Making a winding horn

[Taurinor]

I am currently working on a winding (or blowing or hunting or signal) horn to add to my kit, and I was hoping to get some advice, since I know a few people on the forums have made/own a hunting horn.

Here is the current state of the horn:

Nickel and 14" mouse hawk included for scale.

The horn is about 12" along the long outer side, and I took almost 2" off the tip. I started out following the instructions here, and while they are very helpful conceptually, they aren't very detailed when it comes to the specifics of carving the mouthpiece.

Here is the mouthpiece as it stands now:

Nickel again included for scale.

The hole between the bowl-shaped mouthpiece and the hollow of the horn is currently 7/64". The few recommendations I have found for the dimensions of that hole range from 5 mm (almost 13/64") to 1/4". I'm planning on widening and deepening the mouthpiece and making it more cone-shaped to deepen the sound of the horn, but I was wondering if anyone here has a preferred diameter for the small hole. I was also wondering if I should cut further up the length of the horn to make the mouthpiece a little wider in diameter. I have no idea how wide the outside diameter of a mouthpiece should be.

I'm able to make a sound with the horn as it is now (I won't insult any musicians by saying I can play it), but it's a little higher pitch than I would ultimately like, when it doesn't sound like a dying animal (most certainly my fault rather than the horn's). Changing the mouthpiece size and shape should bring it down some, and if I need to, I should be able to widen in the hole after that if I want to bring it down further. I'm sure worried I'll take it too far and the horn will no longer resonate.

[Greg]

Widening the diameter of the bowl will help deepen the tone, because the length of the vibrating medium (your lips) will get longer and thus vibrate slower. I'd go ahead and widen the bowl out as far as you dare towards those edges, but I wouldn't change the size of the inner, smaller hole. That hole is what is going to generate back pressure, keeping the air in your lungs from just splooshing out and not generating a good tone. You want the tone to be able to last, so pushing through a small hole will help you maintain a constant tone. Also, the difference in diameter from small hole to large end of the horn, much like the bell on a french horn or flugelhorn, will help mellow out the tone, and project the soundwaves outward (and loudly). The shape of the horn is an amplifier; the mouthpiece itself is the actual instrument. Think of an acoustic guitar...you play the strings; the hollow body is only there to amplify the sound so it can be heard.

As for the overall pitch, once you've gotten the bowl of the mouthpiece a bit wider (and a shade deeper, perhaps), you won't be able to get it any lower than that. Every horn has a resonance frequency that sounds best with the density of the material and length of the instrument, from end to end. Making it lower would require a longer horn, so cutting it shorter will only make it higher. Whatever the "fundamental" tone is that you're able to get out of it (meaning the lowest, strong note you can manage) is going to be it. After that, the next few tones UP from the fundamental will be a fifth and then an 8th (octave) above the fundamental, allowing for a couple cute bugle-like (or rohan-like, as it were) calls.

Eric C's horn plays quite high, actually, but the tone is crisp and BOY does it carry.

Enjoy! If you're having trouble playing it, I'll go in more detail on embrochure and changing pitch.

[Taurinor]

Thanks, Greg! That is all very helpful information - not just the "what", but the "why" of it, as well!

[Manveruon]

Exciting project! I can't wait to see how it ends up!

And Greg, as always, you are a veritable encyclopedia, haha.

[Greg]

Not always.

But I have been playing trumpet for eighteen years... *wink

[Rifter]

'And the winds of middle earth carried the horn of Taurinor across the sky'