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| The wood winds are "the
wind instruments of the band, they were originally made of wood", hence the name.
In the Saxophone picture above, the type of saxophones from left to right are soprano, alto, tenor & bass.
In the other wood winds picture the instruments are the basset horn (an instrument of same type as
clarinet but lower in pitch), oboe, bassoon, and the dolciano (a small bassoon,
formerly used as a tenor to the oboe). |
| Instrument |
Definition |
Interesting Facts |
Flute: |
"A high pitched wind instrument consisting of a long, slender tube. It is played by blowing across a hole near the upper end (which makes the air vibrate as it hits the edge of the blow hole) and pressing down on the holes and keys along its length." There are different sizes of flutes to produce different ranges of sound, all the way from
the high-pitched piccolo to the lower sounding alto and bass flutes. |
"The flute first reached Europe from the East around the 12th century. During the middle ages it was used mostly for military music. Later, in the early 1830's Theobald Boehm of Munich introduced a new design of flute which is still widely used today." |
Clarinet: |
"A single reed wood-wind instrument with a long wooden or metal tube and a flaring bell, ...
It has a range of about 3 1/2 octaves."
It is played by blowing through the mouthpiece and by pressing down on the keys.
The sound is made when air strikes the small
opening between the mouthpiece and a single reed.
There are different sizes of clarinets to produce different ranges
of sound. The "B flat" and "A" clarinets are the most common. |
"The clarinet was first developed from the chalumeau
(a simple single-reed instrument made of wood) around 1700 by the German instrument-maker J.C.
Denner.
After about 20 years the clarinet became distinguishable from the chalumeau by its separate mouthpiece,
its bell, and the addition of extra keys allowing higher pitches. In the 1840's the Boehm system of keys,
already successfully applied to the orchestral flute, was added to the clarinet." |
Saxophone: |
"A single reed, keyed wind instrument somewhat like the clarinet but having a curved metal body and a deeper, mellower tone." The sound is made when air strikes the small
opening between the mouthpiece and a single reed. |
"The saxophone was invented about 1840 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument-maker working in Paris. Sax's original family of saxophones comprised 14 members, but only eight of these are normally made today. These eight are, starting with the smallest, the
sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass, and
subcontrabass. Only the soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone are widely used." |
Oboe: |
"A double-reed wood-wind instrument having a range of nearly three octaves and a high, penetrating, melancholy tone." |
"The oboe was developed from the treble shawm in the 17th century to meet the demand for
a shawm-like instrument suitable for indoor use.
Shawms are folk instruments that were used in ancient European and middle eastern
civilizations. They are very loud, and are usually played outside. The first oboes are thought to have been made by the Hotteterre family and were used by musicians at the court of Louis XIV. The main development in the 19th century was the application of key mechanisms to the oboe." The sound is made when air strikes the small
opening between the double reed. |
Bassoon |
"A double-reed bass musical instrument of the wood-wind class, with a long, curved mouth piece." The sound is made when air strikes the small
opening between the double reed. |
"The bassoon is characterized by two separate parallel tubes joined at one end by a U-tube.
Early bassoons had only two keys but in the 19th century German makers experimented with a variety of key
mechanisms. Most successful was the system perfected by Heckel, and this still remains popular with players all over the world." |
 |
| "Brass-wind musical
instruments." They are played by making a buzzing sound with the mouth."
The length of the tube that the air flows through controls the pitch of the sound.
There are different ways to change the length of the tube on an instrument.
The old style french horn above has a crook system to change its range of pitch.
Crooks are coils of tubing in different sizes that
could be switched to change
the range of the horn. Other ways of changing the tube length include the valves on the trumpet and the
slide on the trombone. |
| Instrument |
Definition |
Interesting Facts |
Trumpet: |
"A brass-wind instrument with a powerful tone, consisting of a tube in an oblong loop, with a flared bell at one end, a cupped mouth piece at the other, three valves for producing changes in tone, and small, secondary, looped tubes." |
"In the late 18th century makers of brass instruments became particularly interested in the
problems of producing a trumpet without the limitations of the 'natural' trumpet.
