The use of mutes in trumpet playing is often overlooked in a trumpet player’s training, yet they play a crucial role in shaping the sound and expression of the instrument. 

In this article, we’ll explore the history of mutes, discuss the main types (straight, cup, Harmon, and plunger), and offer insights into their use in music-making. I will also touch on some of the “specialized” mutes a trumpet player might encounter when looking at repertoire or playing in a band. 

Let’s jump into it!

Where trumpet mutes come from

It is remarkable that despite the great number of trumpeters pursuing doctorate degrees, we have such poor academic information about the history of mute development. 

Thankfully, John Wallace and Alexander McGrattan’s phenomenal book The Trumpet continues to serve as an invaluable guide for any curious trumpeter seeking information. John and Alexander inform us: 

“The application of mutes to the trumpet was probably initiated as a means of transmitting military signals covertly…However, the earliest references to muted trumpets, from the early sixteenth century, relate to their use in funerals…mutes were still used for these purposes, and, through daily use, as a means of building a strong embouchure, in the late eighteenth century. Muted trumpets are specified in a number of musical works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most of which have funerary or supernatural connotations.

…Few works from the early nineteenth century call for muted trumpets, but presumably the mute retained its function as an aid to practice and to dampening sound in performance. During the second half of the century, composers increasingly exploited the sonority of muted brass in their orchestral writing.” 

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How to think about trumpet mutes

Composers and improvisers alike turn to mutes primarily for expression and color. 

I’ve always thought about mutes as analog distortion devices or sound filters. More than any other trumpet device or treatment—including mouthpieces, tone weights, or valve alignments—mutes have an immediate and obvious impact on sound production and output.

Like any distortion device, we should approach mutes as useful tools for musical expression. The musicians who have understood this approach and most effectively maximized the use of mutes—such as Cootie Williams (plunger) or Miles Davis (stemless Harmon)—should inspire us when learning to manipulate the many musical colors mutes can facilitate. 

The golden rule of playing trumpet with mutes

The main issue I hear when listening to classical and jazz musicians play with mutes is their failure to fully capture the color characteristics of different mutes. 

Although a mute will automatically change our sounds when inserted into the bell, this alone won’t reveal the true character the mute can give us. For this reason, it is vital to alter our playing slightly and lean in and play into the mute. 

Shying away from each mute’s unique resistance will usually result in a uniform and muffled effect. While this is sometimes desirable, more likely than not composers and improvisers are looking for the “raw” characteristics that each mute highlights. 

As a general rule, do not shy away from playing into a mute and lighting up its core sound characteristics. Remember, mutes are filters designed to highlight traits, not muffle sounds.

Choosing trumpet mutes

Mutes can be found in a seemingly endless amount of designs and materials, no one mute is “correct” or “standard,” but they all filter differently to highlight different aspects of the trumpet’s sound.

Collecting these wonderful devices and knowing each of their unique sound production characteristics is not only fun but also musically important. 

Different pieces, songs, and composers will require very different mutes. As a general rule, softer materials such as wood or cardboard tend to produce more dampened sounds, while metal emphasizes brittle qualities. Within this general rule, an almost endless palate of variations is available thanks to the many mute manufacturers and designers.

The “Big Four” trumpet mutes

1. Straight mute

The straight mute is often the first mute we encounter in our formative years, and the most used in the classical orchestral repertoire. 

This mute is characterized by its straight, conical shape and is typically used to produce a more focused, bright, and piercing sound. The mute stays inside the bell through several corks, allowing some sound to escape through the bell and some to go into the mute. 

This diverted sound direction dampens the lower overtones in a rich open sound, resulting in a brighter, more direct sound, with a nasal or metallic quality. 

The straight mute has been used to great success by composers like Debussy to achieve a distant martial band effect in works such as Fetes: 

It is also often used to create a musical echo between trumpet players. 

This use was a favorite of Mahler’s, and is especially obvious in Shostakovich’s 8th Symphony (the section starts at 3:16 but this effect is at 4:37):

Another great use of the straight mute is to emphasize condensed, aggressive tonguing while limiting volume. A great example of this can be heard in many sections of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring or the second movement of Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra:

2. Cup mute

The cup mute is one of the most versatile mutes. Like most mutes, cup mutes developed in the early 20th century thanks to the innovations of jazz musicians. 

