Acoustical characteristics of annealed French horn bell flares

Abstract

One-third octave airborne sound level measurements were recorded for four yellow brass and three nickel–silver French horn bell flares of varying hardness. The sound level associated with the unannealed brass flares was higher in the 1–3 kHz range than with the annealed brass bell flares, whereas the opposite relationship was observed for nickel–silver bell flares. The measured acoustical differences support musicians’ claims that the material of a French horn affects its tone quality.