The shofar is mentioned frequently in the
Hebrew Bible and was used in biblical times to announce the new moon, holidays and to signify the start of a war. It
was blown in the times of Joshua to help him capture Jericho. In post-Biblical times, the shofar is used on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
It is played much like a brass instrument, with the player blowing through the hole, causing the air column inside to vibrate. Because the hollow of the shofar is irregular in shape, the harmonics obtained when playing the instrument can vary: rather than a pure perfect fifth, intervals as narrow as a fourth, or as wide as a sixth may be produced.
