structural:summarization
Mute or sordino

Attaching a small metal, rubber, leather, or wooden device called a mute, or sordino, to the bridge of the violin gives a softer, more mellow tone, with fewer audible overtones; the sound of an entire orchestral string section playing with mutes has a hushed quality. The mute changes both the loudness and the timbre ("tone colour") of a violin. The conventional Italian markings for mute usage are con sord., or con sordino, meaning 'with mute'; and senza sord., meaning 'without mute'; or via sord., meaning 'mute off'.

Larger metal, rubber, or wooden mutes are widely available, known as practice mutes or hotel mutes. Such mutes are generally not used in performance, but are used to deaden the sound of the violin in practice areas such as hotel rooms. (For practicing purposes there is also the mute violin, a violin without a sound box.) Some composers have used practice mutes for special effect, for example, at the end of Luciano Berio 's Sequenza VIII for solo violin.