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Definition of horn

3K views 25 replies 18 participants last post by  soybean 
#1 ·
I always hear saxes referred to as horns, along with brass instruments. So I'd like to know: what constitutes an instrument being called a horn? I've tried to look it up online but all I could find was that brass instruments are horns, which doesn't mention sax at all.
 
#2 ·
Originally "horn" just referred to the instrument we now often call the "French horn", but jazz musicians started using the term to cover any wind instrument (and sometimes even other instruments.)

It's convenient being able to use one term to refer to all wind instruments, rather than having to name them individually. For example you can say, "We have a five-piece horn section", as opposed to, "We have alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, trumpet, and trombone."
 
#20 ·
Originally "horn" just referred to the instrument we now often call the "French horn", but jazz musicians started using the term to cover any wind instrument (and sometimes even other instruments.)

It's convenient being able to use one term to refer to all wind instruments, rather than having to name them individually. For example you can say, "We have a five-piece horn section", as opposed to, "We have alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, trumpet, and trombone."
OK, but the flute is a wind instrument . . . and I don't ever recall anyone referring to a flute as a horn. But then I do have limited experience . . .
 
#3 ·
Once you get "horn" wrung out, try getting a handle on why some persist to call a saxophone an "ax".

And no, it's not an abbreviation of "sax". It comes from the wannabes that hang out with guitar players that refer to their instruments as "ax".
 
#4 ·
Horns were originally made from the horns of grazing animals, right? So I'd say that the strictest definition of a horn is "a closed-ended, reedless wind instrument that has a conical bore". It's not much of a step to include cylindrical bores, slides and valves. If we can depart on the bore shape, why can't we also include reeds? And since Adolph did play with valved instruments....
 
#5 ·
Thanks, all; it makes sense now.
 
#7 ·
Yes, I've heard pianos and guitars referred to as "horns." Basically a jazz guy may refer to any musical instrument as a horn.

When I first started playing classical bassoon, I took mine to a professional bassoonists who also was a known bassoon repair tech for some work. As I talked with him about my bassoon, I was about to call it a horn; I stopped myself and asked him, "Do you guys refer to your bassoons as horns?" He smiled and said, "Absolutely!" So it seems the horn terminology has invaded the classical world, too!
 
#25 ·
I always thought that "horns" had a conical bore — yes, I know trumpets and baritones have a cylindrical bore but they have the characteristic flared "horn" shape at the end of the airway. Think of a cattle horn, ram's horn, or a cornucopia. The cylindrical flute wouldn't be called a "horn". The clarinet though, is sort of tricky. We usually refer to the flared end as a "bell" and lots of clarinet players are kind of reticent to refer to the instrument as a "horn". Cynical doublers have been know to refer to it as the "fish horn" however.
 
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