The saxhorn is an instrument that belongs to the brass family of instruments. It is a valved instrument. The saxhorn is a brass instrument that features a tapered bore and a mouthpiece that is shaped like a deep cup. The sound that the saxhorn creates has a quality that is characteristically mellow, allowing for it to blend in well with other brass instruments in the orchestra.

The saxhorns form a complete family made up of seven different instruments. However, it might be interesting for you to know that at one point, there seems to have been ten different instruments occupying this family of instruments. The saxhorn family was designed primarily for band use. These instruments are pitched in B-flat and E-flat alternately, just like with the saxophone group of instruments. There was a parallel family that was built for orchestral use in F and C, but this family of instruments seems to have died out over time and fallen into complete disuse in modern music.

There is quite a bit of confusion surrounding the nomenclature for the various instruments when it comes to how the instruments are referred to in different languages. This confusion has been exacerbated even further by the constant debate regarding whether the saxhorn family was a truly new family, or if it was simply a further development of the members of the previously existing tuba and cornet families of instruments. The saxhorn is also regularly confused with a German instrument known as the flugelhorn, which has a completely different configuration that predates the configuration and the design of the saxhorn. This level of confusion certainly has not been helped by the fact that many of the instruments that are referred in modern times as the flugelhorn are not actually flugelhorns at all, but rather are soprano style saxhorns.

The saxhorn was developed primarily during the mid and late 1830s, and it was patented in Paris in the year 1845 by Adolphe Sax, who is also responsible for the Saxophone. The saxhorn turned out to be one of the most common brass instruments for bands during the American Civil War era. There was an over the shoulder variety for this instrument that was primarily used during this time. It ha a backwards pointing bell that allowed troops marching behind the instrument to hear it being played, which was a definite plus during this time because it moved soldiers during the war and brought entertainment when there was very little to be had during that era.

There are a number of contemporary and traditional works of music that feature the saxhorn, and it is still an instrument that is played in orchestral pieces, especially along with the bass tuba, the piano and the saxophone.

Photo credits: celesteh

Originally posted 2009-09-10 03:06:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Acoustic Musical Instruments, Instrument History, saxhorn