Practicing with the practice mute everyday

[babyfacechulo]

Is it beneficial for me with the pocket trumpet?

[Pete]

Not really. Playing a practice mute everyday is not beneficial to overall playing. Do you have to do it?

Pete

[babyfacechulo]

Well I’ve been practicing with it daily so I’m kinda now sensitive to the trumpet sound now. Maybe it’s an age thing. My hearing has become more sensitive lately. I’ve been listening to more classical music lately and learning the style. Could that be it?

[zaferis]

Ick and Ick!

Niether practicing with a practice mute regularly or a pocket trumpet will be a positive toward trumpet playing. Those are two pretty major differencees to your playing, could not do anything but hinder growth.

If space and volume are an issue, find a bigger space (local church, school, etc) to play in occassionally.
Another sound deadening Idea that I like is a 5 gallon plactic drum from Lowes or Home Depot lined with egg grate foam - position it so you can play with your bell in the bucket. No mute resistance but cuts the volume greatly.
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[kfeldt]

Is the issue that you are more sensitive to your own sound? Over the past year, I've developed some tinnitus in one ear and have gone to practicing with ear plugs to keep from aggravating it. It takes a little getting used to, but it's what I need to do to keep playing. I would think that might be a better solution than a practice mute if that's your issue.

I've been using the Hearos "High Fidelity" ear plugs. I would recommend something like that over regular foam ear plugs. They don't block as much sound, and the frequency attenuation is supposed to be a bit more even.
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- Keith

[arthurtwoshedsjackson]

I have hyperacusis/tinnitus and can only play with a practice mute. I have custom fit Westone earplugs with Etymotic filters that are usually suitable for listening to live performances, but make playing trumpet unmuted even more uncomfortable due to occlusion which amplifies sound conducted from the instrument. I used these plugs in community band for several years and suspect this caused further damage. There is a company which makes custom plugs with vent holes claimed to prevent occlusion and people have had mixed results.

Anyway, I make do playing muted for an audience of one. It’s fun and interesting enough.

Do whatever works for you.

[HaveTrumpetWillTravel]

Living in an apartment in a city, I feel pretty limited on being able to play trumpet full blast. I use a shhmute a lot. I also:
-Play into my closet or a bookshelf when unmuted
-Reserve my "playing out" for lyrical playing and do more warm-up and exercises on mute
-Do mouthpiece buzzing with a drone or tuner
-Play flugel some, which isn't as loud.

I think mute probably does affect intonation. For some of us, it's just worth it. I don't have tinnitus but I do think ear protection is an upside to playing with a mute.

[djroos19]

I think it depends on how developed you are in your fundamentals. If you've been playing for a decade and have a pretty solid concept of sound/embouchure and you are using the practice mute to learn repertoire/exercises/patterns or whatnot it's probably not going to hurt you. Certainly it will be better than not using that time to practice at all.
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[jondrowjf@gmail.com]

Instead of a silent mute, use a Harmon mute.
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[ChuckK]

Yea. a harmon mute works just as well as a practice mute and you can finally feel good about having bought one years ago.
Another idea is a cloth mute sold by the Tuxedo company. It's a simple thing of cloth and an elastic band to hold in on the bell. Cuts out a lot of upper overtones and generally makes it quieter but not silent. Good for musical pit orchestra when you have high parts (stupidly) scored as accompaniment for a weak vocalist.
And then you can alway but the cloth mute on the end of the Harmon mute for a real quiet session.
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Never confuse beauty with things that put your mind at ease. - Charles E. Ives

[Richard III]

Or move to baritone/euphonium. Much easier on the ears and you can still read Bb music. Trumpet makes my tinnitus worse or seems to.
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Richard

King 1130 Flugabone
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[Eliot]

Some interesting and enlightening comments in this thread. I'd never related my trumpet practise with tinnitus which this morning is making its presence well and truly heard ... well before any trumpet practise playing has occurred.

FWIW, my experience follows:
1) I've been practising with and without mutes for quite some time - I don't really like it but then ... in a small room the trumpet is very loud!
2) We do have a large family/common room (which I do get to use every now and then) with great acoustics and feedback.
3) I often play around with my old cheap mutes, and have found that stuffing a screwed-up (scrunched-up) sheet of thin writing pad paper (soft tissue/toilet paper kills too much of the harmonics) into the base of my cheap cup mute has softened and dulled the volume significantly.
4) I can use the dead acoustically, cheap cup mute, my Humes & Berg cup mute, my Jo-Ral aluminum bubble mute and/or my cheapo plastic bubble mute late at night without disturbing my wife's TV viewing in the adjacent family room.
5) I've also tried using (for my ear's sake) my Alpine (MotoSafe) hearing protection ear plugs I purchased for riding my motorcycle and found them less than satisfactory for trumpet practise. They do reduce the sound volume BUT for me, I tend to hear too much trumpet through one's body rather than with the ears.

FWIW, hopefully a little helpful.
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Eliot
Rank amateur, still upright and trying hard.
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[ackmondual]