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Horn section



 
 
In music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
, a horn section refers to two separate groups of musician
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
s. In can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play horn
Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. It is descended from the natural horn and is informally known as the French horn....
 (also known as the French horn). In modern music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrument
Wind instrument

A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator....
alists who augment a band. The composition of these groups can vary, and they are used with bands of a variety of genres.

horn section is the group of symphonic musicians who play the horn.






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In music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
, a horn section refers to two separate groups of musician
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
s. In can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play horn
Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. It is descended from the natural horn and is informally known as the French horn....
 (also known as the French horn). In modern music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrument
Wind instrument

A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator....
alists who augment a band. The composition of these groups can vary, and they are used with bands of a variety of genres.

Symphonic horn section

The horn section is the group of symphonic musicians who play the horn. These musicians are typically seated to the back of the ensemble and may be on either side at the director's discretion. Placing them to the left with their bells towards the audience increases the prominence of the section, whereas on the right, they sound reflects off the back of the stage. The order from the principal horn (1st horn) to the 4th horn is right to left from the director's view. The section is ordered in this way so the principle horn may be heard by all players as the principle sets the timbre and intonation of the section.

Modern horn section

In non-classical music
Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
 groups such as blues, funk, or rock bands, the horn section refers to a group of wind instrumentalists — usually saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
, trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
 and trombone
Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
 players; sometime singly, and sometimes in pairs or more of each instrument. In blues and jazz, saxophones and brass instruments are colloquially referred to as "horns." The horn section usually has written parts which are prepared by an arranger using orchestration
Orchestration

Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium. It only gradually over the course of music history came to be regarded as a compositional art in itself....
 techniques to provide a harmonic and melodic accompaniment to a song
Song

A song is a musical musical composition which contains vocal parts that are performed, 'sung,' and feature words , commonly accompanied by musical instruments ....
 or musical group. In some cases, the horn section may improvise a simple backing part using well-known "stock" lines.

Horn sections are an integral part of musical genres such as jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, R&B, blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
, funk
Funk

Funk is an United States Music genre that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music....
, calypso
Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the beginning of the 20th century....
, ska
Ska

Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and Calypso music with United States jazz and rhythm and blues....
, soul music
Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the African American culture through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, Secularity testifying." The genre occasion...
 and gospel music
Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. Most of these horn sections feature some combination of saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
s, trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
s and trombone
Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
s. More rarely, other wind or brass instruments such as flute
Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
, clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
 or tuba
Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped Mouthpiece ....
 may be added. Other popular musical genres also use horn sections for some songs, such as rock and pop bands.

Notable horn sections

Horn sections in blues bands and funk groups may be made up of session musician
Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental performers or vocalists who are available for hire for live performances or recording sessions, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical ensemble or who have acquired fame in their own right as bandleaders....
s playing arranged parts, or they may be a consistent group of musicians. A small number of horn sections used a consistent group of musicians that became well-known as a unit.

  • Blood, Sweat & Tears
    Blood, Sweat & Tears

    Blood, Sweat & Tears is an United States music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles....
  • The Bonaroo Horns
  • Chicago
    Chicago (band)

    Chicago is an American pop rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The band began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads....
  • Chops (original horn section for Sugar Hill Records
    Sugar Hill Records (rap)

    Sugar Hill Records was the name of a rap music record label that was founded in 1974 by husband and wife Joe Robinson and Sylvia Robinson with Milton Malden and financial funding of Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records....
     )
  • The Fat City Horns
  • The Horny Horns
    The Horny Horns

    The Horny Horns were a horn section associated with Parliament-Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band led by trombonist Fred Wesley. The group also featured saxophonist Maceo Parker and Rick Gardner and Richard 'Kush" Griffith on trumpets....
  • Hornz Unlimited of OutKast
    OutKast

    OutKast is an United States hip hop music duet based out of East Point, Georgia, a city south of Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia . The duo was originally known as The OKB but later changed its name to OutKast....
  • The J.B.'s
    The J.B.'s

    The J.B.s were James Brown's band during the first half of the 1970s. On record the J.B.s were sometimes billed under various alternate names such as The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks and The Last Word....
  • The Kick Horns
    The Kick Horns

    The Kick Horns are a London-based group of session brass instrument players who have been playing under the name since the early 1980s. They have toured and recorded with artists such as Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, The Verve, Blur , The Spice Girls, Supergrass, The Rolling Stones, Samuel Purdey and Shed Seven....
  • The Know How
    The Know How

    The Know How was a third wave ska band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1998. Their musical style blended ska and pop punk and prominently featured a Moog synthesizer alongside more typical ska instrumentation ...
     Horns
  • Lips (in Stanley Clarke
    Stanley Clarke

    Stanley Clarke is an United States jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores....
    's band during the 70's )
  • AKA Boppin' Brass (L.A. Boppers )
  • The Memphis Horns
    The Memphis Horns

    The Memphis Horns are an United States horn section made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. They have been called "arguably the greatest soul music horn section ever." Originally a sextet, the Memphis Horns gradually slimmed down to a duo, Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor saxophone....
  • The Muscle Shoals Horns
    Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

    The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was formed in 1969 when musicians Barry Beckett , Roger Hawkins , Jimmy Johnson and David Hood left FAME Studios to create their own studio....
  • The Phenix Horns
    Phenix Horns

    The Phenix Horns are Earth, Wind & Fire's famous Brass instrument horn section. Additionally, they have appeared in songs by artists such as Deniece Williams, Phil Collins, the Emotions and Genesis , among others....
     from Earth Wind & Fire
  • The Punk Funk Horns
    Rick James

    Rick James was an American musician. He was one of the most popular artists on the Motown Records label during the late 1970s and early 1980s....
  • The Seawind Horns
  • Sold for Less
  • Steely Dan
    Steely Dan

    Steely Dan is an United States jazz-Rock music band centered on core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The band reached a peak of popularity in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock and roll, funk, rhythm and blues, and Pop music....
  • The Sweet Magnolia Horns
  • The Tower of Power
    Tower of Power

    Tower of Power is a 10-member horn-based Soul music band from Oakland, California, California....
     Horns
  • The Miami Horns
    The Miami Horns

    The Miami Horns are a horn section best known for touring and/or recording with Southside Johnny, Bruce Springsteen, Little Steven and The Max Weinberg 7....