the woodwind family

Instruments and Sound Technique

Instrumentation

The main orchestral instruments are:Flute Oboe Clarinet

Bassoon

Each of these instruments has a “relative”:

Flute – Piccolo 

Oboe – English Horn 

Clarinet – Bass Clarinet 

Bassoon – Contra Bassoon

Woodwinds are made of...

These instruments were all once made of wood and because they were played by blowing air or wind they were called “woodwind”.

Range

The highest sounding instrument is the piccolo as it is the instrument with the shortest tubing.

Producing Sound

On a woodwind instrument the tone is produce by a column of air vibrating within a pipe that has holes along its length.

When these holes are opened or closed, the length of the vibrating air column within the pipe has changed, thus producing different pitches.

Different Categories for organizing the instrumentsThese ways of producing sound are: Air Blown – flutes, recorders

Single Reed (with air) – clarinets, saxophones, bass clarinets

Double Reed (with air) – oboe, English horn, bassoon

Other Woodwind InstrumentsSoprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Saxophones

are classified as Woodwind Instruments.

Although they look like they belong to the brass family they all need a single reed to vibrate in order to produce a sound.

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