Natural Horns — Homemade & Manufactured

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Note on the videos: Sometimes I have had to wait for the video to load before it launches, and then wait again while the rest of the video is still loading in the buffer.

Background

Since my Junior High School years I have been intrigued by sounds that can be produced by sending vibrating air from the lips through a tube. When I was in 7th or 8th grade, my parents allowed me to disassemble a broken down washing machine and see what was inside. I found what I think was a mixer to let varying amounts of hot & cold water into the machine, and a number of large black rubber tubes. I made a primitive 2-note "tuba" out of those parts by sending air in the opposite direction of the water flow: Blow into the output tube toward the mixer, then attach tubes of different lengths to the two input sides. By buzzing into the single tube and operating the mixer as a simple valve, I basically had a 2 "bell", 2 tone instrument.

Later in High School Physics (ca. 1969-1970), my lab partner and I chose to build two wind instruments for our annual project – a single valve trumpet and a flute. With the help of the book Horns, Strings & Harmony — The Science of Enjoyable Sounds, by Arthur H. Benade (Anchor Books, 1960), we learned about simple vibrating systems, more complicated vibrating systems, the structure and workings of ears, stringed instruments, pipes and horns, brass instruments, woodwinds, and in the final chapter – "Homemade Wind Instruments" — where we found directions for our project. I believe we got a solid "A" on the project. I still have the book, too. In fact, the book is available on Amazon!

After I retired in 2021, I decided to audit the course PHYS 207, The Physics of Music, at the University of Washington. Some 50 years after my High School project I got an incredible "refresher" course. I now have more time to explore this wonderful world of sound making.

PVC Alphorn in F with Wood Alphorn Duet

For information about how I built the PVC Alphorn, click here.

Our Video Link — Uf de Bänklialp, played by my daughter Kelsy and me (Aug 7, 2023).

Can you tell which part is being played by the homemade PVC alphorn and which by the Austrian-made Heimatklang wood alphorn?

PVC Trumpet in E for William Tell Overture

The famous William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini was scored for two trumpets in E. Most of us in the U.S. play B-flat trumpets. Classical trumpet players often also have a trumpet in C. Baroque trumpet players have a variety of tunings. These are mostly "natural" trumpets, the ones you find in the wild. Well, not really. Natural trumpets, or natural horns, are basically tubes without holes, valves or slides - like a bugle. The available notes are those of the natural harmonic series. The trumpet parts for the William Tell Overture are entirely playable on a natural trumpet, but one tuned to the "fundamental" pitch of E, not a very common tuning nowadays. I began with a long straight tube to find the length I needed:

Long Straight Tube

Link to Video

I'm trying to play along with this YouTube Video by the hr-Sinfonieorchester, Christoph Eschenbach
(at about time 8:20 - 8:40). I was having a hard time keeping up ... um ... I mean the conductor and orchestra were not following my lead :)

Wrapped PVC Trumpet

I then made a wrapped version of the E-Trumpet. Same length of tubing, ergonomically better :)

I drilled a vent hole about 3 inches away from the mouthpiece to "lift" the lower note, which is generally flat (especially on these mostly cylindrical horns). Diameter of the vent hole and the distance from the mouthpiece were determined by trial and error. Generally I play with the thumb over the vent hole. On the lower note, I rock my thumb back, opening the vent hole, but not completely.

Here is how it sounds:

Link to Video of wrapped E Trumpet (William Tell)

Garden Hose Horn in C for Alphorn Theme in Brahms Symphony 1, Mvmt 4

This familiar theme was written down by Brahms on a piece of paper (not a postcard, as is commonly thought) to record an alphorn melody he heard while in Switzerland.

Link to Image Information / Link to Image

Brahms incorporated this melody into his Symphony No. 1, Movement 4.
This section of Movement 4 is written for 2 Horns in C.
It is the C lower than the normal tuning for Horn in F.
A natural Horn in F is about 12 feet long (about the same length as an Alphorn in F).
A C "crook" must be added to extend the length of the Horn to about 17 feet.
Here is my attempt to replicate a ca. 17-foot Horn in C using a length of garden hose, an alphorn mouthpiece, and a large plastic funnel. On such homemade horns with long cylindrical tubes, the lower notes are especially difficult to play in tune, or play at all.

My video recording of this melody made famous by Brahms:

Link to Video

[Link to YouTube Video Source]

For my segment, see YouTube Video Source at time 2:25 - 3:30.

Playing technique for the Garden Hose Horn. Do not wrap the hose too tightly around your neck. That makes it exceedingly difficult to breathe and produces a horribly anemic tone. Garden Hose Horn coiled in its natural habitat. Be cautious when approaching these in the wild. They can react in rather unpredictable ways. Garden Hose Horn compared with Bb Trumpet and F Alphorn,
Fully stretched, the Garden Hose Horn is about 5 feet longer than the F Alphorn.*

* Note: It would have been cool to stretch out my trumpet tubing in a straight line for better comparison.

Anneke Scott: Understanding Period Instruments | Natural & Valved Horns

With C Basso crook on arm

See the full explanation: YouTube Video
(Image above at time stamp 1:07)

Post Horn Gallop for Post Horn in A-Flat

Imitating an opening segment of this YouTube Video with a homemade A-Flat Post Horn

Link to my Video

 

For more information about natural horns and crooks, see:

 

To purchase natural trumpets:

Trumpet hack for playing a screaming high note :)

This has nothing to do with natural horns. It was just a good place to drop in a trick I learned from a YouTube video that is no longer available. First, watch my video. I have always had problems playing high notes on my trumpet. In less than 10 minutes of prep which did not involve playing my trumpet, I squeaked out a very high note, effortlessly! After watching the video, scroll down for the secret :) (From my FB post on April 19, 2022).

Video: Nailing the High Note

Scroll down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preparation:

1. Buy a squeaky toy from the dollar store. Try them all and buy the one with the highest pitch.

2. Cut out the squeaker device.

 

3. Carefully place the squeaker device in the 3rd valve side, so the direction of air flow activates the squeaker. Put it in loosely so it doesn't get stuck. Carefully place the slide back into the trumpet.

 

4. Play some notes but don't depress the 3rd valve until it's time.

5. When it's time, make a tight face, make it look like it's going to be super difficult, press down only the 3rd valve, and blow lightly. You might need to practice how much air to produce so you don't under- or overblow.

6. Be sure to remove the squeaker before playing at your next concert.

Note: Just one note. Yes, that's it. You only get to play one high note. It would take too long and ruin the fun if you had a handful of differently pitched squeakers to try to swap out while playing.

 

 

Gary Martin
University of Washington Faculty Profile