Music technology (mechanical) showing their ancient form. (see photo) The flute was commonly used for festal and mourning occasions, according to Whitcomb. "Even the poorest Hebrew was obliged to employ two flute-players to perform at his wife's funeral." The shofar (the horn of a ram) is still used for special liturgical purposes such as the Jewish New Year services in orthodox communities. As such, it is not considered a musical instrument but an instrument of theological symbolism which has been intentionally kept to its primitive character. In ancient times it was used for warning of danger, to announce the new moon or beginning
German horn each with the two sides an octave apart. In the twentieth century German horn makers devised further variations on the double-horn pattern. One of these was the "omnitonic" horn invented by Hermann Prager in 1918 and built by Knopf of Markneukirchen, but its complicated mechanism made the instrument very heavy. A more successful model which added a valve to lower both sides of the instrument by a semitone (from B to A and from F to E) was patented by Paul Geyer of Schwerin in 1924. The extra valve not only made playing difficult passages in sharp keys easier, but