Hi Chuck,
The pizz notes are in the lower range for all of the strings -- everyone in the bottom octave of their instrument except the first violins, who go up to Bb1.
However, looking at the passage again -- since the pizz. notes are part of a quasi-tutti section involving a number of winds and (muted) brass, I think *that* passage is more important than the one immediately preceding, where unmuted strings will likely do just as well as muted ones. So I think I'd better leave the pizz. notes unmuted.
I think if I were to experiment with muted pizz., it would have to be in a more sparsely scored section.
Thanks everyone for the input.
Me again, Darcy. You should do what you feel is best for the music, of course, but don't let some of the comments scare you off. Someone (probably more than one) commented that mutes dampen the upper partials. Well of course! That's what mutes are designed to do!! That doesn't mean you can't still get the pizz effect; it'll just be a muted pizz effect. And especially in that low range the effect will be minimal, and will simply give an accentuated attack to the tutti notes whether muted or not. The dynamic marking, and therefore the strength of the pizz, is MUCH more significant than the mutes, especially if you use accents or fz.
As to the different kinds of mutes, they are all intended to reduce resonance primarily by reducing upper partials. The traditional wooden mutes, generally of one of the heavier woods like ebony or rosewood, give the traditional muted sound, and nothing else can quite match that sound. They are also terribly awkward to use, can fall of your stand to the floor right when you need them, and take a minimum of about 10-12 seconds to put on or take off. (A vest with functional pockets helps, and could bring the time down to around 5 seconds.)
Composers and arrangers have become more demanding in terms of speed, driving the change to mutes that are resident on the instrument and can be on or off in about 2 seconds or less. The original Heifetz mute had the problem of needing to be pulled off and pushed back on a string as it was used, thus pulling the string slightly out of tune. The slideon mute that many of us adopted when it first came out is attached across two strings and doesn't have to be pulled loose, but it does increase the stretch tension on those two strings when it is slid onto the bridge. (This is the one made of wire with brass weights inside a plastic tube.) The hard rubber Tourte and Glaesel mutes sit loosely on two strings, and can be pushed onto the bridge without stretching those strings. That's the mute most likely to be found nowadays, and the one I'm currently using.
Then there are practice mutes, intended to reduce the tone as nearly as possible to zero. They are made in hard rubber, with 5 pairs of gripping legs, or in plated brass, for maximum muting. They are not used for performing. My SHAR catalog also lists and shows Bech, Spector, and Finnissima mutes, none of which I've used or heard in use.
None of the rubber mutes sound quite the same as the traditional ebony mutes, which reduce the tone and the upper partials but still allow nice resonance, but if you wanted that better sound you would have to specify that kind of mute AND leave time before and after the muted section to fumble with the beasts. Also keep in mind that the ear is only aware of the difference when a mute is first put on or taken off, after which the ear quickly becomes accustomed to the sound. The change of sound when going back to senza can be quite shocking, and sound quite rough.
In the passage you describe, one possibility would be to divide the section, with half playing arco and muted and the other half playing pizz and open, but I doubt that you would find the result worth the trouble.
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
