There was another difference between the "high-class" musician [who could read music] and the dance [band] musician [who could not read music]. The latter was proud of his status and didn't want to sound like an opera-house tooter, so he tried to get as honky-tonk as possible to avoid a "legit" tone. They built up the honky-tonk tone with mutes, of which they had an endless variety. Sharkey Bonano, when he traveled north to New York, astounded Manhattan natives by showing them the New Orleans trick of putting the bell of a trumpet into a bucket of water! They had endless gadgets in those bands--kazoos, plunger mutes, half-cocoanut shells at the bell--as well as the regular theater mute. << less