Guelph lost violin mute

[david]

even though i live in vancouver, i happened to be in guelph last week so i was lucky enough to catch the ff show at the ebar. very cool! should anybody ever be on stage in the middle of a big performance with your parents in the audience or something, and you happen to lose your one and only violin mute, don't panic! just pull out your handy-dandy book of kitchen tricks and home remedies--under "i'm on stage and i just lost my violin mute" you will find some useful advice. just fold up a five-dollar bill, thread it through your strings between the bridge and the tailpiece of your fiddle, and force it forward up against your bridge. et voila! one violin mute! don't have a five-dollar bill, maybe even any paper will do. a clothespeg would work also. yeah!
-david

[uhleesah]

does this tip come out of personal experience?
creative nonetheless!

[david]

indeed--somebody taught this to me a long time ago. except for maybe experimenting with different tunings, this is the closest that you can get to a 'prepared piano', with a violin. having said that though, when i was taught this it was in the days before looping pedals! -david