The Best Looking Practice Mute I've Ever Seen (And It Plays Great Too!)

No trumpet tips today. Just a product review for something I'm genuinely impressed with. Our friends at Divitt Trumpets sent me a couple of their practice mutes to check out, and I have to say: if there's an award for best looking practice mute ever made, Divitt wins it going away. We're talking a gorgeous blue and a color-shift cream that goes purple to blue depending on the light. These things are legitimately beautiful. But looks aside, let's talk about how they actually play, because that's what matters. The Divitt practice mute is not the quietest practice mute I've ever played. I'll say that upfront. But here's the thing: it is by far the most free-blowing practice mute I've ever played, especially in the low register. Most practice mutes fall apart below low C. The resistance gets so high that you're not playing anything like you normally would. The Divitt doesn't do that. It plays like a straight mute, not like a practice mute, and that's a meaningful distinction. The design details are also really thoughtful. There's a neoprene bottom so you can set it down quietly on stage without any clatter (I actually brought a shelf liner to NABBA this past weekend for exactly this reason, so that feature hit home). There's also a removable ring that protects the cork when the mute is in your bag. I have other high-end mutes with neoprene-style cork that have gotten absolutely mangled in a mute bag. This solves that. And it's versatile. I tried it in my Eb cornet and it fits. Works across Bb, C, and Eb instruments. Not piccolo, but everything else is covered. Sound reduction is solid. Not silent-room quiet, but absolutely appropriate for warming up backstage, noodling on stage before a gig, hotel room practice, or anywhere else you need to keep the volume down without wrecking your playing habits. These run about $50 and we carry them at Ernie Williamson Music. 🎺 Pick one up at erniewilliamson.com