Ôtez les sourdines

As Printed on a Score

Printed in the rests before an unmuted passage as the cue to remove the mutes; the singular ôtez la sourdine and the synonym enlevez la sourdine work the same way. It cancels sourdines or avec sourdine, and the open entry may then be marked sans sourdines.

Also spelled: otez les sourdines, ôtez, ôtez la sourdine

How Composers Use It

Ôtez les sourdines gives players their cue in time, so place it in rests long enough to remove mutes quietly — more time for brass than for strings. If the change must be quick, let one group stay muted a few bars longer or stagger the change across desks. Mark a dynamic for the open entry too, since the unmuted sound is noticeably brighter and stronger.

Example

Boulanger, D’un matin de printemps, first violins, m. 139: “ôtez les sourdines”, a bar after a pp.

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