had guests come over tonight, so I put a mute on mid way through practicing, until they all went out, when I took it off again.
What I noticed was that I struggled to pitch with the mute on, and that when the mute came off....I felt confident in my pitch and my intonation seemed much better, and my tone was firmer than it had been before the mute went on.
Just a matter of aural relativity? (the mute sounding so bad that anything with it off sounds good?) or does it actually help?
Putting a practice mute on too firmly can sometimes affect the tuning of the open strings, and hence your intonation when you're playing, unless you adjust your intonation as you play. This effect on the tuning can depend on the setup of the fiddle - the strings and in particular the bridge, especially if it is the thinner professional type. The solution is not to have the mute on too tight.
You're taking the right approach to using a practice mute - use it only when it is absolutely necessary not to disturb other people. Too much reliance on a practice mute will tend to adversely affect your overall tone production and control of tone.
Tone/intonation and mutes?
Tone/intonation and mutes?
I share a house with other adults who had guests come over tonight, so I put a mute on mid way through practicing, until they all went out, when I took it off again.
What I noticed was that I struggled to pitch with the mute on, and that when the mute came off....I felt confident in my pitch and my intonation seemed much better, and my tone was firmer than it had been before the mute went on.
Just a matter of aural relativity? (the mute sounding so bad that anything with it off sounds good?) or does it actually help?
# Posted on May 27th 2009 by FiddleFancy
Re: Tone/intonation and mutes?
Putting a practice mute on too firmly can sometimes affect the tuning of the open strings, and hence your intonation when you're playing, unless you adjust your intonation as you play. This effect on the tuning can depend on the setup of the fiddle - the strings and in particular the bridge, especially if it is the thinner professional type. The solution is not to have the mute on too tight.
You're taking the right approach to using a practice mute - use it only when it is absolutely necessary not to disturb other people. Too much reliance on a practice mute will tend to adversely affect your overall tone production and control of tone.
# Posted on May 27th 2009 by Trevor Jennings