A satisfactory solution was found early in the 19th century, when Stolzel and Bluhmel produced the first valved trumpets. These trumpets were more versatile and enabled players to play tunes including a far greater range of notes." |
Trombone: |
"A large, brass-wind instrument consisting of a long tube bent parallel to itself twice and ending in a bell mouth: it is of two types, the slide trombone, in which different tones are produced by moving the slide, or movable section of the tube, in or out, and the valve trombone, played like the trumpet, with valves." |
"The trombone is characterized by its telescopic slide used for lengthening the tube. The trombone-then called the sackbut-first appeared in Europe in the 1400s, and still retains its simple basic design. It is popular in orchestras and different types of bands." |
French Horn: |
"A brass-wind instrument with three rotary valves and a long, coiled tube ending
in a wide flaring bell: it has a range of 3 1/2 octaves and a mellow tone." |
"In the 19th century the application of valves to the horn freed players
from the inconvenience of using a wide variety of crooks"
(Crooks are coils of tubing in different sizes that could be switched to change
the range of the horn.) The player places a hand inside the bell of the horn to support it
and to refine the sound. |
Tuba: |
"A large brass-wind instrument of the sax-horn group." |
"The first tubas were made in the 1830s in Berlin, and the instrument has since appeared in various shapes and sizes. Tubas are used in both the orchestra and the military band." A marching tuba has a light-weight fiberglass bell, and is balanced on the player's
shoulder with the bell pointing forward. |
 |
| "A musical instrument in
which the tone is produced when some part is struck."
Two types of percussion instruments are drums, such as the old style timpani on the left, and mallet instruments
such as the simple xylophone on the right. |
| Instrument |
Definition |
Interesting Facts |
Mallet Percussion: |
A group of instruments with tuned bars, pipes, etc. that are made of wood, metal, or stone. They are played by striking the bar, pipe, etc. with a mallet. Some mallet instruments use "resonators" to increase the sound. A xylophone, for example,
consists of wooden bars over suspended hollow tube resonators. In early instruments, gourds
were used as resonators. |
Some mallet instruments include the xylophone, metallophone,
lithophone, bells, marimba, chimes, and many more. |
Snare Drum: |
A small drum with a head on either side. It is fitted on a stand and is played by beating rhythms on it with wooden drum sticks. The snare on the bottom is several rows of linked metal rings. They produce the crisp rap of the snare drum. |
The snare drum is not only used in orchestral playing but also in the drum set. |
Bass Drum: |
The bass drum is a large drum with a head on either side. It is fitted on a large stand and played while standing up by beating rhythms on it with a large padded beater. |
The bass drum is also used in a drum set where it is set on the floor and played with a padded beater attached to a foot pedal. |
Timpani: |
The timpani is a large bowl made of copper or fiberglass.
It has one head on its topside and it is attached to a rolling stand.
The timpani is played standing up by beating rhythms on its head with a padded mallet.
The timpani has to be tuned before playing it, and that is done mostly with a pedal on its bottom that is pressed forward to raise the pitch and pressed back to lower it. |
There are several different sizes of timpani to get different pitches. Usually several timpani are used in a band with each one tuned to a different pitch.
Sometimes the percussionist has to retune to a different pitch in the middle of
the performance. |
Auxiliary Percussion: |
Auxiliary percussion instruments are all percussion instruments that are not the mallet instruments, snare drum, bass drum, or timpani. They are played in a variety of different ways. |
Some auxiliary percussion instruments include the crash cymbals, suspended cymbals,
triangle, sleigh bells, slapstick, gong, etc. Anything can be used as an
auxiliary percussion instrument that produces the desired sound effect.
One local percussion teacher said that he once used a typewriter as an auxiliary percussion
instrument in a concert. |
Bibliography:
Author(s)-The Diagram Group
Title-Musical Instruments Of The World-An Illustrated Encyclopedia with more than 4000 original drawings
Place Of Publication-New York, NY
Publisher-Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
Most Recent Copyright Year-1976
Page Numbers-33,40,43,44,48,52,62,64,70,71,118,121,122,134,-137,158-159
Author(s)-The World Publishing Company
Title-Webster's New World Dictionary Of The American Language
Place Of Publication-Cleveland
Publisher-The World Publishing Company
Most Recent Copyright Year-1966
Page Numbers-124,269,558,578,1013,1298,1561,1564,1566
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