horn musical instrument comparisons?

[Rick Lee]

Being a trumpet player, I've sometimes wondered about the similarities/differences between a musical instrument horn (mih) and a speaker horn. For instance, with mihs you change notes within the overtone series for the same valve position and you can't play anything other than octaves, fifths, thirds, seconds etc. as you go up the overtone series. Why is it that speaker horns don't seem to display that characteristic? For instance, if the fundamental of the speaker is 50hz than the octaves are 100, 200, 400, etc. It seems to me that at those points the frequency response would be much stronger. My understanding is that these are 1/4 wavelength subs- does that have anything to do with it?

Also, with mihs you have what's called "pedal tones" which are notes you can play below the normal range of the instrument but they take a different technique to play.

I'm assuming it has to do with the flare rate of the horn...

[SeisTres]

Everything you have described has mostly to do with the mouthpiece and they way your lips interact with said mouthpiece. Of course the horn itself gives it it's characteristic sound to the buzzing, the horn itself will play will play different frequencies just fine. It's hard to play a chromatic scale without valves, but is doable with practice. Think of mouthpiece exercises, changing your lips to help with a flat or sharp note and how kazoos work.

But if you wanna see how a particular musical horn shapes the sound, it's fun to put a headphone instead of the mouthpiece and play some stuff through it. Sweeps would be nice along with just regular music.

[bassmonster]

I've done the same, stick an earbud into the mouthpiece hole of my trumpet. It makes it a lot louder!

[Rick Lee]

Everything you have described has mostly to do with the mouthpiece and they way your lips interact with said mouthpiece. Of course the horn itself gives it it's characteristic sound to the buzzing, the horn itself will play will play different frequencies just fine. It's hard to play a chromatic scale without valves, but is doable with practice.

Actually, that's not what I'm talking about. I've been playing trumpet for over 40 years with quite a few of those years playing full time professionally so I know how to bend notes. However, the horn doesn't "naturally" play those in between frequencies. That's why there's valves. I've heard it explained that it's because of standing waves, but if that's the case why does a speaker horn not have standing waves at the harmonics?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

I've heard it explained that it's because of standing waves, but if that's the case why does a speaker horn not have standing waves at the harmonics?

Valves work by increasing the length of tubing when engaged, thereby lowering the pitch. So how a trumpet works is more like what happens when you V couple a pair of Tubas or Titans.