Daempfer Mitt Necessity! Again the Mother of Invention! by Peter W. Iltis, Cornucopia, November 1996

It was about six years ago, as I recall. I was sitting in my wind quintet in the great hall of an elegant old castle performing for a small and intimate audience of chamber music lovers. I can't remember the piece, but I do remem- ber having just finished an exposed muted passage after which the mute had to be quickly removed to play unmuted in a transparent pp section. I had carefully and silently placed my metallic mute on its side on the stone floor and begun playing when, to my horror, I noticed a metallic rolling sound. Yes, on the uneven stone floor, the mute rolled until it was beyond my reach. I was helpless to stop it, and the snickers of the audience almost got to the whole quintet. We survived, but that was the last straw for me -- I had to find a solution!

I began to give the situation serious consideration and realized that there were other aspects of mute use that pre- sent problems. I remembered kicking my mute over, and worse still, kicking over a colleague's mute. I had witnessed similar mute fiascoes at major symphony orchestras. Once I watched from behind an orchestra as the second horn held the principal's mute a couple of inches from his bell hand; at the right moment, the principal reached swiftly to the right, grabbed the mute without looking and plunged it into the bell without missing a note. With that image in mind, the seed of a solution began to grow.

What I needed was a mute-holding holster of some kind to attach to my chair. It needed to hold both mutes securely and allow me to remove and insert the mutes without having to move much or look at them. I'd like to have oil and tools handy during rehearsals and concerts. And if my device could allow for easy storage and transport, why not include that in the design as well?

Finally, what about a name for the device? After considering several unsatisfactory possibilities, it came to me -- since we are often directed to use mutes by the command mit daempfer, why not just flip the words around? It is a mute mitt, so call it a Daempfer Mitt.

Now, five years later [1996], through the help of many product development people and a fair dose of perseverance, the Mitt actually exists. I have to say that the project has been extremely satisfying to work on. What started out as a personal playing problem has led to a solution that not only solves my own troubles, but just may serve the community of horn players on a much broader scale.

Peter teaches exercise physiology at Gordon College. His mute holders were manufactured by Kevin Woelfel, who moved to Colorado and called his company Rocky Mountain Caseworks. The company may now be out of business. Peter says that the Marcus Bona mute holders at Osmun Music are very similar to his own design, so he feels vindicated even though he didn't have the time or money to market his invention to make it successful. Also, he has a couple dozen leather mute holders in his last design that he would sell. For more information, contact him at 978-388-0976 or email Peter Iltis

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