Author: John Runs This Place

We love squeeze horns! Especially the brass honkers we import from India! A labor of love. Happy Honking!

1929 Version Gershwin Set of Horns

Moving forward, if I’ve linked to this page from my home page, it’s because I have a set in stock, ready to go. And the audio file (below) will be of the actual set of horns I have for sale.  (Most of the information on this page comes to us via the University of Michigan. The entire story of how the 1929 version of pitched horns came to be known is told here: Gershwin Taxi Horns.)

Gershwin, and ‘hornist’ James Rosenberg contemplate the French taxi horns the composer had found with the help of Mabel Schirmer in Paris. (Gershwin Collection)

A3 D5 Bb4 Ab4 from left to right. The DCBA refer to how the use of the horns was noted in the score (Not the tones to be played!)
The 4 horn set comes with 4 attaching brackets.This set of horn’s pitches.

 

Compare to taxi horns used in the 1929 recording George supervised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Gershwin Sets

I’m guessing a lot of orchestras are putting together their spring/summer concert series. A few of them will be performing “An American In Paris” and are looking for sets of tuned horns. Especially following the more recent discovery of the 1929 version pitches.  Happy to say I’m having some success at helping folks out. Still more of an art and I hope to be making my own reeds sometime this year but…

a variety of brass horns, reeds and tools on a purple background