 
French Horn: The horn is a long, long tube, conical in shape, that is coiled into a circular form. It has a small,
deep, tulip-shaped mouthpiece and a very wide bell. Ancient horns were made of animal horns (like the Jewish shofar)
or conch shells, which are still heard in Polynesia and occasionally even in jazz.
Conch shell horns are very loud
indeed, and were used in Polynesia to send signals over long distances.Horns were used in Renaissance Europe for sounding hunting calls. These horns were small, sometimes with just one small loop in the middle , and were played on horseback. They were really only intended to play a couple of notes, since hunting calls were not really tunes but simply rhythmic patterns. Modern horns usually have four rotary valves, but in the early days, they had none, and the horn player had to have a lot of flexibility about his/her lips and breath control. Even with valves, horns are considered extremely difficult to play with any control. Philip Myers, the Philharmonic's Principal Horn, says that horn players are well advised to become high-register or low-register specialists; no horn player can be expected to play the entire range of his instrument with equal virtuosity.  If you keep an eye on the horn players in an orchestra, you will realize that they keep their right hand inside the bell all the time. This aids in the instrument's tuning and tone, giving it a soft, haunting, and almost distant quality. When the instruction "bells up" is given by the composer, the players lift their bells high up in the air to create a specially bright and brilliant sound.
Horn players can get another special effect by stuffing their hand right tighly inside the bell. This is done when their part requires "stopped horn". It gives a thin, tinny, highly penetrating sound. And, like other brass instruments, horn players can use mutes to change their tone.
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