Horn section

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In a symphony orchestra the horn section is the group of musicians who play the horn (sometimes referred to as the French horn). These musicians normally are seated on the left hand of the director, with the order from the principal horn (1st horn) to the 4th horn being left to right from the director's view; the director can see into the bells of the horns, and the principal horn is positioned to hear all horns perfectly.

In non-Classical musical groups, the horn section refers to a group of wind instruments — usually saxophones, trumpets and trombones — which are colloquially called "horns." Usually, the horn section has written parts which are prepared by an arranger using orchestration techniques to provide a harmonic and melodic accompaniment to a song or musical group.

Many non-Classical musical genres use horn sections for some songs, such as rock and pop bands. However, horn sections are an integral part of musical genres such as jazz, R&B, blues, funk, calypso, ska, soul music and gospel music. Most of these horn sections feature some combination of saxophones, trumpets and trombones. Sometimes other wind or brass instruments such as flute, clarinet or tuba are used in horn sections.

[edit] Notable horn sections

Horn sections are often made up of session musicians playing arranged parts. A small number of horn sections used a consistent group of musicians, and they became well-known as a unit.