How has the french horn changed?

Answer 1

it used to have a bell like a trumpets' so it had a really brassy sound instead of a mellow sound. it also used to not have valves! its called a "natural horn." they would change the pitch with the lips and right hand position (because when you put the hand farther into the bell the pitch goes down)

Answer 2

The horn originally had only one twist, so looked a lot different than horns today. The reasoning behind this is because the horns also didn't have valves. When the player wanted to change a note, he/she changed their embouchure as well as the position their hand was in inside the bell. They would open it farther, or close it tighter.

Answer 3

Early horns didn't have valves, so they could only play a limited number of notes. To play in different keys, players actually had to switch out the tuning slide (called a "crook"), which came in varying lengths depending on key.

Answer 4

If you run an image search on the word "sackbut," you'll see instruments from the Middle Ages that are easily recognizable as trombones. As soon as metal-working skills reached the point that it was possible to make a tube that could slide in and out over another tube, with a fairly airtight seal, it was possible to make a Trombone-like instrument. This was a lot less complicated than valves, which didn't come along for a few more centuries!

The main difference between the Medieval sackbut and the modern trombone is obvious from the pictures--the sackbut had almost no flare at the bell, but instead increased almost conically at the end, to a relatively narrow opening. The sound of the sackbut is darker and more muted; the bell section of a modern trombone, however, is built more like that of a Trumpet, and gives the instrument a brighter, brassier edge.

The biggest development, I would say, has been the addition of trigger-actuated valves to the basic slide technology. The most common addition is an "F trigger," which opens an extra section of tubing that transposes the instrument down a perfect 4th (from B-flat down to F on a standard B-flat trombone). This obviously allows the instrument to play lower, but also creates a new set of optional positions for playing some of the higher notes as well.

Answer 5

French horn grew out of the woodsman's horn. It was rather deep-toned, so the sound would carry farther in the woods. Needing to be fairly long for that purpose, it was made coiled up, so it could be carried over a shoulder. A horn call was the easiest way for members of a hunting party spread all over the woods to locate each other. By the time of Beethoven, the horn had different sized "crooks" (short lengths of pipe) that could be removed and replaced in seconds, to allow the instrument to play in different keys. By 40 years after that, it had valves, as it does today.

Answer 6

Once upon a time, brass instruments didn't have valves. Natural horns (those without valves) could only play notes in the overtone series of a single key at a time. To change keys, the player would have to switch crooks (tuning slides) of different lengths.

Answer 7

the french horn was once just a animal horn for hunting but now it is a metal horn that has a bell and a mouthpiece

Answer 8

its turned gold.