Woodwinds

Woodwinds.

Woodwinds are aerophones, or air-blown instruments. They are used in orchestras as well as the woodwind quintet of the flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and french horn. (Note: French horn is not a woodwind). The common woodwinds are: 

-The clarinet, which comes in clarinet in b flat and clarinet in A, the tenor equivalent or cello in strings terms

-The bassoon, the equivalent of a double bass in strings terms otherwise known as the bass

-The flute, a woodwind version of a violin or the soprano choral-wise

-The oboe, the alto or the viola in strings terms.

Flutes may be the smallest, but a professional flute is made of solid gold.

If you don't understand the above, in easier (worldly) terms, from lowest to highest in terms of range and part played in an orchestra it goes: bassoon, clarinet, oboe and flute. See, it wasn't that hard.

Honestly, just visit wikipedia.com but if you want a human-friendly digest of woodwinds, continue on.

What is a woodwind? 

A woodwind is an aerophone, or a air-blown instrument. 

So what's the difference between woodwind and brass?

A woodwind is made of metals and wood while a brass instrument is made of (duh.) brass and metal. 

Also, the woodwind in a non-directional instrument so that is sounds the same whether stand behind the player or in front while the brass is a directional. (You can just imagine standing in front of a french horn. We all know what happens.) The woodwind also happens to have reeds (except for the flute) and the sound is produced by a resonator of some sort while the sound of a brass is caused by lip-tension and air flow. The brass also uses valves while woodwind uses holes. 

So essentially, the difference is the brass is a clumsy instrument.

A brass instrument.

Difference between a strings, wind and woodwind?

A strings instrument has strings. (DUH) A woodwind is a type of wind.

So what have we talked about this lesson?

A woodwind is blown and...

If you really want more info, just go to wikipedia.com or some other website on Google.

-Matt.