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About horns...

The horn is a well-known instrument belonging to the brass family within a musical ensemble and is also widely known by the nickname "French horn." It stands out for its great musical versatility and for having a shape that resembles a snail. It is, without a doubt, an indispensable solo instrument in the most common symphony orchestras, bands, and chamber music groups. Frequently, they are seen behind the woodwind section within an orchestra.

Context and some history

We owe the creation of the horn to J. B. Dupont in 1825, in the capital of France, Paris. Although we attribute its creation to him, we must emphasize that what he actually did was perfect an original model patented years earlier. What Dupont achieved was an instrument with no more lengths than those necessary to reach any desired tonality. The truth is that the horn has evolved a lot over centuries, from the ancient Roman and Greek times when conches and horns were blown, already suggesting the existence of this instrument, or in the 17th century when it began to have a musical purpose; up to the present day where the detail and precision of brass instruments are surprising.

Main parts of the horn

Some of the common parts and features of horns are:

• The mouthpiece, a brass essential

The piece on which musicians vibrate their lips to pass air through the instrument. There are many horn mouthpieces as it is something very personal; musicians have different preferences regarding dimensions or shape of the mouthpieces... But... we'll talk about that elsewhere!

• The leadpipe: a key part

A piece located at the beginning of the tube where the mouthpiece is, and which extends to the tuning slide, thanks to its approximate 50 centimeters in length. Like the mouthpiece, it is often an element that suffers a lot from deterioration, so its proper maintenance should be essential.

• Scarce presence of valves: 3 are enough

Unlike other instruments of its family, it stands out for the use of few valves, although currently, most horns use rotors instead of piston valves. However, there are some very common horn models where we can find up to 5, as is the case with some double and triple horns.

• Main tube or horn: a musical tunnel

As its name suggests, it is the largest conduit through which air travels until it is emitted through the bell as sound.

• Additional tubes: mini musical tunnels

The number of tubes, as with the valves, will depend on the type of horn in question, which in turn will depend on the tuning of each instrument and even each musical style or country of manufacture. Double horns can have up to 9 additional tubes.

• The bell, another essential part of brass instruments

With a diameter of about 30 cm, the bell, also called the flare, amplifies the sound as if it were a megaphone, reaching the maximum vibration of the instrument, in acoustic terms.

• Water key: Open the floodgates!

It is common in brass instruments, to be able to drain the saliva (or rather, the condensed water from blowing) accumulated inside the instrument and thus improve its condition.

The sound and musical genres of the horn

The sound of the horn has the peculiarity of being able to be altered depending on the position of the right hand inside the bell; it can modify everything from the color of the sound to the tuning itself. On the other hand, the famous "bouches" widely used in current music by many composers, can be created by covering the bell, creating a very striking muffled or veiled sound.

The peculiarities of the sound and the timbral character of the horn allow us to categorize the instrument within classical music (such as in symphony orchestras or chamber music). It is less common in the jazz genre.

How the horn works

By placing the lips on the mouthpiece and blowing air while making them vibrate, the sound is amplified along the tube until it reaches the bell, which emits it with emphasis. The volume of the sound will depend on the amount of air we emit