The suona is a military instrument, characterised by its especially loud blasts and distinctive Northern flavour. Once a suona is blown, its sound immediately takes lead among all other sounds and audiences are drawn to it instinctively.

The perception of most in Asia is not of the suona as a military instrument but rather of it as an instrument of processional nature that is used most frequently in funerals and weddings.  Some have since associated the instrument’s blaring and blasting to be of good luck; chasing away evil spirits and bringing in festivity. Apart from its use in the military, the suona was also widely used in ancient Chinese daily life. Some musicologists argue that the suona hailed from India, as many Indian trumpets show uncann y similarities to the suona.

Today’s concept of the suona is a large range of trumpets that is used by many of the common folk.  The bigger suonas can measure up to five chi (a chi is about one third of a metre), while the smaller suonas are only a few inches long. Hence, it is possible to divide the family of suonas into two broad categories based on their sizes.

The present Chinese orchestra makes use of the traditional suona and a series of revolutionised suonas to help cover gaps of sound which the traditional suona cannot accomplish.

Like the dizi and the traditional sheng, the suona does not come in a standard key. Being a more traditional instrument, a single soprano suona is not usually capable of playing pieces with complex key changes.  As such, most suona performers bring more than one instrument on stage when they play in an orchestra.

Like the sheng, the traditional suona has been revolutionised to fit the needs of the Chinese orchestra.  Variants of the suona, like the alto suona, tenor suona and bass suona, amongst other forms, have been created to play once unreachable note ranges .