- Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a
musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against an edge of, or opening in, the instrument, causing the air to vibrate within aresonator . Most commonly, the player blows against a thin piece of wood called a reed. Most of these instruments were originally made of wood, but some, such as thesaxophone and some flutes, are now commonly made of other materials such asmetal s orplastic s.Types of woodwind instruments
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Single-reed instruments use a reed, which is a thin cut piece of cane or plastic that is held against the aperture of a mouthpiece with a ligature. When air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed vibrates, creating the sound. Single reed instruments include theclarinet andsaxophone families of instruments.
* Double-reed instruments, use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane joined together at the base. The finished, bound reed is inserted into the top of the instrument and vibrates as air is forced between the two pieces of bound cane. There are two sub-families:
** Exposed double-reed instruments, where the reed goes between the player's lips. Theoboe ,cor anglais (also called English horn) andbassoon make up the more popular instruments within this family.
** Capped double-reed instruments, where there is a cap covering up the reed with a hole in that the player just blows through. This family includes mostbagpipes , thecrumhorn , and thecornamuse .
*Flute s produce sound when air is blown across an edge. There are two sub-families:
** Open flute family, where the player's lips form a stream of air which goes directly from the players lips to the edge, such astransverse flute s andend-blown flute s. Modern concert flutes are usually made of pure metal or a combination of metals includingnickel ,silver , andgold .
** Closed flute family, where the instrument forms and directs the air stream over the edge. This family includesfipple based flutes likewhistle s and therecorder family.See also
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Brass instrument
*Musical instrument
*Wind instrument External links
* [http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/woodwind.html How do Woodwind Instruments work]
* [http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/fing.html Woodwind Fingering Chart]
* [http://www.b-visible.co.uk/article/woodwind_instruments.html Woodwind Videos & Pictures]
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