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What does Alpenhorn mean?
Definition of alpenhorn : a straight wooden horn 5 to 14 feet (about 1.5 to 4.3 meters) in length used chiefly by Swiss herdsmen.
What is an Alpenhorn used for?
alphorn, German alpenhorn, long horn played by Alpine herdsmen and villagers, sounded for intercommunication and at daily ceremonies and seasonal festivals. It is carved or bored in wood and overwound with birch bark.
How long is an Alpenhorn?
Since an alphorn is a natural instrument, its length also defines the basic tone or tuning. Horns are available in lengths between 2.45 m and 4.05 m. In Switzerland, the length has been set at 3.47 m, which corresponds to the keynote “f#”. Usually the alphorn is made up of three parts for easier transport.
How much does an alpine horn cost?
An alphorn in great condition could cost anywhere from as little as $1,500 to as much as $6,500, but alphorns made of an exotic wood could cost up to 40 percent more.
What kind of horn is in the Ricola commercial?
the alphorn
You may know the alphorn, that 12-foot-long wooden trumpet in the Ricola cough drop television commercials. People really play them, and those want to learn how go to Switzerland to learn.
What is a Labrophone?
The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a straight several-meter-long wooden natural horn of conical bore, with a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. Similar wooden horns were used for communication in most mountainous regions of Europe, from the Alps to the Carpathians.
What instrument is in the Ricola commercial?
What is an Alpenhorn made of?
Construction and qualities The alphorn is carved from solid softwood, generally spruce but sometimes pine. In former times, the alphorn maker would find a tree bent at the base in the shape of an alphorn, but modern makers piece the wood together at the base.
What is the alphorn made of?
The alphorn is still a long, conical tube, bent at the end like a cow’s horn. Until the 1930s, the alphorn was made from young, crooked pines growing in steep places. Since this Alpine wood grows slowly, the growth rings are very close together. The trunks are cut up, hollowed out and then put back together.
Why are Alpenhorns so long?
Sometimes the trees would bend from the weight of snow during the wintertime, and this caused them to have the larger and bent mouthpiece at their ends.