Mutes

Mary Beth and I went up to the University to see a concert from their wind ensemble. It was all newer (or newerish) pieces: Fanfare for Full Fathom Five by John Mackey, Ecstatic Waters by Steven Bryant, and Symphony No. 4 by David Maslanka. There was at least something I liked a good bit in each of them. They brought out a few crazy instruments, I think there was a contrabass clarinet. And in the last piece they had something I'm pretty sure I'd never seen before: tuba mutes. They look just like trumpet mutes but, of course, much much much bigger. In fact, they look like cartoon or joke props, they look completely unreal sticking out from the tubs. And there were two tubs and each one had a different kind, one metal and one rubber or whatever, and both exactly like what you'd see for each kind in a trumpet. It was kinda surreal. Okay, that's all I've got.