SoundsField recordingsFrequenciesDecibelsInstrumentsGlossaryToolsLearn
  1. Home
  2. Instruments
  3. Brass
  4. Blowing horn: How It Makes Sound & History
Brass

Blowing horn

The blowing horn is a member of the brass (Hornbostel–Sachs 423.121.2). Learn how it makes its sound and explore related instruments.

How the blowing horn makes its sound

In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the blowing horn belongs to the brass (lip-vibrated aerophones): the player's buzzing lips set the air column vibrating – trumpets, horns, trombones, tubas and the didgeridoo.

More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.

Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.

From Wikipedia

The blowing horn or winding horn is a sound device that is usually made of or shaped like an animal horn, arranged to blow from a hole in the pointed end of it. This rudimentary device had a variety of functions in many cultures, in most cases reducing its scope to exhibiting, celebratory or group identification purposes (signal instrument). On the other hand, it has kept its function and profile in many cattle raising, agricultural and hunter-gatherer societies.

Other brass

Frequently asked questions

What does a blowing horn sound like?

As one of the brass, its sound comes from the way the player's buzzing lips set the air column vibrating.

What type of instrument is the blowing horn?

It is classified as brass (lip-vibrated aerophones) (Hornbostel–Sachs 423.121.2).

Sources & credits