Wind instrument: Encyclopedia II - Wind instrument - Types of wind instruments

Wind instrument - Types of wind instruments

Wind instruments fall into one of the following categories:

• Brass instruments
• Woodwind instruments

Although brass instruments were originally made of brass and woodwind instruments have traditionally been made of wood, the material used to make the body of the instrument is not always a reliable guide to its family type. For example, the saxophone is typically made of brass but is classified as a woodwind instrument due to the fact that it has a reed. On the other hand, the cornett and serpent, although made of wood (or PVC pipe in the case of modern serpents), are in the family of brass instruments, because they have no reed; that function is formed by the lips of the person playing them.

A more accurate way to determine whether an instrument is brass or woodwind is to examine how the player produces sound. In brass instruments, the player's lips vibrate, which causes the air enclosed within the instrument to vibrate. In woodwind instruments, however, the player either causes a reed to vibrate, which in turn agitates the column of air (as in a clarinet or oboe), blows against an edge or fipple (as in a recorder), or blows across the edge of an open hole (as in a flute).

In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, wind instruments are classed as aerophones.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Types of wind instruments", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki