The Woodwind family gets its name from the instruments, at one point in time they were all made out of wood, from the tiny Piccolo to the oddly shaped Bassoon. But today they are mostly made out of metal, wood, plastic, or some other combination of material. The Woodwind family consists of different many types of instruments, but there are six main types of Woodwind instruments; flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, English horn, and bassoon. Almost all of them are played using a reed, and they are all played by blowing in one end and and the sound coming out the other end. Unlike the three or four buttons that brass instruments have, most woodwind instruments have more then four, many many more, the bassoon depending on the model has upwards of 23 buttons. Other woodwinds like the recorders only have eight holes instead of buttons.
Almost all woodwind instruments are played with a reed, but there are a few woodwind instruments that don't. The flute, piccolo, and recorder do not use wooden reeds, the flute and piccolo are played by blowing across a hole in the mouthpiece. The recorder is played by blowing on the end that looks like a whistle, and you can control the pitch of both of them by angling the air stream up or down. Other woodwind instruments like the clarinet and saxophone are played with reeds. Reeds are thin strips of wood that narrow down to a paper thin end, and they can also be made from plastic but the sound quality of the instrument will be affected. Woodwind instruments like the oboe and bassoon are played with whats called a double reed. Double reeds are two reeds that are tied together so that when blown on they vibrate against each other.
I personally played both the alto saxophone and bassoon and i found it more difficult to play the bassoon because it was a double reed instrument. It is more common for double reed instruments to be more difficult to play, because you have to be able to control the pressure on both your top and bottom lip while blowing through the reed.
(The You Tube video shows several different types of woodwinds.)
My mom played the clarinet when she was in high school, but I found it really hard to try and learn how to play an instrument! The only instrument I really ever played was the recorder in Elementary School, and that probably doesn't count!
My mom played the clarinet when she was in high school, but I found it really hard to try and learn how to play an instrument! The only instrument I really ever played was the recorder in Elementary School, and that probably doesn't count!
ReplyDeleteI never even knew that there was a instrument called the woodwind! Shows how much i know about instruments and music.
ReplyDeleteI played the Clarinet and the Sax for about 8 years. Now I've completely forgot how to play and read music... It's pretty sad.
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