the sound a bit. They are not in common use, but they are not rare either. They are usually only made for the alto saxophone, although bigger and smaller ones can be made and used for higher and lower registers of saxophone. Some companies currently produce mutes that cover the entirety of the instrument (such as the E-Sax Whisper mute and the Silent Sax case), thus dramatically diminishing the volume of sound produced. To date their overall effectiveness is still in question.
Drums may require muting if they "ring" too much. They can be muted by laying a small piece of cloth (or in a pinch, a credit card, adhesive bandages, or even sanitary napkins and duct or gaffer tape for larger drums) over their skin resulting in a muffled sound, but there are also specialized adhesive cloth mutes that stick to the head of the drum. Timpani players will run their fingers across the surface of the drum-head to control unwanted resonance.
For the snare drum, tenor drums, or the entire drum (trap) set, drum and cymbal mute pads (such as SoundOff by Evans, Deadhead Pads by DW Drum Workshop, and Vic Firth Drum Set Mutes, and many others) are available for playing quietly while practicing. These usually consist of a piece of rubber or foam rubber that is laid on top of each drum head and cymbal. Computer mouse pads (whole or pieces) may also be placed on drum heads and cymbals to achieve a similar effect.
Many struck idiophones, such as the claves, can be muted by varying the way the instruments are held or struck in order to reduce their resonance. Shaken idiophones, such as maracas, can often be muted by holding or squeezing the ball section in the palm of the hand instead of holding them by the handle, which can alter the tone as well as the volume for added versatility during recording sessions.
Traditionally, a military band playing for a funeral would cover the drums with cloth, producing a muffled tone suitable to the solemn occasion.
The soft pedal of the piano can be seen as having the effect of a mute. In a grand piano, depressing the soft pedal shifts the action slightly to one side, making the hammers hit only two of the three strings for each note (or one of the two at lower registers). This results in a quieter and "thinner" sound. In some upright pianos, the soft pedal instead moves the hammers slightly closer to the strings, shortening the blow distance and weakening the strike. The effect is then markedly smaller than in the grand piano, and is a matter of volume but not timbre.
Indication that the soft pedal should be used is the instruction una corda or sometimes due corde, with tre corde or sometimes tutte le corde cancelling it. On early pianos it was possible by use of the soft pedal to play only one, two, or all three strings, making the distinction between una corda (one string) and due corde (two strings) meaningful; but this is no longer the case.
It used to be common for pianos to be fitted with another kind of mute — a piece of felt or similar material which would sit between the hammers and the strings. This results in a very muffled and much quieter sound. It was not used in any serious context, but was useful for reducing the volume of the instrument when practicing and was often termed a "Practice Pedal". Few pianos, apart from some uprights, have this device today.
To confuse matters, the instruction senza sordino (or some variant) is sometimes used to indicate continuous application of the sustain pedal on a piano, throughout a long section or an entire movement (as opposed to the standard use of , or alternatively a brace mark, written below the staff, for short applications of the pedal). The sordino of this notation refers to the felt dampers, each of which stops the sound of a note's strings when the note is not being played. When all the dampers are lifted by the sustain pedal (senza sordino), all the strings of the piano are allowed to sound, resulting in a complex sound when all strings are free to sound sympathetically with other strings. (See Moonlight Sonata for a classic example of senza sordi