How to Describe the sound a Horn makes

[Androxine Vortex]

In one point in my book, there will be different horns to signal different things that the army will do. So if a certain horn is played then maybe that means that the archers will send a volley into the enemy and so on. But how do you go about describing the different sounds? For example, how would you describe the different sounds used in this video?

 

[CupofJoe]

Personally I wouldn't try to describe the sounds of the horns except for the emotion they convey. I'd go with describing their effect.
"I could see the men stiffen as the brassy note told then the archers were ready... on the next call they would charge..."
If they are used as signals then they are more likely to be a pattern of sounds rather than a rich melody... 1 toot for yes 2 for no... something very clear and simple. That is what i read that the Romans used.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

As I understand it, horns for battlefield communication tend to be very large and therefore low-frequency, because such sounds carry farther and cut through noise better. (Same reason you can hear the bass thumping as a car drives by, and the bass is all you hear.) Complex melodies on a battlefield would get easily lost.

As for describing them, I agree with CupofJoe: the emotion they convey, or something simple to distinguish them. If there's several different horns, give them different personalities. One might be brassy and quick, another might be mournful and low, the third might be pressing and dissonant.

 

[Butterfly]

They are basically just different types of call.

Rallying calls, warning calls, command calls, announcing calls, fanfares, waking calls.

The Riders are announcing their presence on the battlefield -the long drawn out sounds where others join in.

Boromir is calling for aid so it is urgent, he blows blows harder, increasing the frequency of air, hence the higher pitch and louder notes, blasted out three times when he has a chance to.

The situation a character is in will affect how they are blown, the volume, the pitch and the sound they make is all down to the control of the diaphragm. Hence the higher pitch of Boromir's, the length of the riders, and the volume. It's is all down to the amount of breath the caller has in him and the time he has to gather the air to blow.