Please can you recommend me any good violin mutes, for orchestral playing.

There's so many to choose from i don't know where to begin looking....

The small round tourte rubber ones are really useful because they can sit on the strings between the bridge and tailpiece when not needed. However they can rattle around a bit there. But for orchestral playing this is not so crucial and it keeps the mute handy for when needed.

I agree the round tourte rubber mutes are good. There is a magnetic version of them which stops the mute rattling. A small magnetic clip fits onto the tailpiece and the mute has a little magnet in so that when not being used it is held securely.

The roth-sihon sliding mutes tend to wear the strings out a bit if used a lot and if a string breaks the mute can fly off .

The three-pronged ebony mutes are difficult to put on very quickly, which can be a problem.

Yes a bit inconvenient, but they are lovely

I have one of the round tourte ones with the magnetic clip which seems to be pretty good as I've never noticed any rattling or buzzing.

I also have a three pronged ebony one, although that isn't suitable for orchestra playing as it makes the violin far too quiet. However it is very useful if I ever want to practice without bugging my parents too much.

My teacher has one of those funny ones which sort of clip over the bridge although she complains quite often that she gets a more metallic sound on the A and D string when it isn't on.

The small black tourte ones are best - except they leave a small black mark on the bridge where they sit. I find that you have to take them off when you don't need them and that tends to end up with it getting lost unfortunately. Otherwise, the strings become muted and it rattles.

Eek - That could be er...interesting!! Then again with our orchestra anything is possible so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.



Now thats a good idea!!

I have one of the little black rubber ones that fit over the bridge. If you go for one of these then i would suggest a magnetic one because mine drives me mad rattling around. Also make sure you get a violin mute. I'm currently playing with a viola mute on my violin and it's a bit big!!