This week I bought a mute. It's a little rubber thing that slips onto the bridge of my violin. I need it for a song we are playing in symphony. I tried practicing with it once, just to experiment. It is no bigger than my thumbnail, but the difference it makes is astounding at first. It takes away the bright, happy sound and cuts the volume by a third. When I first put it on, I want to take it off again because I cannot get the response I want from my instrument. There is less of a difference between my louds and softs, and I can't get a singing tone. But I leave it on anyway because I would have to stop playing in the middle of a song and move my hand all the way up to the bridge and slide it off. Then something happens after a few minutes. My violin doesn't sound quiet and dull anymore. It sounds fine to me. When I am almost done practicing, I take it off to play my last song. I am amazed. Why did I practice with the mute on? It sounds so much better without it!
We all have mutes in our lives. They're small and seemingly insignificant at first. Maybe, like me, you have a tendency to yell over everything. Or maybe you let yourself get frustrated with stupid drivers who don't deserve to own a vehicle. Or you freak out when someone forgets to flush. Whatever it is, we all have one. If you've had it for a long time, you probably can't see the difference something so small makes. So today I'd like to challenge everyone (including myself) to discover your mute and take it off for one day. Once we've seen the change, maybe we'll want to take it off for good.
p.s. The bridge is the the upright piece of light colored wood in the picture. Our camera died or I'd take a picture of my mute too.
4 comments:
Very deep and meaningful. Thank you!
That is a great analogy! Thanks for sharing. I will try to identify some of my mutes, and remove them. Sometimes, we need help to remove our mutes, they've been there so long and we're so used to them, that the music without them sounds wrong to us.
OOh, Kate! Very good! I love that analogy, and totally get it! :) This won't work with your analogy, so don't apply it to that, but sometimes I appreciate the sound of the mute on my violin. Soft, sweet, and almost a whisper. Works for some things. :)
Very cool.
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