Post Horn
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The Post Horn appeared in a variety of forms : coiled, crescent-shaped, and straight, like this one. The post horn was used in Europe by guards on mailcoaches to signal the arrival of the mail. Only a limited number of notes, or harmonics, can be played on a post horn, because it has no valves or slide. The different notes are played by altering the breath pressure and the tautness of the lips.
| Family |
| Brasses |
| Pitch range |
| About five notes over one-and-a-half octaves. |
| Material |
| Brass. |
| Size |
| About 3 ft (0.90 m) long. |
| Origins |
| The post horn developed from a small, coiled horn, used until the early 17th century in France, England, and Germany. The straight post horn was first seen in England in the early 1800s. |
| Classification |
| Aerophone: an instrument that produces its sound by the vibration of a column of air. |
| And also... |
| In the 18th century, coachmen sounded the post horn to signal the arrival and departure of the mail. The post horn was still in use up to 1914 in England, on the London to Oxford mail. |