Thanks to their endless experimentation with materials, shapes, and designs, cup mutes have become a staple of any trumpeter’s arsenal. It didn’t take classical composers long to adopt this wonderful invention. 

Early French Conservatoire repertoire like the Tomasi Concerto called for the cup mute under the name Sourdine Bol or Sourdine Robinson (after the one made by manufacturer Ray Robinson):

Dizzy Gillespie made great use of adjustable cup mutes throughout his career and he remains a great reference when trying to maximize the colors the mute provides.

Cup mute design is very closely related to that of the straight mute. 

Like straight mutes, cup mutes are straight and conical in shape, and their corks allow some sound to escape through the bell and some to go into the mute. 

However, the cup mute—as its name indicates—captures any sound escaping through the spaces in the corks in a bowl-like cup which typically covers the diameter of the instrument’s bell. This results in a somewhat muffled and warm sound. 

I’ve always described the cup mute sound as “intimate.” A properly played cup mute should draw listeners and players into a warm and enveloping soundscape. 

Cup mutes come in several materials and designs that alter their sound significantly. 

More importantly, however, the cup in different mutes is either adjustable or fixed. Adjustable cup mutes allow you to vary the gap between the cup mute’s bowl and the edge of the trumpet’s bell, allowing for a very broad color spectrum. 

In this video from MusikFabrik’s Marco Blaauw, you can see how playing with this variable can change the sounds and overtones you can produce with this mute:

3. Harmon/Wah-Wah mute

I remember when I first heard a Harmon mute as a kid- I spotted an odd bubble-looking contraption in my trumpet teacher’s case. The Bogotá Philharmonic was playing Gershwin’s Rhapsodie in Blue that week, and he played the opening trumpet solo that follows the clarinet, which features the mute’s distinctive “wah-wah” effect. 

To this day, the Harmon mute continues to surprise me more than any other. It is not only charming and amusing, but it also offers infinite colors and effects. 

The Harmon mute was first patented by George Schluesselburg and is named after the project’s financier Patrick T. "Paddy" Harmon. 

This mute, however, was not an entirely novel invention, and its design is interestingly most closely related to the trumpet’s earliest mutes. Baroque trumpet practice mutes were early iterations of what the Harmon mute would become. Harmon mute design today continues to be closely tied to that of practice mutes.

Unlike the straight and cup mutes, the Harmon mute attaches to the bell by a solid ring of cork, rubber, or sponge which creates a perfect seal between the mute and the trumpet. 

Like its baroque predecessors, the trapped air is directed through an adjustable or removable stem at the base of the mute. This stem allows for the “wah-wah” effect when opening and closing the stem with the hand. 

The range of colors available when manipulating the opening and closing of the stem are larger than many imagine. The German composer Krheilz Stockhausen made great use of this variation throughout his trumpet works and can be heard in Michaels Reise um die Erde from Donnerstag aus Licht: 

The stem can also be fully removed to create an entirely different quality. This sound is almost synonymous with Miles Davis who used it as an almost permanent extension of his trumpet player through the majority of his career. 

In his rendition of Blue in Green, you can hear the buzzy metallic color the stemless Harmon mute can generate when pushed or played in higher registers, contrasted with the round airy quality it can evoque when played in lower registers:

It is worth noting that Miles Davis’ signature Harmon sound was also the result of smart microphone placement. To capture clarity when using a stemless Harmon mute, don’t be afraid to play directly into the microphone, otherwise, the clarity of moving notes can sometimes sound muddy. 

A final note regarding the notation of Harmon mutes in classical contemporary music. While many composers will specifically indicate whether a passage using the Harmon mute calls for “stem in” or “stem out,” some composers also make the distinction by calling for “wah-wah mute” (stem in) or “Harmon mute” (stem out). 

4. Plunger mute

The plunger mute is the most prominent survivor of a bygone era in Jazz when musicians experimented with the muting effects possible through the blocking of sound using the hand, beer glasses, hats, and plungers. 

Although many manufacturers now make wonderful plunger mutes, a sink plunger from any hardware store continues to be a standard for most.

The basic use of the plunger is to generate a “wah-wah’ effect. Unlike the sound generated by the Harmon’s “wah-wah,” the plunger’s sound is much more dramatic, as the closed position is much more muffled, and the open position is the unmuted trumpet. 

Composers will typically notate the closed position with a (+) and the open position with a (o). This notation can also apply when using the “wah-wah” effect on the Harmon mute. There is no “correct” way of playing a plunger mute, however, in normal use keep in mind that sealing the bell with a fully closed position will often alter the pitch by a half step. Unless this is the desired effect, find a way to leave some space for air to escape.

The use of plunger mutes became ubiquitous in the Big Band era, and perhaps its more virtuosic proponent was the trumpeter for Duke Ellington’s Band, Cootie Williams. In this video featuring Williams and Duke you can see the master at work:

Cootie Williams showed the world how this mute can be used to make the trumpet have a tremendously expressive and vocal quality:

Other trumpet mutes

While most classical and jazz musicians will tell you that any mute outside the “big four” is not necessary, anyone regularly playing musicals or contemporary classical music will vehemently disagree. Although we will not go into detail about each of these myriad mutes, I will mention some of them and provide some musical examples.

Practice mutes

Practice mutes have been with us since the Baroque period and their design is closely aligned with that of the Harmon mute. 

As their name indicates, they are designed to significantly quiet the trumpet to allow for practice when bothering others is a concern. Practice mutes typically produce an unbalanced and distorted sound and change the resistance felt at the embouchure. While their use is originally practical, they also have pedagogical and musical applications. Pedagogically they have been used for centuries to help players strengthen their embouchure. 

Musically, composers such as Karheilz Stockhausen or Yan Maresz have used versions of practice mutes such as Wispah Mutes in different passages:

Bucket mutes

Bucket mutes produce a similar sound to the cup mute but with a significantly more open range of overtones. 

They were used extensively in the big band era and can be spotted in Broadway musicals from the 1930s–1960s. You can hear what they sound like in the first movement of Tisné’s Emotion or Smolka’s Pianissimo. Like other mutes, Bucket mute design is vast and each has peculiar characteristics. 

Speciality mutes

• “Mel-O-wah” mutes produce a unique sound similar to, but more open than a stem-in Harmon mute, and can similarly produce “wah-wah” effects
• Solotone mutes have what I can only describe as an “old-timey sound.” You can hear it in the opening of the Pixar movie Up:

• Buzz Mutes use kazoo style buzzers to create a unique and (as advertised) buzzy sound
• Pixie Mutes are small straight mutes that can be used in conjunction with plunger mutes to create a very unique effect. Thomas Stevens employed this combination for the opening of his Triangles (I) (3:19 with Stevens—center stand—playing the plunger/pixie combination):

• Hats and stands are also sometimes called for in old charts and musicals. The notation “in stand” instructs the trumpet player to use the stand as a filter. “Derby,” “felt,” or “in-hat” usually calls for playing into a hat. Since the use of hats has diminished so dramatically since the 1960s many musicians have opted for the use of felt bags (like those that come with Crown Royal Whiskey. This is a simple dampening effect that is usually employed to cut some of the trumpet sound’s higher overtones. It has become a staple in Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F:

Conclusion

The world of trumpet mutes is vast and I believe that a large mute collection is a worthwhile investment for any professional trumpeter. 

There is a wide variety of trumpet mutes available, each offering different sound production characteristics. While the "big four" (straight, cup, Harmon, and plunger) are essential, exploring specialized mutes can add depth to a player's sonic palette. 

Always remember that thinking of mutes as analog distortion devices or sound filters can help you approach them as tools for musical expression. 

A key aspect of playing with mutes is to fully capture their unique color characteristics by leaning into and playing into the mute, rather than shying away from its unique resistance. This approach allows for a more nuanced and expressive sound. 

As I said at the outset of this guide there is no such thing as a “correct” or “standard” mute. Each type of mute filters sound differently, highlighting different aspects of the trumpet's sound. 

Therefore, choosing mutes for each occasion and coordinating with other players in a section can help achieve the desired sound color.

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