Wind Instruments 101

A Wind Instrument is a Musical Instrument that contains some type of resonator, usually a tube, in which a column of air is set into vibration by the musician blowing into or over a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator.

The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of the effective length of the vibrating column of air.

For example by covering the holes along the length of an instrument either using fingers or mechanical means, you change the length of vibrating air column and thus the note produced.

In the case of most Wind Instruments, sound is produced by either blowing through a reed at the head of the resonator, usually referred to as woodwind instruments, or by the musician using his lips to vibrate the air using a Metal Mouthpiece in the case of brass instruments.

Common Woodwind instruments include the Clarinet, Flute, Oboe and Recorder.

Common Brass instruments include the Trumpet, Cornet, Trombone and Tuba.

Although the material used in the construction of the instrument is a good indicator of which family it belongs to, Woodwind instruments are commonly made of wood (and nowadays composite plastics) and Brass Instruments were traditionally made of Brass, it is the method of playing that is the deciding factor.

For instance, although a Saxaphone is traditionally made of Brass, it is in fact a woodwind instrument as the musician blows through a reed to vibrate the air and does not use his lips to do so.

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