Color

"For me, music and life are all about style."

Miles Davis was a musician intent on developing his own style. If his music sounded like someone else's he wouldn't allow himself to present as his own. Miles developed his sound not only personaly with his own ideas but also technically by utilizing "the mute" to give his sound a different effect.. A mute is a metalic cone shaped object lined with cork where the trumpet's bell and the mute come in contact. It helps to dampen the sound coming from the trumpets bell while adding color depending on the mutes specific structure (some are bigger or smaller than others) and material (different metals). Miles use of the mute wasn't only present in his ballads, but all different tempos, dynamic levels, and meters. The song All Blues demonstartes the use of the mute in a 3/4 meter with a medium tempo feel.

media type="file" key="02 All Blues.mp3"

One can here the breath of Miles when his horn is muted. It adds a certain personal touch to the feeling one can have while listening. It's as if he is singing or humming symmoltaniously with the carfuly chosen notes he plays. With the mute there are in a sense three connections being made that can set off new feelings for the listeners and the artist doing the musi making. The three connections: the ideas and technical ability of the artist being infused into the mouth piece of the instrument, the vibrations of the bell comming in contact with the mute, those sounds reaching the ear of the listener and the ear of the musician and musicians in the group. These connections can be made in any genre of music with or without a mute, but in jazz the sense of freedom to interact and converse with the other musicians seperates it from other more rigid styles. For everyone in the group to be able to express their feelings is a beutiful thing and I believe it brings out great individuality amongst the players, while at the same time creating (the musicians) a flowing interesting conversation. The warm metalic sound that appears from the small cracks and crevices left by the mute seperate a regular trumpet from a muted one and this effect gives the musician more directions to go in while playing.

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