Sometimes called the French horn, the horn is actually technically German in origin. It’s from the brass family, and is made of, well, brass. The sounds are produced via the players lips on the cup-shaped mouthpiece – notes are changed by adjusting both the lip tension, using the valves to lengthen or shorten the tubing, and by putting a hand inside the bell to make the instrument longer.

The modern horn is a descendent of the hunting horn, and its sound is often used by composers to signify a hunt. It is also capable of producing a haunted and distant sound, and is well used in film music.

The horns usually sit on the opposite side of the orchestra to their other brass colleagues, and usually number four. They work in pairs, with horns 1 and 3 taking high parts and horns 2 and 4 taking low parts. There is also sometimes an extra horn called a bumper, who can assist the principal in solo passages or to make parts louder.

• The horn is pitched in F, and sounds four notes higher than written on the page • Richard Strauss wrote parts for 20 horns in his Alpine Symphony • The actor Ewan McGregor is known to have learnt the horn • If its tubing were stretched straight out it would be about 6 metres long