Hornophone

thumb|Nutty Noah playing the hornophone The '''hornophone''' is a musical instrument composed of a number of bicycle horns clamped into a metal frame. The horns are tuned to the notes of a chromatic scale and arranged so that the bulbs form a musical keyboard, much like the bars of a xylophone or glockenspiel. The instrument is typically played standing, by squeezing the horn bulbs.

== History ==

thumb|Taxi horns for Gershwin's ''An American in Paris'' The instrument was anticipated in the 1920s as the two-octave "Horn Orchestra of Stanelli", built by British music hall performer Edward Stanley de Groot from 24 car horns.<ref name="grove">{{Cite Grove|title=Sound effects |first=Hugh |last=Davies |id=47631}}</ref> American composer George Gershwin, inspired by the sound of taxi horns when visiting France, included four in the orchestration of his 1928 tone poem ''An American in Paris''. For his 1929 piece ''March of the Automobiles'', American composer Henry Fillmore invented the similar klaxophone, built from 12 tuned klaxons. In the 1940s and 50s, band leader and drummer Spike Jones used many unusual instruments for comic effect, including sets of tuned car horns.<ref name="grove"/> Hungarian composer György Ligeti later included a chromatic set of 12 bulb horns in his 1977 opera, ''Le Grand Macabre''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Toot Your Horn! |work=WQXR Blog |publisher=WNYC Radio |publication-place=New York |date=3 June 2010 |first=Naomi |last=Lewin |url=https://www.wqxr.org/#!/blogs/wqxr-blog/2010/jun/03/toot-your-horn/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231210417/https://www.wqxr.org/#!/blogs/wqxr-blog/2010/jun/03/toot-your-horn/ |archive-date=31 December 2015 |url-status=dead |access-date=23 July 2024 }}</ref>

== Known performers ==

In the 21st century, the hornophone continues to appear mainly in musical comedy acts, notably by British comedians Harry Hill, Nutty Noah, and Bill Bailey.<ref name="cossins-hill">{{cite web |title=28 famous people and the instruments they play |publisher=Cossins Music School |publication-place=Wakefield |url= http://www.cossinsmusicschool.co.uk/28-famous-people-and-the-instruments-they-play/ |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151210045552/http://www.cossinsmusicschool.co.uk/28-famous-people-and-the-instruments-they-play |archive-date=10 December 2015}}</ref><ref name="guardian-bailey">{{cite AV media |title=Bill Bailey live session: How I covered ... Gary Numan's Cars |people=Bill Bailey (hornophone) |date=20 September 2011 |work=The Guardian |medium=music video |url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2011/sep/15/bill-bailey-gary-numan-cars-video |access-date=25 July 2024}}</ref><ref name="nuttynoah">{{cite AV media |title=Try out Medley on the Horns and Cowbells |medium=video |people=Nutty Noah (hornophone) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcBsEqJPYaY |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401093518/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcBsEqJPYaY |archive-date=1 April 2024 |via=YouTube |access-date=13 March 2016 }}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Aerophones Category:Experimental musical instruments